We’ve been loyal Pekin bantam owners for years and have also had Light Sussex bantams in the past, but this time we fancied a change of breed, so we ordered these hatching eggs. Amazingly, they arrived, unbroken in the post. We placed them carefully, pointed end downwards, into the pre-warmed incubator which is kept in a cool room.
The eggs sit in the cradles and the mechanism tilts them gently from side to side. We use distilled water to ensure the right humidity is maintained and top it up at least twice a day.
After 8 or 9 days we candle the eggs to check whether they are fertilised. After 18 days we remove the cradles and place the shelf into the incubator and fill up the second water basin with distilled water to achieve optimum humidity for the soon- to- hatch chicks. The eggs are then placed gently back in on their sides and it is a matter of waiting until the pipping begins!
Because of the design of our incubator we can’t get any photos of the chicks hatching but there are some lovely ones here
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/chick-hatching.html
So now all we have to do is see what emerges from the eggs. All will be revealed in our next post …
Foxglove Farm 