Self-Sufficiency: Hatching Your Own Chickens
- Bonny Acres Farm
- May 22
- 9 min read
Updated: May 29
Warranted or just a Craze?
Here's yet another introduction to a new topic we want to cover on the blog: self-sufficiency. This term is often associated with prepping, home defense planning, homesteading, foraging, bushcraft, and many other areas of traditional skills and knowledge that many people are trying to revitalize.
Whether it be by exploring how humans would maintain their livelihood with the most basic of tools, or by setting a new standard and laying out completely fresh ideas for the concept. Either way, most people have flocked toward self-sufficiency due to fear of one thing or many others.
I have been a huge proponent of preparedness ever since I was in high school and took to the explosion of the many post-apocalyptic novels and movies, zombie videogames, and doomsday scenarios. Straight from my wedding vows to Emily: "I promise to protect you and our family from this crazy world." While these skills are still important to me, I know that eternal preparedness is of the highest importance, and I'm confident in my family's prepping for eternity through our faith in Jesus Christ.
We set out on our journey in homesteading solely for the sake of self-sufficiency, but our reasoning has grown into much more than just that. We're excited to explore this topic through the many skills we've gained over the years, and the many skills we hope to gain along the way.
Animal Husbandry for the Sake of Self-Sufficiency
When it comes to growing food, gardening even on a small scale is an excellent form of self-sufficiency. We've been gardening since 2018 and have ratcheted that up every year since then. It was breaking into the rearing of livestock that really made us feel like we were officially homesteading. As with most families, it started with chickens for eggs. At the time of this writing, we do eggs, poultry, pork, dairy, and beef. I would include venison from hunting, but I've been hunting for two years and have yet to put a deer in the freezer...
As with most people in recent years, we took to raising laying hens to eliminate the need for the grocery store for at least one item on the grocery list. Before 2020, we weren't a total anomaly with our chickens, but it was after the COVID lockdowns that people really flocked to a flock of their own with the backyard chicken boom. We're seeing it now more than ever with the price of eggs. For many people, whether they're aware of it or not, laying hens are the initial step toward improving self-sufficiency. Then it's a garden, goats, rabbits, quail, a small dairy operation, sourdough, etc.
When we started raising chickens, it was suitable to go to Tractor Supply Company during Chick Days and restock with a new clutch of laying hens, a couple dozen meat birds, and call it good. While there's nothing wrong with that, we knew we wanted to be far less dependent on a system that has proven its fragility, either with poor stock that doesn't survive to laying age or never showing up due to order cancellation. To remove our dependency on companies like TSC, Blain's, or similar rural farm stores, we got into incubating fertilized eggs ourselves.
Here's some terminology before we go any further:
Brooder - The containment for the chicks post-hatch. It can be simple, but make it fire-safe and secure your heat source to reduce the possibility of fire.
Broody - When a hen is eager to hatch a clutch on her own. She'll spend most of the day in the nesting box, guarding her eggs and likely have a bare breast area from plucking her feathers.
Candling - shining a bright light under an egg in a dark room to see the progress of the embryo inside. Most incubators have a built-in candling light; it's bright, so shield your eyes!
Dry-Hatch - A method of incubating that is lower in humidity during the first 18 days. Many find this approach to yield more consistent results.
Hatch Rate - The percentage of eggs that hatch versus those that don't. The average is between 75-85% as long as the incubator is functioning properly and the ambient temperature and humidity are maintained.
Humidity - The level of the ambient moisture in the incubator.
Lockdown - The period when the automatic turning of eggs is turned off and eggs are nearing their hatch (typically the last 3 days).
Watching Life Form Before Your Eyes
To begin incubating a stock of chicks sounds like a challenging feat, but the only barrier to entry is the funds to buy an incubator. Once you've made that purchase, learning how to use the incubator properly is the next barrier, as well as finding fertilized eggs. We've incubated our eggs from our own chickens, and we've also bought fertilized eggs. Refreshing the genetics in your coop is necessary to avoid health issues, so consider rotating in new stock every other year at a minimum.
We've shared a video on the setup of our incubators, as well as a video on the hatching out of the incubator. We will share more videos when we have updates on our incubating process. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep an eye out for those! For that reason, this post won't be a total breakdown of the process. We currently use the Nurture Right 360 from Tractor Supply and the MATICOOPX 30 Egg Incubator from Amazon. The latter we were generously gifted after our previous incubators short-circuited and melted the cord (don't worry, the seller is no longer on Amazon).
Our whole family loves watching the incubator as the days go by. We check in by candling around 7 days to see which eggs have been successfully fertilized. As tempting as it is, the more you candle, the more likely you are to disrupt the growth of the chick inside. Once you've confirmed your fertilization rate, you can leave the eggs until hatch day, but checking in once or twice more won't hurt them if you're curious about the progress. Don't give an egg up for lost if you don't see something on day 7 when candling, check back in a couple of days.
We've done "to-the-manual" incubation parameters, which set the humidity at about 50% for the first 18 days and raise it to about 70% for days 19 through 21. We've recently done a few dry-hatches, 35% for the first 18 days and 70% during lockdown, and are finding more consistency with our hatch rates. The reasoning behind consistency with a dry-hatch versus a standard hatch is inconclusive. Still, my theory is that the fluctuations in humidity in a standard hatch are more likely to lead to a lower hatch rate. Whatever method you choose, consistency is the key to success.
What to Plan for
Fortunately, when starting incubating, you have ~19-21 days to get things in order. For the incubator, make sure you check regularly to maintain temperature and humidity. When lockdown approaches, gently remove the automatic turning device your incubator uses, e.g., cradles, fan-wheels, or similar. Once your incubator is prepared for lockdown, it's time to make sure your brooder is ready for the imminent hatch. Ensure that you have suitable bedding, a heat source (heat lamp or heating pad), and a feeder with feed and a waterer suitable for chicks.
Whether you're doing a standard hatch or a dry-hatch, plan to add water days 18-21 and elevate the humidity to ~70% to keep the air moist and prevent chicks from drying out during their hatch. When chicks begin hatching, allow them about 24 hours of time in the incubator to dry off before moving them to the brooder. The built-in fan of the incubator helps to dry them off quickly.
If you happen to have a broody hen helping you in a natural hatch, and as long as it's not freezing at night, sit back and watch God's design at play. Mama hen will have babies running underfoot; she'll lead them to food and water, but you need to ensure that it's accessible for a chick (imagine being the size of a golf ball). We always separate the hen and chicks from the rest of the flock once they hatch to prevent a "pecking order" dispute from turning into a dead chick. If you have a broody hen that you want to break of her broodiness, the only solution we've found is either letting her have her clutch or isolating her for a few days from the nesting box she keeps returning to. Otherwise, she can get stuck in a broody mindset for weeks or even months!
Most of the time, the hatch goes smoothly, and you have no reason to intervene. Occasionally, you may encounter a stuck chick who can't complete their hatch without assistance, either due to drying out or a harder shell. We will use tweezers to slowly and precisely pick at the shell to help the chick out. It could be argued that, in nature, the chick would not survive, so it's up to you on how to handle the situation. And sometimes an assisted hatch ends up with a dead chick, so don't anticipate a guaranteed rescue!
Beyond the occasional "stuck-chick", there have been many improperly formed chicks in our experience, where a chick may be improperly developed. Birds are fragile as it is, and hatch multiples for a reason! If a chick is so poorly developed yet able to hatch, nature will either take its course, or you may choose to cull the chick. It's unpleasant, but a chick can be culled quickly and painlessly by either wringing or severing the neck.
As you begin moving chicks to the brooder, check in regularly to assess the heat source. Are chicks crowding directly under it and rarely venturing away? You may have your lamp too high. Are they sitting at the edges of the light or avoiding it? It could be that your lamp is too low or that they're content. If using a heating pad, the chicks will most likely spend most of their time on or under the pad. If you build a heat pad tent, it should be secure enough that any chicks climbing on top are not able to collapse the tent and suffocate any chicks beneath it. Make sure that your heating pad is not timer-based; the fluctuation in temperature can lead to fallout, especially overnight.
Watch food and water closely! Chicks get playful fast, and that leads to waterers being clogged up with bedding. We elevate our waterer with scraps of 2x4 wood, which helps, but doesn't totally eliminate the problem (you don't want to elevate too high where the chicks can't reach). Also, be mindful about having your waterer near the heat lamp; chicks doze off right where they're standing (sometimes mid-walk), and we've had a chick drown from sleeping near the waterer.
If your brooder is in an oubuilding or garage, ensure there is no way for a predator to get to the chicks. We have a chicken wire top with wood walls and floor. Even a trusty barn cat will try to get at the chicks, so keep them safe!
Time in the brooder depends on the breed and season. When we hatch in the spring, it can be 3 to 4 weeks before the chicks are feathered enough to go on to the chicken run or tractor. In the summer, we will move them a little earlier. A mid-winter hatch will most likely be 6 to 8 weeks before they can go to the chicken run. We will cut off supplemental heat for the last week in the brooder to reduce the shock from the elements. If you free range like we do, then longer in the brooder is better, as predation leads to loss fast! When one predator finds your flock, the commotion draws in all the other predators in the area.
Birds of a Feather
Hatching eggs is a rewarding experience and makes your flock feel even more your own! There's a lot to learn along the way, and kids love to get involved; engage them where they have questions and want to help. If you have a lower hatch rate in the beginning or major fallout in the brooder phase, don't get discouraged! We were far from perfect when we started, and we still fall short. It's all about learning what works best and making memories as you go!
We have videos on our YouTube channel on the subject and will share more in the future. Subscribe to keep up to date!
Checklist for Incubating and Hatch Day
Incubating
Incubator
Understanding of the Incubator's functions
Turning Test
Candling
Adjusting Temp
Adjusting Humidity Aperture
Removal of Turning Device
Port(s) to add Water
Resetting Day Counter
Water
A vessel with a pour spout for adding water
Fertilized Eggs
Patience
Hatch Day
Prepped Brooder
Bedding - Shaved Cedar is what we use
Heat Source - Heating Lamp or Heating Pad
Feeder
Chick Feed
Waterer
Tweezers - used for any hatching assistance
Patience
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