Hatching Eggs: A Practical Guide for Beginners
Table of Contents
- How to Hatch Chicken Eggs at Home
- Chicken Egg Incubation Temperature and Humidity
- Candling Chicken Eggs to Check Progress
- Frequently Asked Questions
Last Updated: 21 October 2026
How to Hatch Chicken Eggs at Home
Hatching eggs sounds simple: keep them warm, wait, collect chicks. In practice, it rarely goes to plan. At Chartley Chucks, we talk to keepers every week who set a dozen eggs and end up with five chicks, three of which turn out to be cockerels.
So before you switch the incubator on, answer one honest question. Are you willing to cull around half the chicks you hatch, because roughly half will be male? Not every egg is fertile either, and not every fertile egg hatches. Plan for disappointment and you will enjoy the wins far more.
Here is the basic process for hatching eggs at home:
- Collect fresh eggs, no more than seven days old, and store them pointy end down
- Bring eggs to room temperature for a few hours before setting
- Set the incubator running for 24 hours first, so temperature and humidity settle
- Mark each egg with a pencil and date
- Turn eggs at least four times a day for the first 18 days
- Stop turning on day 18 and raise humidity for lockdown
- Leave the lid shut once pipping starts
Hatching eggs takes 21 days for chickens. Keep the incubator closed and clean, and most fertile eggs will do the rest.
Chicken Egg Incubation Temperature and Humidity
Set the incubator to 37.5°C and keep humidity low,, ie <40% more chicken eggs fail to hatch due to high humidity than to low humidity, in the UK many people use natural atmospheric humidity. When the chicks start to hatch humidity naturally rises, so no need to add any water to increase humidity.
Those two numbers do most of the work. Small swings are fine, big ones are not. A cheap hygrometer is worth buying.
A common mistake is fiddling with the dial every time it moves. Leave it alone and trust a steady reading.
Candling Chicken Eggs to Check Progress
Candling chicken eggs means shining a bright torch through the shell in a dark room to see what is growing inside.
Candle on day 7 and again on day 14. A fertile egg shows a spider web of red veins and a dark spot. A clear egg is infertile, and a ring of blood means it stopped early. Remove the clears so they do not rot.
Then comes the hard part. Once those chicks hatch, you will need a plan for the cockerels. Rehoming is difficult, and many keepers cull. Decide before you set the eggs, not after.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do chicken eggs take to hatch?
Chicken eggs hatch after about 21 days of incubation. Keep the incubator running at a steady temperature and turn the eggs regularly until day 18, then stop turning and raise humidity for the hatch. Some eggs hatch a day or two early or late, so don't panic if nothing happens on day 21 exactly. If nothing has pipped by day 23, the embryo has likely failed. Patience and a reliable thermometer matter more than anything else in those final days.
What temperature and humidity should an incubator be for chicken eggs?
Set the incubator to 37.5°C for the first 18 days. Humidity should sit 30-40% during incubation, in the UK ambient humidity is around that level, so no need to add any water, then rise to 65-75% for the final three days when the chicks hatch, the chicks hatching will do that naturally, so again, no need to add any water.. Too much humidity early on traps moisture and can drown chicks, while too little causes the membrane to dry and stick.
Do all fertile eggs hatch, and is hatching eggs worth it?
No. Not all eggs are fertile, and even fertile eggs can fail to hatch because of temperature dips, poor handling, or genetic faults. Expect roughly half of hatched chicks to be cockerels, and decide before you start whether you are willing to cull them or rehome them. If you cannot face that, buying point-of-lay hens from a supplier such as Chartley Chucks in Staffordshire is the kinder, simpler route.
Hatching eggs is rewarding, but it needs the right kit from day one. Chartley Chucks supplies quality poultry housing and health products with delivery across the UK, plus a 30-minute advice chat to help you plan your first hatch. We also offer discounts on five or more birds. Get in touch with our Staffordshire team and start your flock the right way.
