Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC

Hatching Awesome Tiny Chickens Here

So, yesterday the eggs arrived all  were given a number and placed on top of a turner inside the incubator.

The incubator is set at a constant 99.5 degrees at a 50% humidity rate. The turner rotates the eggs throughout the day so they do not settle on one side. If the eggs are not turned they will not hatch and if it stops turning the chicks will develop on one side and don’t grow properly. In nature the mother hen would do this for the eggs.There have been some cases where people hatch without turning, but we are turning.

All of the eggs may not have been laid on the same day but they should hatch within 24 hours of each other. When a fertilized egg is laid it needs warmth to grow. You can pause this process for a little bit and heat them all up around the same time so they develop at the same rate.

So whats going on inside the egg? Glad you asked.

First day

16 hours – first sign of resemblance to a chick embryo
18 hours – appearance of alimentary tract
20 hours – appearance of vertebral column
21 hours – beginning of nervous system
22 hours – beginning of head
24 hours – beginning of eye

Second day

25 hours – beginning of heart
35 hours – beginning of ear
42 hours – heart beats

Im sorry but you will just have to wait  to see what happens later

Photo

The farmyard will soon be getting some new additions. If you couldn’t tell from the title, we have decided that we are going to incubate, hatch and raise our own chickens. I will be blogging about the whole process when we start which will be on April 4th. They will be placed into our incubator which will be set up in the vet room. They should hatch about 21 days later and wont be able to be viewed by the public immediately because they need to be in a controlled environment for a few days, but I promise to take pictures.

I will blog about the development going on inside the eggs themselves and what we are doing while we wait for them to hatch.