Once you put the eggs inside the incubator you're using there's usually quite a fall in the interior temperature. You might worry at first, but it's best not to try to adjust temperatures at this stage of incubation hatching. The eggs are actually in an absorptive stage here, and are taking in a lot of heat. This stage lasts between one and a half to two days, and that's the point when you'll notice a gradual stabilization of the temperatures inside the incubator.

Keep monitoring the situation, ensuring that temperatures remain within the recommended range after this point. You shouldn't have any trouble at all if you've managed to get this far. If you're dealing with chickens, then the incubation state can last nearly two thirds of a month, so don't get impatient. For chickens the recommended temperatures are about a hundred degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. However, remember that the temperature also depends on the kind of incubator you're using.

If you're using an incubator that circulates the air, then a hundred degrees Fahrenheit is about right, but if you're using one of the smaller models that does not circulate the air, then you'll need to set the thermostat a little higher, to about a hundred and two degrees. Humidity levels also need to be controlled, so make sure that you don't set up your incubator in the open air, where humidity levels can vary greatly. A warm indoors room or even a barn is what will work best.

Humidity can be maintained in such an environment at between fifty seven and sixty percent. Eggs take very little effort, other than what I've outlined above - the real challenge, as I've often said, is to keep the young chicks alive once they are hatched. Survival rates among newborn chicks are very low in incubation hatching, so make sure that you make your preparations well in advance of their arrival.


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