Frequently Asked Questions

Minimum Hatch Rate Guarantee!   We want every chicken keeper to experience the joys of hatching eggs but realize that the uncertainty can be a challenge. Nature can be tricky and no hatching egg supplier can promise any particular egg will hatch, especially since the shipment handling and incubating is completely outside of our control. While a 50% hatch rate is generally considered a success, even for commercial hatcheries, we realize low hatch rates can be very frustrating.  In response, My Pet Chicken is excited to offer an innovative and industry-leading Minimum Hatch Rate Guarantee, giving you the confidence to hatch...

Yes, they can! There are no problems associated with hatching mixed breed chickens. If you have a rooster in your flock, he will try to breed ALL your hens, nevermind if he is a different breed or even if the hens are different sizes, bantam and large fowl. It can be fun to hatch "mixed" eggs, because you never know what you'll get! Actually, many of the breeds we offer at My Pet Chicken are designer cross-breeds, and the results are spectacular: wonderful plumage colors, fantastic new egg colors, prolific egg-laying, friendly personalities and ultra-hardiness. For instance, we loved our...

Of course we can't know for sure what may be causing the problem in your case, but we can try to mention a few things that might typically cause problems maintaining a steady temperature in the styrofoam incubators. First, if you are reliant on manual turning, opening the incubator to turn your eggs does drop the temperature... but that is pretty temporary and shouldn't cause problems if you are quick. It can help to mark one side of the egg so you can see which have been turned and which haven't. (Use something like soft pencil, that won't soak into...

"Red Stars" are hybrid birds; the rooster is one breed while the hen is another. Because of the genetics of the two breeds, the Red Star chicks are "sex linked," meaning that the color of their down when they hatch is linked to whether the bird is male or female. This means that males hatch out a different color from the females, so they are easy to tell apart. Generally you buy Red Star chicks when you want to be assured of getting all females---they aren't vent sexed like other chicks, so vent sexing errors won't occur. Ordering sex linked...

It's definitely best to calibrate any new thermometer you are using for your incubator. You need to make sure your incubator thermometer is reading correctly, since even one degree of difference may cause serious problems with your hatch! It's fairly easy to calibrate with crushed ice: your thermometer should read 32 degrees in a mixture of crushed ice and a little water. If it reads, say, 30 degrees, then you can either adjust the thermometer until it is correct (if the style of the thermometer permits adjustment), or else you will at least know your thermometer reads 2 degrees too...

That's a complex question. If you would like to turn your home or farm into a hatchery and begin selling baby chicks to other people, we'd first recommend getting NPIP certification so you can be sure that your chicks are free of the worst diseases passed from hen to chick through the egg. We also recommend learning about biosecurity, so you can be sure your breeding flocks will remain clean. You want to be assured you're selling healthy birds to your customers. The next thing you might consider is to join one or more breed clubs for the breeds you'd...

In almost every case, starting a laying flock with baby chicks will be easier and less expensive than starting one by hatching fertile eggs at home. Don't get us wrong, home hatching is great! But remember that fertile eggs (supplied from any source) are not guaranteed to hatch, because shipping can be so rough on the eggs. With shipped eggs, the average hatch rate is about 50%. That's just the average, though! That means sometimes you will have higher, and sometimes lower. In fact, with eggs, it is possible to do everything right and still not have any hatch. Plus,...

Generally speaking you will NOT want to intervene in the hatching process when incubating fertile eggs. If conditions in the incubator are right, it can take 24 hours for a chick to escape the egg after it has pipped, and that's perfectly natural and not a cause for concern. Often it takes much less time, but 24 hours or so is fairly common, too. If it's been more than 24 hours since the chick first pipped and you have had problems maintaining a high enough humidity during incubation, the problem may be simply that the chick is stuck to the...

Hatching fertile eggs can be such a fun adventure! To increase your chance of a successful hatch, you may want to plan ahead and calibrate your hygrometer/thermometer. One of the most common problems during hatching is incorrect humidity and temperature in the incubator. Even a new hygrometer may not be properly calibrated, so it is better to check your equipment before starting a batch of eggs. To calibrate your hygrometer: Mix 1/2 cup of salt and 1/4 cup of water in a coffee cup or other small container. It will be a thick mixture. Put your thermometer/hygrometer into a large...

Candling is the process of shining a bright light into an egg to have a look at the contents. It used to be done with a candle in a dark room, but now high intensity light can be used in a darkened box. For instance, here is Brinsea's egg candler: Commercially, eggs are candled to make sure they are free of blood or meat spots. This is why, incidentally, white eggs used to be the most popular type of commercial egg. It's not just a matter of finding a high production, breed, but also of easy examination to make sure...

Incubation is similar to "gestation" in animals that give live birth. It's the process in which the embryo in a fertilized egg develops into a baby and hatches out. Successful incubation of chicken eggs requires heat, humidity---and time. Incubating chicken eggs takes 21 days. A hen will incubate or set on her eggs when she is "broody." Her body temperature and the conditions in the nest provide the appropriate conditions to hatch baby chicks. If you don't have a broody hen to incubate your eggs, you might use an automatic incubator to provide the appropriate environment. Those can range from...

A setter is a hen who will hatch her eggs. A non-setter is a hen who will not hatch eggs. The vast majority of chicken breeds will occasionally go "broody," meaning they will set their eggs and try to hatch them. However, a "setter" usually refers to a breed (or a specific hen) that frequently goes broody. Orpingtons and cochins are setters, for instance. Buff Orpington Hen Some high production breeds like Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns seldom if ever go broody and want to set eggs. Those are non-setters. Which is best just depends on your perspective. If you...

Yes!--it is very important. As babies, ducklings and goslings need a surface they can grip until their leg muscles and hips are strong, just as with baby chicks. If the floor surface is too slippery, they can develop spraddle leg, a condition in which their hip muscles have not developed properly and they are not able to stand. To reduce the risk of spraddle leg, you will want to avoid slick flooring in incubator trays, transport carriers, and brooders. Also, do not use newspaper or cardboard flooring for the first week of their lives. The best bedding is wood shavings,...

Hatching eggs at school can be a rewarding and enlightening school project! In fact, the founder of My Pet Chicken was first charmed by chickens during a hatching project in grade school. After that project, she was a changed person! In her eight-year-old heart, she knew for a fact that she would keep chickens herself and help others adopt chickens when she grew up. And now, years later, you can see from our website how that turned out! So, at My Pet Chicken, we have a definite soft spot for schools who want to organize hatching projects. That said, though,...