What is the best setup for hatching chicken eggs?

[Tyson]

I can custom build if no one has a good design. My african bullfrogs love baby chickens and ducks. I want to start hatching the futile eggs from the local farmers market. Any ideas? Thanks in advance guys! Also, if I need to, I can use some of the enclosure for housing the eggs. It's a 4x5' enclosure, or if I need to, I can make a separate box ect.

[poison]

I believe you need an incubator just like you would use on reptile eggs

[demon amphibians]

chickens are very very easy. you do not need much space either. you just need a fertile rooster and a few hens, a small shed, keep temp around 70 degrees and feed well. they like to nest in straw. high calcium diets help prevent mishaps with shells. breeding chickens are much easier then breeding pretty much any other type of animal really. PM me if you need if you have detailed questions. keep in mind that new born chicks require a soft sugar water.

[poison]

I was under the impression that he was gonna get fertile eggs and try to hatch them out without the adults....

[SCF]

You do not wan't to make a DIY incubator to hatch out your eggs. It's a waste of time, and although not costly, it's will give you low hatch rates. The three main reasons being, 1. It's hard to maintain the correct temperatures even in an AC'ed house, the temps will still fluctuate and even going off by a few degrees, the embryos can/will die or not hatch. 2. The eggs have to be turned. You cannot just stick them in an incubator and wait for them to hatch. 3. It's also difficult to keep the humidity correct, which is also vital to successfully hatch eggs. On a DIY system you have to turn them manually by hand at least 3 times a day, or the embryo sticks to one side of the egg, then yet again does not hatch.

I've made my own DIY incubator with a dimmer/foam ice chest/ 20 watt light bulb/ some chick mesh flooring/ and a cup to try to maintain humidity. My hatch rate was about 10%.

I then decided to buy a incubator and a automatic egg turner, once I got my temps and humidity dialed in 99% almost flawless hatch rate. Huge difference and a lot of wasted time with the DIY.

I raise Cortunix quail, their care is the same as chickens (besides feed) and if you decide to keep a breeding pair or trio, they do not require a lot of space.







Hope this helps. =)

[SCF]

You are correct about the Calcium D.A., I use cuddle bones. I've never used sugar water though.

[SCF]

All those perfect babies were not fed off though, I gave them away as pets. It's tough for me personally to raise something like them and then feed them off. I have fed off ones that did not hatch successfully though.

[demon amphibians]

chickens are very successful breeders. you can incubate them yourself or you can let the mother do it themselves. i have never tried the incubation method, my family has raised chickens for years and we actually let them roam around the yard and do there own thing. however not everyone can do this. the sugar water just seems to help them get up and moving on there own faster. mother chickens are very caring. But they breed in seasonal cycles where i am from. about two batches of chicks a year. what we always use is oyster shell to strengthen the shells. they sell it at farmer feeder stores. but then again i am from the country you normally cannot just find this stuff anywhere. but remember give them privacy or they will eat thier eggs. and also one rooster only or it will eat the eggs for eat the newborn chicks once they hatch. that is if you give them a natural breeding environment.

[Tyson]

You do not wan't to make a DIY incubator to hatch out your eggs. It's a waste of time, and although not costly, it's will give you low hatch rates. The three main reasons being, 1. It's hard to maintain the correct temperatures even in an AC'ed house, the temps will still fluctuate and even going off by a few degrees, the embryos can/will die or not hatch. 2. The eggs have to be turned. You cannot just stick them in an incubator and wait for them to hatch. 3. It's also difficult to keep the humidity correct, which is also vital to successfully hatch eggs. On a DIY system you have to turn them manually by hand at least 3 times a day, or the embryo sticks to one side of the egg, then yet again does not hatch.

I've made my own DIY incubator with a dimmer/foam ice chest/ 20 watt light bulb/ some chick mesh flooring/ and a cup to try to maintain humidity. My hatch rate was about 10%.

I then decided to buy a incubator and a automatic egg turner, once I got my temps and humidity dialed in 99% almost flawless hatch rate. Huge difference and a lot of wasted time with the DIY.

I raise Cortunix quail, their care is the same as chickens (besides feed) and if you decide to keep a breeding pair or trio, they do not require a lot of space.







Hope this helps. =)

Which incubator model and brand do you use that works that well? I will buy the one you use!

[SCF]

Still Air Egg Incubator Little Giant (Poultry Health - Poultry Equipment - Incubation)

Is the incubator.

Little Giant Automatic Egg Turner - Statelinetack.com

Same brand, the egg turner is sold separately.

I did not buy from those links though, that's just what I have.