1/3/2024 0 Comments Chicken math calculator![]() If you want 6 hens from shipped eggs or challenging breeds – adding 25-50% onto the 12 egg minimum results in setting 15- 18 eggs. If you want 6 hens – adding 10-15 % onto the 12 egg minimum results from above results in setting 13 -14 eggs for the hatch. I would add 25-50% more eggs if dealing with shipped or difficult-to-hatch breeds respectively. ![]() ![]() Personally, I go with a minimum of 10-15% more eggs in the hatch, unless I am dealing with shipped or difficult to hatch eggs. But how many more eggs should you incubate? To compensate for the factors that influence hatching rates, it is always a good idea to add in some extra eggs to buffer for these effects. So what should you do about hatching rates? The most critical thing with shipped eggs is to ALWAYS let the eggs settle for 24 hours before setting them in the incubator. So while a breeder might be getting very high hatching rates (like 95% or better) you may see reduced hatch rates (more like 75% or sometimes as low as 50%). The jostling and disturbance that happens during shipping, as well as the temperature and humidity, can all impact your results. Shipped eggs, as in those sent by mail or courier from a breeder or hatchery, may also have reduced hatching rates. These eggs come from Barred Rocks, Olive Eggers, Americanas and Marans (Photo: Rose Hill Farm) Different breeds of chickens can have different hatching rates based on shell quality and thickness. You can often pick up tips for hatching from researching the breed chickens that you keep. ![]() Hard-shelled breeds, like the Marans, may require higher humidity during “lock down” to get good hatching results. There are also breed-specific issues that affect hatching rates like shell strength and other genetic factors. This is because incubation involves a complex set of factors that include temperature, humidity and turning rates for success. Eliminating any non-starters saves time and effort.īut even once you have eliminated infertile and cracked eggs, hatching rates may still vary. Candling is where you use a strong light to examine the inside of the egg to see a formed yolk and the outside of the egg for any cracks or fissures. You can minimize wasting time with infertile and damaged eggs by candling them prior to setting. You may have put 12 eggs into the incubator, but you may not end up taking any chicks out at all. The next thing you need to factor in is that not all the eggs will hatch each time, just like in the saying. If you want 10 hens, the absolute minimum set is 20 eggs. If you want 6 hens, the absolute minimum set is 12 eggs. If you want 2 hens, the absolute minimum set is 4 eggs. Therefore the absolute minimum number of eggs you need to set is twice the number of hens you want to end up with. The point is, while not certain, on average, half of the chicks that hatch will be female. On average, half of the chicks will be hens, and half roosters (Photo: Rose Hill Farm) But in any given hatch, you could get more or less hens, and it is just the luck of the draw when eggs are randomly collected for hatching. If you did 100 hatches, and counted out all the chicks, half would be hens. But in reality you may end up with a hatch that is 75% roosters and only 25% are hens. So what does that mean? Well, on average, half of the chicks in any hatch will be female. This is not a guarantee, just a law of averages. That means only half of the eggs will turn into hens and the other half will be roosters. Read on.Įggs typically hatch at a 50:50 sex ratio. How do I know that? I’ll show you how I got to this conclusion by the end of the post. If you want 6 hens, there is probably no need to set 2 dozen eggs, but you might need to set more than 1 dozen. The first thing to consider when hatching eggs is your end goal: How many hens do you want? ![]() Let’s run through 4 of the most important considerations for determining how many eggs you should incubate. There are some simple guidelines you can follow to help ensure your hatching experience lets you end up with the hens that you want. Whether you are ordering eggs from a hatchery or setting some of your own, deciding how many eggs you should set doesn’t have to be complicated. What I hear most often goes something like: “I want 6 hens (or 3 hens or 8 hens) so how many eggs do I need to set? This Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated When it comes to hatching chickens, you know the old saying “Never count your chickens before they hatch!”Īnd that is because it seems like such a simple thing to do – incubate some chicken eggs – but in reality there are dozens of small things that all have to go just right in order to realize 12 chicks out of 12 eggs. ![]()
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