Incubator vs hen - which is best for hatching chicks?

Which is best for hatching and raising chicks - an incubator or a broody hen?
There’s a lot to learn about using an incubator to hatch chicks - you need to maintain just the temperature, humidity, ventilation, turn the eggs enough and in the right way and stop turning at the right time. With a broody hen, she knows all that stuff and does it all for you.
But a hen is broody on her own schedule, not when you want her to raise chicks. And she'll probably only raise one brood per year, whereas with an incubator you can hatch dozens of chicks in a year.
Both an incubator and a broody hen have advantages and disadvantages. Which is best depends on what you want, what you have, and what best suits your purpose. I hope this video will give you the information you need to help you decide which is best for you.
For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
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[@Flicker_thefo0x]

“Once a year” my hen who goes broody twice Sometimes three times a year: “are you sure about that?”

[@chickensinmygarden]

You're right - some hens go broody several times in one season especially if they don't get to hatch and raise chicks

[@Flicker_thefo0x]

@@chickensinmygarden thank you for the reply!

[@georgefrattarelli7978]

I’m loving all of your videos!!

[@chickensinmygarden]

Thank you. That's very kind. I love hearing from my viewers 🙂

[@oldchickenlady]

I have never used an incubator....I love my broody hens! They are my "golden" girls :-)

[@chickensinmygarden]

Good broodies are wonderful, aren't they?

[@maninderbaidwan9862]

Any advantage of hen raised chicks?

[@chickensinmygarden]

That is an interesting and different question. Even if the chicks are hatched in the incubator I do sometimes give them to a broody hen to raise. (See my video called Grandma Gonzo gets chicks.) And I have had the reverse situation too where the hen was a good broody but then wanted nothing to do with the chicks. I do expect some differences - a hen will teach chicks things that a human doesn't and they don't instinctively know, about socialising for example. There are reports that cockerels raised with older hens behave better towards humans, once they become roosters. There are known differences in maturity rates and overall adult size of chicks raised in conditions of permanent light (eg from using a light as a heat source) compared to those who experience daily darkness (as they would under a hen). But the most important factors seem to be the same - they eat, drink, sleep, poop, grow and learn about the world and grow up to be chickens.

[@artisanvalley]

What incubator/s do you have? Finding limited options here but would love a cabinet one one day

[@chickensinmygarden]

The one I have is a Black Chick brand. www.siamincubator.com/en/ The small one is no longer manufactured but this video might help you choose from what is available to you kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2fVdoVtl7Weo9E

[@王萨戈耳]

the incubator i bought with backup batteries only costs me about 40 usd. its capable of hatching 24 chicken eggs(fewer for duck or goose eggs) and its almost automatic that the only thing I need to do is to add water into its silo when the humidity is low and the alarm triggered. I hatched 5 chicken and 1 goose together with the incubator and I can fully sanitize them before hatch. so personally I do prefer incubators.

[@chickensinmygarden]

I have to admit that I have had very good hatches from my incubator. I have not had so many attempts at using a broody hen to hatch eggs but they were much more problematical, and from what I have heard from other people it is common for hens to hatch only a small proportion of the eggs they brood unless she's an exceptional hen.

[@fearful.adventure]

Hi there, I love your videos.. I just subscribed to your channel. I have a question about the incubator process. I live in Auckland, New Zealand. It's summer here. What temperature heat and humidity I need to have my incubator set on? Thanks

[@chickensinmygarden]

Hi. I live in the Manawatu. But no matter what the outside temperature is your incubator needs to be set the same for hatching - 100 F or 38 C and relative humidity 50% to start with. But many incubators are not accurately calibrated so you need to figure out what setting on your incubator achieves 100F either using a calibrated thermometer or by trial and error. One useful tip is to make sure your incubator is not in direct sunlight or a really hot room, either of which would over heat it beyond the set temperature.

[@fearful.adventure]

@@chickensinmygarden thanks for your quick response. It was very informative. :)

[@chickensinmygarden]

You're welcome. The humidity is not as critical as the temperature. And a slightly low temperature is a bit of a problem but a slightly high temperature is lethal. Once you have the incubator stable at the temperature and humidity you want try it with some cheap cross breed eggs before you entrust any really valuable eggs in it. Good luck.

[@fearful.adventure]

Thanks for the instruction, I got hold of some white Sussex eggs and put them in the incubator. :)

[@chickensinmygarden]

Does your incubator have an automatic turner? If not you should turn them at least 3 times a day. Mine does but I still turn them and move them around the incubator once a day to be sure they all get even heating.

[@inkavanderbijl7504]

I wanted to hatch eggs this spring from my Orpingtons, but they seemed uninterested, so I put 2 of the Orpi eggs under my neighbors Silky Chicken who hatched them I also bought an incubator and started incubating eggs. And then my Orpis suddenly started getting broody. I now have 2 Chicks with a Silky, 8 chicks in a brooder and 2 chicks that are about 5 days old with an Orpi mom, plus 2 more Orpi hens that started brooding a week ago.

[@chickensinmygarden]

So an explosion of chicks! 😀

[@tkguyok]

In our experience, the Old English Game hens were the best mothers. They would get you about their chicks. We not only set chicken eggs, but set turkey eggs under our hens, everything went well. I do know this much, rarely did you see cripple chicks hatched with a hen, but using an incubator, we would see more cripples. We finally just used hens.

[@Flicker_thefo0x]

I have one, she hatched ducks a few months ago, she relized what they where. And got upset. Now she has chicken eggs. Can’t wait to see what kinda of mother she is! One thing I’ll say ahout her. She is dedicated.

[@sweetobird4447]

Well I actually put a egg under a dove if I want to look after the chicks myself and it works 😊🐣🐥🐤

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Trudy Lombard Wow what a great idea!

[@sweetobird4447]

Chickens in my garden thank you 😊😊

[@davescopes249]

I've made 3 incubators. It really doesn't cost much at all. And I've bought 2. One is a round one that holds about 18 chicken eggs and about 30 quails eggs. It was £20. And my other one I bought has an automatic egg Turner. It ho holds 48 chicken eggs. If I take the egg Turner out it holds about 60 eggs and about 100 quail eggs. It was about £45. I've seen them second hand for about £25. But yes they can cost much more if they are Really big and technical. I'm not criticising. I'm just giving some information. Thank you for sharing your great video 👍🐣🐥🐓

[@chickensinmygarden]

Thank you. You got some great bargains. And you did well to make some incubators. I made two but never got a good hatch rate until I bought a commercial one. Now I get good rates - so far my best is 11 hatched out of 12 eggs set. One day I hope to achieve that 12/12.

[@davescopes249]

Chickens in my garden I got mine from Ebay. Loads on there. Surprisingly some are very good value. The first one I made I used 2 bulbs going through a dimmer switch. It was OK but not a brilliant hatch rate. Second one I took a tropical fish tank heater apart and used the thermostat from it. Lol. It was much better. And now I've made one using a thermostat that plugs into the the mains and it goes inside the incubator and the bulbs plug into it. I got 3 for £5. Second hand. They originally came from BnQ DIY costing £20 each. But I've seen them new for £11. You can use them for a small incubator right up to quite a large one. It's all good fun. I hope you do well with yours. And thanks again for sharing your video 👍🐓🐣🐥

[@taifpasha3610]

Broody Hen is the winner.

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Taif Pasha Certainly broody hens have been raising chicks for a lot longer than humans have been using incubators.

[@carolineshomestead2560]

Love your videos!!!🐣♥️

[@chickensinmygarden]

Thank you 🙂

[@riam5429]

I have a light Sussex who went broody so I bought half a dozen of fertile eggs from eBay, she’s been on them for about 10 days, great so far, but yesterday when I went to check on her she wasn’t sitting on 3 eggs, and they were very cold to the touch, I quickly put them back under her, but I’m worried the developing chicks inside may have died, how long can eggs be left out cold?

[@chickensinmygarden]

Well it depends on the air temperature. Even if they felt cold the very inside might have stayed warm enough for a while. You could candle them all in a couple of days and see whether some of the chicks have stopped developing, or you could just keep waiting and see what hatches.

[@SunilKumar-ol4od]

First of all I am very thankful that you replied my comment could you tell me please how I can prepare my homemade incubator

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Sunil Kumar In its simplest form, it would just be an insulated box with an incandescent light bulb on a dimmer switch and a thermometer. You would adjust the switch so the light made enough heat to keep the temperature at 101 F. You could add a dish of water to increase humidity if necessary. And of course you would need to turn the eggs yourself - at least three times a day.

[@Call_Me_Dragon]

Nice video

[@chickensinmygarden]

Thank you

[@terryedge3423]

How much room should a broody hen have ? Our broody hen looks like the white hen you compare to the incubator . Also does a hen know if the eggs are fertilized ? She seems to be getting more aggressive and shes been on the nests about 2 weeks or so . I call her my baby Mama snowball . It is winter here shes my snowball lol

[@chickensinmygarden]

Hi there. A broody hen needs enough room to stand up and move around on her nest and should also have food and water available a few steps away, but she doesn't need a big area of run - she will mostly just sit. So maybe one square meter, which is one square yard. No the hen doesn't know whether the eggs are fertilised or not. But if the chicks start to grow inside she can eventually feel that they are alive by the warmth that they generate and can sometimes tell if they have died. A day before they hatch she can hear the chicks cheeping inside the shell.

[@terryedge3423]

Thank you very much again

[@terryedge3423]

I will have to move Miss broody and if I do will she abandon her nest ? She gets off her nest now goes out in run to eat / drink but another hen sits on nest until she gets back . I do have food /water close to her but she still goes out with the other chickens to eat/ drink and quickly returns then the other hen gets off the nest and broody gets back on . All these chickens have been raised together since they were chicks .

[@chickensinmygarden]

I usually move a broody hen as soon as she starts sitting but it sounds like she is doing quite well so I would consider leaving her there if possible. As long as the other hens are leaving the nest when she arrives and they are not fighting over the eggs - you don't want broken eggs. But there is a risk that she will become unsettled and leave the eggs if you try to move her so at this stage it might be best to avoid that until the chicks hatch. Is there an option to leave her and move the other hens away? Also think about the baby chicks. If the nest is above the ground you might have to move mum and chicks as soon as they hatch but as I say it might be safer to wait until then. Your best advice is from watching how your chickens are behaving.

[@terryedge3423]

the eggs seem fine and the other hens are leaving her alone . Yes the nest is above ground and I check her 3 or 4 times a day but try not to stress her . I have another hen that has gone broody this morning she is next to snowball . Thank you very much for your advice . It is so nice to have someone with your experience to ask .

[@umarhayat5947]

How u give the hen chicks to rise them?

[@chickensinmygarden]

You have to wait until the hen is broody. Then you can give her fertile eggs to hatch or you can give her baby chicks to raise. My video Grandma Gonzo gets Chicks is about giving chicks to a hen to raise.

[@thenaturekid3739]

What music do you use

[@chickensinmygarden]

For most of my videos I use a piece called 'Claudia the worm'

[@thenaturekid3739]

@@chickensinmygarden Thanks

[@nadiapoordil9751]

I hav made an incubator with Styrofoam cooler it's been 4 days I hav seen blood vein has it gain life? can it die:?

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Nadia Poordil Hi Nadia. You would be lucky to see signs of life by day 4 of incubation unless you have an extremely good light. And yes certainly a live chick can die at any stage of incubation from day 1 right up to day 21. I tried a few homemade incubators but didn't get a good hatch rate until I bought a commercial incubator. But other people have done ok with homemade ones so good luck with yours.

[@nadiapoordil9751]

Chickens in my garden hello givm some advice about this a its my first time

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Nadia Poordil You need to keep the temperature and the humidity very accurate and steady.

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Chickens in my garden And turn the eggs at least 3 times a day.

[@robertb3595]

how do you know which eggs are fertile when choosing them for incubator?

[@chickensinmygarden]

+Robert B You can't tell for sure until after incubation starts. When you candle them you can see the growing chick inside.

[@hazeldaclan2755]

Candle

[@syedahmedali7131]

Broody hen is best

[@choyandpia9415]

Do light sussex hens hatch eggs without incubators?

[@chickensinmygarden]

Yes they are generally good broodies 🙂

[@choyandpia9415]

@@chickensinmygarden thanks for sharing :)

[@nirojkarki8725]

In my country there are two chickens mainly as free range chicken .one is traditional broody chicken and another one is hen which looks like a broody but it does not produce chicks by its self like a broody chicken. Does another hen becomes broody if I gave her eggs to broody hen to hatch 🤔🤔 . Does anybody knows about this ??

[@chickensinmygarden]

I'm not quite sure what you are asking so please ask again if I don't answer your question. You can probably not make a hen broody just by giving her eggs. You definitely can give the eggs from the non-broody hen to a broody hen, and the broody hen will hatch them.

[@nirojkarki8725]

There is a chicken named giriraja which only lays egg which is produced in incubator and this chicken also looks like broody hen and does not sit on fertile eggs and produce chicks like broody hen. My question is if i gave fertile eggs of that giriraja chicken to typical broody hen to sit on it and hatch does it carry characterstics of broody hen to reproduce by itself??

[@nirojkarki8725]

@@chickensinmygarden does the self hatching ability of broody hen dissapears if i will produce chicks from eggs of broody hen with the help of incubator??

[@chickensinmygarden]

Ah, I understand. If you give giriraja eggs to a typical broody hen, the eggs will hatch but they will probably not be broody. Broodiness is mostly controlled by genetics, not by learning from the mother. Of course, the fertile eggs with have a father as well as a mother - you could encourage broodiness in the next generation by using a rooster of the "broody" breed with a hen from the non-broody breed, or the other way around.

[@nirojkarki8725]

@@chickensinmygarden thank you for explaining me this nicely😀😀🤗

[@SunilKumar-ol4od]

Dear friend can I hatching egg without incubator and without broody hen is there any method to hatching egg

[@chickensinmygarden]

Sunil Kumar Hello. You need something to keep the eggs at the right temperature and humidity. There are several ideas on the Internet for how to make a homemade incubator. I managed to hatch a few chicks with a homemade one. Maybe give it a try with some things you have available?

[@ChaosBW]

Obviously the hen if it can do it itself. But if you're a farmer and you want a lot of eggs hatching and you want your hens laying then it's gotta be the incubator, broody hens get turned into dinner.

[@chickensinmygarden]

True.

[@benjaminthomas1321]

I have a couple of hens that aren’t to bad mothers but unfortunately their survival rates up to two weeks isn’t that great 1 out of 3 make it to the 3 week mark,

[@chickensinmygarden]

That's a bit disappointing but not very unusual, depending on what kind of hazards the chicks face

[@benjaminthomas1321]

@@chickensinmygarden I free range/ board line organic farm on a dairy farm in New Zealand so there’s rat, ferrets, wild cats but my last silkie to hatch out some eggs was just a bad mother started with six then she decided she didn’t like one so she wouldn’t let it brood, and that kept happening until she was down to one luckily I was able to get 4 of the 5 under my brooding plate in time to save them, but still her only saving grace is the fact she’s was also only just born this year as well

[@chickensinmygarden]

Poor wee thing, as you say, maybe just inexperienced and confused. I had one who was a great sitter but hated those awful creatures that started to infest her beautiful eggs (i.e. the hatching chicks)! Lucky you had the brooder plate for the rejected ones. What's your experience with wild cats? I'm sure they would take baby chicks but what about adult hens?

[@benjaminthomas1321]

@@chickensinmygarden I have had a wild cat kill the hen outside at “treat time”, was a older girl and he jumped out of the bushes she run passed on the way to get some grapes ever since then I go out on a pest control drive around the property and because the laws let me, I spotlight and put down any wild cat or pest I see, then turn them into fertiliser for my garden

[@chickensinmygarden]

Good idea. Feral cats are a huge threat to our local bird life.

[@maninderbaidwan9862]

Any advantage of hen raised chicks over incubator chicks?

[@chickensinmygarden]

Hello. I did write a reply but I don't see it now. Did you see it?

[@md.husainratan735]

Incubator price please my Contri is Bangladesh

[@chickensinmygarden]

Sorry I don't sell incubators, or anything really, I just keep chickens and make videos about them.

[@yousafqamar2760]

* We can place 12 to 22 eggs under broody hen as per size.

[@chickensinmygarden]

That's a big hen 🙂 And she must be a good mother to brood so many eggs without letting any get cold. You take care of that precious hen 🙂

[@USA4thewin]

I wonder what has a better hatch percentage hens or incubators.

[@chickensinmygarden]

I think it very much depends on the hen and either the incubator or the skill of the person running it.

[@chickensinmygarden]

My own hens have never been great and I've had much better success with the incubator but still my best ever was 11 live healthy chicks from 12 eggs.

[@USA4thewin]

well I started my mad scientist experiment got a Hen and a cheap incubator. 18 days to go lets see what hatches better.

[@chickensinmygarden]

Good luck for a great hatch from both of them.

[@carolineibanez841]

I chose incubator. I want my chickens to be friendly. Broody mom protects them you can’t touch them.

[@chickensinmygarden]

Good point 🙂

[@51-FS]

Unless the mom is used to you....

[@chickensinmygarden]

Yes indeed. My broodies will growl but they still let me handle them.

[@akeiramontgomerie3132]

I think she a new Zealander like me 😮

[@chickensinmygarden]

She is 🙂

[@akeiramontgomerie3132]

@@chickensinmygarden I never thought you would reply, Thanks!

[@chickensinmygarden]

Of course! I try to reply to all of your messages - it's the least I can do after you have been so kind as to not only watched my video but also taken the trouble to comment. I really appreciate you 🙂

[@akeiramontgomerie3132]

@@chickensinmygarden Thanks!^^

[@Charlie-de7xu]

I personally like a hen because if the chick can't get out of the egg, she can help it without endangering the lives of the chicks

[@chickensinmygarden]

Du ke That's a good point. I've never had a hen do that but it would be good if she did if it was needed.

[@Charlie-de7xu]

Chickens in my garden thank you for replying to comments so regularly it's good to know that you care about your audience!

[@chickensinmygarden]

Du ke You are all important to me. (sometimes I still can't believe people actually want to watch my little videos )

[@Charlie-de7xu]

Chickens in my garden your joking! I love your videos! They are informative and fun. Your my favourite youtuber.

[@chickensinmygarden]

Du ke Wow!