How to Batch Hatching Baby Chickens

I would like to share with you where my idea came from to batch the job of hatching baby chickens. I will continue to improve The ideas I share here will communicate the basics of my current process.

What is Batching ?

Batching a writer’s work load is a concept I learned about as I became apart of the online community. Blogging and podcast coaches speak of batching content creation, scheduling social media, and answering emails.  In a nut shell the concept revolves around the idea of doing the same or similar tasks in a setting or a grouping.

The idea is when working on a repeated task if you do it all at one time your mind stays focused and it will take less time to complete the process. 

In content batching for example, one might set aside time to write out a list of content ideas and when they will be shared. Another time slot is set aside to create outlines for the above mentioned material. A third time period is set aside to actually write or record (podcast) the material. And a final time slot is set aside to edit the created material.

Does this actually save time? Or is this a mind shift which will work well for some people and not for others? Good questions I do not have the answer to, but keep reading to read about how I am using the idea of batch hatching baby chickens.

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Tools for Hatching Baby Chickens

Not sure if it actually saves me time, but I decided to apply it to my hatching process. First, I want to share my current hatching tools and what I have been doing. 

I currently use 4 table top incubators. These are not the most expensive on the market and not as automated as other incubator options, but these are what I currently use here.

• Incuview
• Janoel 12 (2 of them)
• Janoel 24

At CG Heartbeats farm we raise 3 breeds of heritage chickens and most of the time I source my hatching eggs from my own flock.

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Why I Use Small Incubators for Hatching Baby Chicks

There are several Swedish Flower Hen breeding pens here at CG Heartbeats Farm. I have found it challenging when I incubate eggs from several different pens to identify which pen the chicks came from.

I have in the past watched a hatch extremely close, pulled out chicks to band them as soon as they hatch, and put them back in the incubator.

Want Wasn’t Working when Hatching Baby Chickens

This was not satisfactory to me for several reasons.

• My time hovering over a hatch kept me from other duties
• Because I was drawn away at times, I would miss a part of the hatch. (Thus the chicks were unknown parentage and recorded as such.)
• Opening and closing an incubator repeatedly to band chicks does not create the best conditions for the remaining eggs to hatch
• Often a part of the hatch happened at night and these days I cherish my sleep.

I opted to purchase smaller incubators to hatch less eggs at a time such as the Janoel 12. I have had good success using this incubator for the price of it.

Janoel 12 Incubator Review and Helpful Tips

Using my old system I hatched every week or so. One week I would set eggs from one pen. The next week another pen and so on. Every week I had something on my calendar around hatching chicks.

Experimenting with Workflow on CG Heartbeats Farm

Late in the year of 2020, I had an idea to try a new system. I decided to batch my hatches.

After saving eggs for a week or so from all the pens I wanted to incubate eggs from, I collected eggs from all the breeds. You see it is easy for me to tell the different breeds apart as chicks. I am able to hatch Silver Gray Dorking chicks with Swedish Flower Hen chicks or Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner.

I organized the eggs placing them in one of the 4 incubators based on

• How many eggs I had from a specific breeding group
• Space in the incubator for other breeds

In one day all 4 incubators were set. After 7 days of incubation I would candle all the eggs at one time.  I would have one day for lockdown all 4 incubators, one hatching period of a couple days. One day to move the chicks to brooders and one day to clean all the incubators and start the process again.

I am currently on round 2 of using the process of batch hatching baby chickens. I do not know if it is actually shortening the amount of time it takes to complete the work around hatching baby chicks. It does reduce my temptation to become distracted and keeps me focused,.

Benefits

No need to hover over a hatch, banding chicks to preserve breeding lines. Now I have around 2 weeks free time with no need to take action around the incubating process. During this time, I can focus on other jobs and projects.

I have the option to narrow it down to 3 incubators if I end up with infertile eggs. If you are new around here you may not know, I test a breeding group’s eggs for fertility before selling them. And yes, there are times I a particular pen is not producing a fertile egg. It doesn’t mean they never will, but it does mean I do not sell eggs from that pen until I start seeing fertile eggs and chicks.