Know Your Hatching Eggs

Louise Vulk at her chicken house in Rockland, 1932.

How often should you gather hatching eggs from the hen house?

once a weeek

once a day, just after dawn

three or four times a day

What is the best way to remove small amounts of dirt from an egg before incubation?

wipe the egg with a dry towel

wipe the egg with a wet towel

use sand to brush dirt off the egg

Should eggs in an incubator be turned?

Yes, you should turn them over an odd number of times each day.

No, do not upset the eggs during incubation.

Harold and Thomas Pearsall
candling and grading eggs for market, 1933.

While candling eggs, what does an egg that will soon produce a chick look like?

The light shines through the egg so that it looks bright.

Most of the egg will look dark.

It will look blue instead of white.

Hatching eggs are kept warm in an incubator set to ______ as measured by a dry thermometer. (A wet thermometer would give a lower reading.)

63° F or 17°C

83° F or 28°C

100° F or 38° C

Reference: Mercia, Leonard S. Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry, Storey Books, 2001.