Printable Egg Incubation Chart For Hatching With Kids

This article was written in January 2017, edited and updated March 2025.

Pin

I first wrote this article back when my little farm girl was just a toddler. It's hard to believe we've been hatching chicks together for a decade now, and that tiny little farm girl is finishing fifth grade.

Usually when I update an article I go through and really update it, but this one makes me smile at memories of farm life with a toddler sidekick, that I'm doing little more than bumping it to the top of website. It's hatching season again!

---

It's a little early in the season, I will admit. But a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't wait any longer.

I got out the incubators, and set my first batch of eggs to incubate! Hatching chicks is unquestionably one of my favorite things about homestead life.

My little farm girl was as excited at seeing me get out the incubators, as I was. She saw me carrying the bright yellow Brinsea Octagon up from storage in the basement, and yelled "EGGS! Babies!!"

Yes, little one, it might still feel like winter, but in this house--it's hatching time.

Being a year older than last hatching season has definitely brought a new level of involvement and interest from this sweet kid. She was already a pro last year, when it came to turning eggs, handling them carefully, and holding and singing lullabies to baby chicks.

This year, she's even more deeply interested in the process. What makes one egg go in the incubator, and the other into our breakfast? How often do we get to turn the eggs? When will we get to candle them?

So I made up a printable chart for her to follow along. And I figured that, honestly, I kind of wish I had a chick hatching chart for ME when I first started incubating eggs. I thought I would share it here, in case anyone else could use  a little step-by-step incubating check sheet.

For using this with young children (or even just the young at heart), this lends itself well to being a sticker chart. We put a sticker in the box every time we complete a task.

This time around, I used stickers I happened to have on hand. Next time, I think I'm just going to have to splurge on some extra-cute baby chick stickers.

If you're wondering about how we fit the various tasks of incubation into a toddler's day, this is generally how it goes:

Turning the eggs is one of the very first things we do in the morning. Blinky-eyed, and sporting some awesome baby bedhead, she can hardly get to the incubator fast enough to say "good morning," and give the eggs their first turn.

Before naptime, we turn them again. We also check that the temperature is correct, and that there's enough water in the reservoir so the humidity will stay stable. (TWO stickers on our chick hatching chart!) Then last thing before bed, we turn the eggs one more time, give the incubator a little pat, and say "good night!"

Days 8 and 15 are special. THAT'S when we get to candle the eggs!

Want to watch me candle chicken eggs? You can find a video here! Depending on the age of your kids, candling night might be a special evening that they get to stay up a little later.

Candling is best done in a very dark room, so I do all of my candling at night. Thankfully, it still gets dark pretty early right now, so it's not too hard to make time for it before a comfortable bed time.

We still have several days left before this first batch hatches. These ones are pure Icelandic landrace chicks, and they're always such a variety of colors, I never know what I'm going to get. I can hardly wait. I don't know what's more fun: watching them hatch, or watching my kid watch them hatch!

I wish you very much the best of luck, as you hatch out your new little fluffballs. If you ever have questions about incubating, send them my way! I'm an absolute hatchaholic, and LOVE chatting about hatching.

And if you have any cute pictures to share of your new little chick babies, PLEASE post some of that fluffy goodness in the comments! There will never be enough adorable chick pictures in the world!

Peace, love, and fluffballs...

~ A

Other chicken related articles you might enjoy:

Pin for later:

Save

Save

Save

Save