A whole bunch of kids are looking forward to baby chicks three weeks from now, so we filled up the incubator today with 36 eggs. Chicken eggs require 21 days to hatch.

Isn't it amazing that a chicken can produce a brand new egg in a day, and then sit on it for just 21 days to hatch a baby chick?

The incubator is constructed of styrofoam.The eggs can be seen through the windows in the top of the incubator.

There is a tray in the bottom into of the incubator into which we pour a little water to maintain humidity.The lid has a heat coil, a thermostat to turn the heat coil on and off, maintaining the required temperature of 99.5 degrees, and a fan to spread the warm air evenly across the eggs.

In the bottom of the incubator above the water is a screen. On the screen sits an electric egg turner that turns the eggs every fouir hours. The automatic egg turner is not required, but the eggs do need to be turned three times per day, so the egg turner is a nice feature.

After 18 days we will remove the egg turner and lay the eggs on their sides on top of the screen for the last 3 days until they hatch.

If all goes well. 21 days from now we will have a whole bunch of baby chicks for the kids to see and touch.