Short answer: Setting day starts the day before. Take the eggs out of cool storage, let them warm slowly, load them pointed end down into a machine that has already run steady, and mark each one with its set date. Keep the door shut while the machine recovers, record every reading, and do not expect a clean hatch from a setting that was rushed.
Key takeaways
- Let stored eggs warm slowly. Cold eggs in a warm machine sweat, and the moisture carries bacteria into the shell.
- Load every egg pointed end down, marked with its set date, and count the load against your list.
- Give the machine a few hours to recover after loading, and leave the lid alone while it does.
- Write the set date, the expected hatch date and every reading in a log from the first hour.
- Set on a day when you can check the machine morning and evening for the next two days.
Plan the setting before the eggs arrive
Most of a good setting is decided on the calendar. Count 21 days forward from the set date to get the hatch date for chicken eggs, and write both dates on the machine before anything else goes in. If you need chicks for a festive market, count back from the day you need them and add the days you will need to dispatch or move them.
A worked example helps. Suppose you set a batch on Tuesday 3 November 2026. Day 21 falls on Tuesday 24 November 2026, so that is the day the first chicks should be pipping and hatching. Do not plan the setting for a Friday when you will be on the road until Monday. The first 48 hours are when a machine most often drifts, and a drift nobody sees is the one that costs eggs.
Plan the power as well. If you have a generator, a battery or an inverter, test it on the day before setting, not on the morning you need it. Our guide on incubating through power cuts sets out the options.
| When | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Two days before | Start the machine empty and confirm the temperature, fan and turner | You find faults while there is still time to fix them |
| The day before | Fill the water trays and take the eggs out of cold storage | The eggs begin to warm and the humidity settles |
| Setting morning | Inspect, mark and load the eggs | Each egg has a record from the first hour |
| First six hours | Keep the door closed and check the readings at two and six hours | You see whether the machine recovers from the load |
| First evening and day two | Check the turner, the water and the log | Small faults show up before they cost a batch |
Let the eggs warm before they go in
Eggs from a cool store are cold to the touch, and the shell is colder than the room. Put one straight into a warm machine and the shell takes on condensation. That moisture is a route for bacteria straight through the pores, and the damage is done before the embryo has started.
Move the eggs into a clean room on setting morning and leave them for a few hours, longer if the store was cold. Keep them out of direct sun and away from fans blowing hot air. In the harmattan, a room can be cool and very dry, so the eggs warm slowly but also lose moisture while they wait. Keep the tray covered loosely with a clean cloth or put it in a box with the lid half closed. Do not put the eggs in a fridge to hold them, because the cold swing is what you are trying to avoid.
Handle the eggs with clean, dry hands. A grower who picks them up from a wet basket and sets them in the same state is passing the wet straight into the setter.
Take one last look before the eggs go in
Before loading, go through the tray egg by egg. You are looking for cracks, shells with dirt caked on them, rough or pinched shapes and anything that looks like it has been knocked. Set aside anything that fails the look, and do not talk yourself into one more egg because the batch is short. A single cracked egg can carry bacteria into the machine and contaminate the eggs around it.
If you have doubts about where the eggs came from or how they were stored, our guide on choosing fertile eggs for hatching lists the questions to ask before you pay, and the storage guide explains what the eggs should have experienced before they reach you.
Mark and date every egg
Write the set date and a batch number on each egg with a soft pencil or a non-toxic marker. It takes a few seconds per egg, and it is the only thing that lets you match a dead egg to its batch on day 18 or day 21. A tray of unmarked eggs tells you nothing when the hatch goes wrong, and you will be left guessing whether the problem was the flock, the storage or the machine.
Use the same mark for every batch and keep a separate tray for each batch. Mixing two flocks in one tray is tempting when the machine is nearly empty, but it makes the post-hatch check almost useless. If the batches need to share a machine, give each its own labelled tray and its own row in the log.
Load the trays: pointed end down, every time
Set each egg with the pointed end down and the air cell at the blunt end on top. This keeps the air cell where the chick expects it, and it keeps the yolk centred so the embryo does not settle against the shell. A tray set the wrong way round is one of the quickest ways to lose a batch, and it is easy to miss when you are tired.
Do not pack the trays so tightly that the eggs touch the sides or each other. The turner needs room to move the eggs, and a jammed egg tips over and sits at the wrong angle. If you have fewer eggs than the tray holds, fill the middle first and leave the gaps at the edge, rather than spacing them out across the whole tray. That keeps the load steady and makes the count easier.
Do not fill the machine beyond the maker's stated capacity. An overfull machine recovers slowly after loading and holds an uneven temperature for longer.
Close the door and let the machine recover
When you load a machine, the eggs and the cool air you let in take heat out of the cabinet. The temperature dips, the heater runs hard to catch up, and the eggs take hours to reach the set temperature all the way through. That dip is normal. What matters is whether the machine comes back to target and stays there.
Keep the door closed for the first few hours. Every time you lift the lid you drop the temperature and the humidity again, and the machine has to start its recovery over. Check the readings at about two hours and again at six hours, using the thermometer at egg height rather than the display. If the temperature is still well below target at six hours, check the heater, the sensor and the power before you touch the settings.
Do not change the set point in the first few hours to speed up the warm-up. A grower who raises the setting to catch up usually overshoots, and the eggs spend the first day too hot.
What the first 24 hours tell you
The first day gives you the cleanest information you will get all hatch. The machine has no history yet, so any reading that looks odd is telling you about the set-up, not the eggs. Read the thermometer and hygrometer at egg height in the morning and again in the evening, and write both numbers down.
Watch the turner through a full turn. Mark one egg with a pencil dot and check it after the next move. A turner that is not moving the eggs is the most common silent fault on setting day, and it is cheap to find if you look.
Top up the water trays if they have dropped. Do this with water at room temperature, and only a little at a time, so the humidity does not swing. If the humidity is well off target after a day, our guide on fixing humidity problems sets out which change to make first.
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Keep the log that tells you what happened
A log is the difference between learning from a bad hatch and simply being unhappy about it. Keep one sheet per setting and fill it in at the same times each day. Include the set date, the expected hatch date, the source and batch of the eggs, the number set, the machine you used and the times of any power cuts. Then add the readings every day.
| Date | Day | Temperature at egg height | Humidity | Turner checked | Power or notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov 2026 | 0 | Set, 37.5 °C after recovery | Water topped | Yes | Set 120 eggs, batch A |
| 4 Nov 2026 | 1 | Morning and evening readings | Morning and evening readings | Dot moved | No outage |
| 5 Nov 2026 | 2 | Readings noted | Water checked | Yes | Outage 40 min, door shut |
The notes column matters most. A line that says the lights went off for forty minutes at four in the afternoon is the first thing you will look at if the hatch fails on day 21. Without it you cannot tell a power problem from a bad batch.
Mistakes we see on setting day
Most setting-day failures come from habits rather than bad luck. These are the ones that come up again and again when growers describe what went wrong.
- Setting eggs straight from cold storage into a warm machine, which makes them sweat.
- Loading eggs into a machine that was switched on only that morning and has not yet settled.
- Setting eggs with the blunt end down, or in a tray that has been turned around.
- Opening the door every hour to look at the eggs, and dropping the humidity every time.
- Adding cold water to the trays in a hurry and watching the humidity swing for a day.
- Forgetting that the turner is switched off, and finding out on day 4.
- Writing nothing down, then trying to remember which batch had the problem.
Between setting and the first candling
The days between setting and the first candling are routine work. Keep the turner running, keep the water topped, read the instruments twice a day and write down what you see. Resist the urge to check the eggs by opening the lid. Looking at a clear egg on day 3 will not tell you much, and each opening costs the machine more than the information is worth.
When you reach day 7, it is time to candle. Our egg candling guide explains how to tell fertile eggs from clear ones and what the first check should show.
If you are setting many batches through the year, you will also want to know how to clean the machine properly between runs. Our cleaning and disinfecting guide covers the routine, and a clean machine is the simplest thing you can do to protect the next setting.
Look ahead to lockdown on day 18
Setting day is only the start. At around day 18, the eggs move to the hatcher, the turning stops and the humidity goes up. The steps for that transfer are in our guide to temperature and humidity settings for each day, and they are worth reading before setting day so that you know what the machine will need from you later.
A good setting is one you can carry all the way to the hatch. If anything goes wrong after day 18, our guide on why eggs don't hatch explains how to open dead eggs and read what they tell you. Keep the eggs you open, because the pattern across the whole batch tells you more than any single egg.
Questions farmers ask
Do I really need to warm eggs before setting them?
Yes, if they came from a cool store or a cold room. A cold egg placed in a warm machine collects condensation on the shell, and that moisture can carry bacteria through the pores. Let them warm slowly in a clean room for a few hours, and keep them out of direct sun and hot draughts while they do.
What should I do if the temperature drops a lot when I load the eggs?
A dip after loading is normal, because the eggs and the cooler air take heat out of the cabinet. Keep the door shut and check the readings at about two hours and six hours. If the machine is still well below target after six hours, check the heater, the sensor and the power supply before you change any settings.
Can I set eggs from two different flocks in one machine?
You can, but only with separate labelled trays and a separate row in the log for each batch. If both batches share one tray, a dead egg on day 21 cannot be traced back to its source, and the problem may repeat in the next setting.
How many eggs should I set at once?
Set no more than the machine's stated capacity, and leave room for the turner to move the eggs freely. An overfull machine takes longer to recover after loading and holds an uneven temperature. If you have fewer eggs than the tray holds, fill from the middle outwards so the load stays steady.
Should I open the machine to check the eggs on the first few days?
Only when you have a reason. Each opening drops the temperature and the humidity, and the machine has to recover. Read the instruments through the window or from the outside, mark the turner check with a pencil dot, and wait for the first candling around day 7 to look at the eggs properly.
What do I need to write in the setting log?
Record the set date, the expected hatch date, the source and batch of the eggs, the number set, the machine used and any power cuts with their times. Add the morning and evening readings every day. The notes are the part that helps most if the hatch goes wrong, so do not skip them on a quiet day.
How do I time a setting for a festive hatch?
Count back 21 days from the day you need the chicks to be out of the machine, then allow the extra days you need to dry the chicks off and move them. Set on a day when you can check the machine twice a day for the first two days. If you want chicks for a particular market date, ask us early, through WhatsApp on +233 24 915 1503, before you commit to the eggs.
