I plan to hatch a few replacements also, but will wait until it warms up a bit. If you hatch them now, you will probably need to brood them in the house or garage or somewhere. That ends up being a dusty, dirty arrangement at best.

Why not wait and let a hen go broody in the spring so she will hatch her own eggs? The children will be amazed at how she warms, hatches and cares for her little ones. It's more natural and much easier in my book.

I agree it would be easier and I would much rather them do the work; however, the hens haven't shown any behavior in past springs that would lead me to believe they would do the job. And winter is rather short in GA. I'm just worried that the eggs became too cold before I got to them and are no longer viable.

As I understand it as long as they don't get below 40 degrees the eggs are viable.

As Herringbone said, raising chicks inside is messy. While your winters are short, I think I would wait a little while, so that the chicks can be raised in an unheated shed rather than the garage once they are beyond the initial, more delicate stage, and can handle temperature swings. Do you also have an brooder set up, or can you make one? If you do a search for incubators, hatching eggs and or brooders/raising chicks, etc. on the forum, you should get lots of info - it comes up regularly in the spring.

Also, not from experience, but from reading, homemade incubators are difficult to keep evenly warm and humid, so your rate of unhatched eggs will be higher than with a purpose built commercial incubator. I don't know how old your kids are, nor their temperaments, but can they simply accept that some of the eggs won't hatch, or is that going to cause problems? Can you start now and put up flyers or ask at the local feed store(s) if anyone has one they can lend you, maybe for a percentage of chicks, if it is a big one?

As long as the eggs are fresh and not frozen they can hatch. I have hatched eggs which were in the coop for several hours on 20 degree days. heaat can sometimes be more troublesome. Some eggs may not be fertile this early due to lower light conditions, depends somewhat on breed and location. Even tho the hens lays the egg, the roo may not be up to par yet.

I had a hen decide to brood on Jan 1 in New York State this year. On Jan2 I put her in a small coop (of the sort which would not really hold more than two or three chickens) with 11 eggs in a nest box sitting on the kind of warmer sometimes used for reptiles. Later I added a heat lamp in the run part of the little coop. I covered it with a tarp. I gave the mother food and water, with the water on the warmer to keep it from freezing. I heard cheeping in the shells the night of Jan 21. There were two chicks the morning of the 22nd, and nine by the 23rd. One was dead in the nest and one did not make it out of the shell, but both were fully developed so the eggs were clearly all fertile. Those 9 chicks hatched on the two coldest nights of the year so far, with temperatures in the single digits! They are growing beautifully and are half to 3/4th feathered out. I thank you for the occasion to brag about them!

I have kept eggs in the frigerator for a week then brought them up to room temperature, then put them into the incubator with excellent results. As long as they are fertile, didnt freeze and aren't too old they should be okay.

I know people who bought free range eggs at Trader Joe's and hatched them so anything is possible lol.

I dislike raising the chicks in the winter but thats another story lol.