How long can you have eggs before you incubate them ?

[TNBlacktails]

Ima start incubating soon and sometimes im not able to get my chickens eggs as soon as they lay them ,so how long can they go wihtout being with heat before they die . THANKS

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I have collected eggs for 7 days before I put them in the bator. I keep them in a cool spot in my basement and I rotate the eggs 2-3 times a day side to side. Some folks have even kept them 10 days. But hatching rates go down the older they get. Good luck.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Egg can last 7-10 days for optimal fertility and you can set them after that but the fertility drops rapidly. Do you mean collect them and then let them sit or how long they can sit outside befor you collect them. If you leave them outside there are other factors like freezing cold , summer heat and them getting wet from rain or mud.

 

[TNBlacktails]

Like I wont be able to get the eggs till after school (4:20) and they usually lay 7 or 8 in the morning. The nesting boxes i have for them are inside outa the rain. When i get them on the weekend they are usually cold if they are could I still put them in the bator ? THANKS

 

[Silseb]

Yes you can still put them in. I would check before going to school too if they sometimes lay early. You can save them up to a week or even two weeks but after 10 days the hatchability really starts to suffer.

 

[TNBlacktails]

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE GUYS AND GALS

 

[Sally Sunshine]

How exciting!! What kind of incubator are you using??
your welcome to my notes https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101 below is a paste from them in regards to collecting your eggs! Good luck with your hatch and new peeps!!

Collection & Storage of Eggs
Sources for eggs are to search the BYC buy sell trade section, Craigslist and eBay. Your local thread on BYC may be the best bet for local eggs! Look for your local site in the “Social section” “Where am I? Where are You!” on BYC.

Choose eggs that are of good size, not abnormally big or small. Do NOT set dirty, cracked, or porous eggs. Try not to wash eggs as you will disrupt the protective barrier. Avoid using cloths to clean eggs because this removes the egg's protective coating and exposes it to entry of disease organisms. The washing and rubbing action also serves to force disease organisms through the pores of the shell. Place the eggs upright in an egg carton with the FAT, air cell end of the egg UP! Allow eggs to sit in a moderately cool, somewhat humid place for storage. Basements are great. Moderately cool means 55-65 degrees. Rotate your eggs a 3 times a day to keep the embryo from sticking. An easy way to turn all of the eggs at once is to place a thick book under one end of the carton, and later remove the book and put it under the other end of the carton, 3 times a day. Before adding eggs to the incubator always WARM eggs UP slowly to room temperature. IF THE EGGS ARE COLD Condensation can cause bacterial growth on the eggs! You can collect eggs up until 10 days or so, but after the 7th day lower hatch rates may result. Stored eggs take longer to hatch (about one hour per day of storage).

It is important to ALWAYS wash your hands before handling your hatching eggs!

Omphalitis, yolk sack infection is caused by a bacterium that enters through the porous egg shell and easily kills embryo's and newly hatched chicks. Unfortunately, incubation conditions are ideal for breeding bacteria as well as incubating eggs.
For more information on storing eggs refer to Recommendations for hatching egg handling and storage



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Is it Fertile or Infertile?​

To check the fertility, simply break an egg in a bowl. Find the white spot on the yolk. If you do not, use a spoon to gently flip the yolk over until you find it.

If the egg is fertile, the white mark will be nearly perfectly round and in the center it will be yellow;
it will resemble a donut. If it is infertile, the white mark will not be very round, and in most cases, smaller than that of the fertile mark. If the egg is not fertile, the 'white mark' is called a "blastodisc". If the egg is fertile, the 'white mark' it is called a "blastoderm", and this means that cell division, because of fertilization, occurred. A link with more pics of fertile vs Non Eggs! https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures
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[what did I do]

You have some wonderful information here.

It is ok to collect the eggs after school. It is ok to let the eggs get cool. I'ge read where someone hatched eggs that were frozen before incubating them.

How many eggs do you plan to incubate? You can collect eggs for several days to make sure your incubator is full before you start incubating. Just do what the above poster posted. You can just set them on a counter until you have enough.

Tip, my eggs always hatch on days late 19, 20, and 21 so make sure Sunday is day 21. You may have a few hatch on day 22 but that should be the end of them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Wait until you have all the eggs you want to incubate before you put them in the incubator. Otherwise you get a staggered hatch which is extremely stressful and often does not turn out well.

I store my eggs for hatching in the automatic turner. It's on a dresser in the spare bedroom which is a safe out-of-the-way place with pretty good temperature conditions. Yuo\\ou don't have to turn the eggs the first few days but it doesn't hurt.

 

[TNBlacktails]

Ill be using a little giant still air incubator