1st time incubating question please help

[aqhaktberry3]

I just bought my 1st incubator. I'm wondering though, if a hen only lays one egg a day and you want to hatch a couple can you wait a few days until she has laid a couple more eggs? How long can a fertile egg wait before you put it in the incubator? How do you store it in that time before you incubate it. Thanks!

 

[JamesA]

I would not wait much longer than ten days.Some people wait longer but that is about the max for me.I would store them in a egg cartoon and turn them a few times a day just like you would in the incubator.Store them in a cool place.

 

[aqhaktberry3]

Ok, like room temp. or like refrigerator temp?

 

[Bedste]

I just hatched 50,000 eggs yesterday and today..... so I can tell you everything that I learned in a novel... Good and bad and all...


Get an egg carton and start collecting eggs. Store them pointy side down. Do not wash them off even to get poo off of them. Leave them dirty. There is a natural film on them that they need. Do not put them in the fridge. Leave them out on the counter or in any safe place until you get what you need. They are good for 8 days, some say even 10 days... 8 days for sure.. Mark all your eggs with pencil.... 0 on one side X on the other...you need to gently roll the egg about 1/4 roll 3 times a day.... plug incubator in and run it for a day before you add eggs and make sure you have a thermometor that is able to check humidity also.... READ everything on BYC about incubating..... they have a lot of info.... it is important to Candle the eggs about half way.... so they do not EXPLODE in yoru face or in the incubator...... that happened to me TWICE this time.... YUKKKY

email me if you need anything else I can help with....and have FUN..

 

[MAllen]

Quote:
50,000 eggs?!?! Holy cow man, feeding an army?? How many and what type of incubators are you running??

 

[FenDruadin]

You've gotten good advice so far. I would just add that you should incubate at least three, but better to do five or more eggs. The reason is that it is unusual, especially on a first hatch, for all the eggs to hatch successfully. So if you want more than one chick (and a single chick would be very lonely), you'll be safer if you incubate a few extra eggs.

And yes, you can wait until she lays a few more, as long as you don't wait too long. If she were going to hatch the eggs herself, she would just collect them in a nest until she was ready to sit on them, and they would all begin developing the day she decided to sit.

 

[aqhaktberry3]

Thank you for all the help, you guys are awesome! Feel free to add more!

 

[Bedste]

BYC forum is the fastest way to get the answers we all need and the moral support too!