about to try to hatch again & I've just a couple questions

[Mom2Cool]

Ok so the last hatch I tried I got nothing. Those where purchased eggs that were sent to me. I think they got too scrambled & what had looked like solid inside I think were just real cloudy from being scrambled. Anyway since then my BO's have started laying & my BO Roo Mr. Standoffish has been having a field day with his little harem & so that stupid incubator is just sitting there, sooooo I thought ok we've SOOOOO many eggs right now I'll give it a whirl again.

So the day before yesterday I'd started collecting eggs because it was such a beautiful day & so they hadn't gotten real cold. I've been keeping them in the basement where it's cooler than the rest of the house.

My question is how old are eggs when they're too old to set in the incubator? I've collected about 7 eggs so far & I'd hoped to maybe get a few more tomorrow. But if I get a few tomorrow then I should really let them set in a indoor cooler temp for a while too right? so if I collect eggs at say 10 am is say 10 hours enough time so I'd be putting them all in at 10pm tomorrow night? And is that to long for the ones sitting since the day before yesterday? I thought I'd heard somewhere that you can let an egg sit for up to a week but I figured it whouldn't be more than 3 days. Thought I'd check with all those here to see how you all do this?

 

[shelleyd2008]

You can set them up to 10 days after being laid, after that the viability of the eggs seems to drop. I have set them from my own hens up to 2 weeks after with good results.
You can pop them in the bator as soon as you get them, especially if they are all going in at the same time, unless it is pretty chilly, then you would want to let them warm up a bit first. If they are very cold, they can sweat from being put into a warm, humid incubator. This would make it easier for bacteria to enter the egg. I would say to set the eggs you plan on putting in the incubator in the warmest room in your house for at least 6 hours before setting them, so they can warm up fairly well. Good luck on your hatch!!

 

[Mom2Cool]

oh ok so then technically I could hold the ones I have a few more days to put in a a good dozen huh? I was hoping for a good amount of eggs so as to get a few chicks if I can get them to hatch. I think it's better to hold the eggs rather than to stagger with putting some eggs in a day or 2 later because it would throw off the hatch time or the day I'm suppose to stop turning them. I thought I was suppose to keep them in a cooler place that was between 50 to 60 degrees & I figured the basement was the best place for this.

Thanks so much Shelley I appreciate the answer I've been sitting here all afternoon trying to figure out do I wait another day or 2 or pop them in tomorrow but I think I'm gonna wait.