Adding to the nest

[Donette]

I want to add some eggs from my son’s hen to my girl’s nest when one goes broody. Question: when my girl starts sitting on her eggs, how fresh do the eggs from my son’s hen need to be so they will all hatch around the same time? In other words, if they’ve been on his counter at room temp for 4 or 5 days can I slip them under my hen at night, or does it need to be within a day of being laid? TIA Pic of our first egg

 

[fluffycrow]

The eggs can be quite old (although not exceeding 10 days, because fertility will drop). What matters is placing them under the bird at the same time, since that is when incubation begins

 

[Acre4Me]

You should be good! I’ve collected eggs over 5-7 days and kept cool (cool room, not the fridge) until we put them in an incubator. When eggs are 10 days old (pre-incubation ), that is when a noticeable drop in viability occurs (assuming stored well, eggs in good condition, etc).

Remember to place clean eggs, but don’t wash them off bc you want the bloom to stay as it is a microbial barrier. Pick the cleanest eggs to incubate.

Good luck!!

 

[SueT]

The eggs do not have to be laid that day. And they do not have to all be laid the same day. The eggs sitting on the counter will not start developing until you put them under the hen, thus they will all be at the same stage when given her no matter when they were laid. I like to use eggs less than a week old but lots of people have reported success with older eggs.
The important thing is that they all go under the hen at the SAME TIME.

 

[Donette]

Thank you all. I love this group and am learning so much!