I've got a flock of 5 hens and a rooster. My boys' elementary school wants some eggs for a hatching project. I've always bought day old chicks. The school has an incubator, and they'll do the hatching. I would like some tips for how I should care for the eggs and how long I can keep eggs before they get to the incubator.
Some questions I have are:
1. How long can eggs keep at room temperature and stay viable?
2. How should I store them?
3. What sort of hatch rate is reasonable to expect? (I'm going to take the chicks, and I don't want too many coming back my way.)
4. My rooster and one hen are brother and sister. In fact, I got those two birds as a result of last year's school hatching project. The hen lays darker eggs than the rest of my flock, and I don't plan on hatching her eggs since the offspring would be very inbred. Is this a valid concern?
5. My rooster is a mutt from some unknown mix of heritage brown egg-laying birds (he is actually a really pretty, wide-breasted bird that looks similar to a Delaware but the dark points are black not barred). The rooster's full sister is an excellent layer. The hens that will contribute eggs are heritage RIR and hatchery Barred Rocks and they are good layers (but are getting old). I am assuming the offspring hens will be good layers. Any reason why that's not the case?
Thanks for your help,
Neil
Some questions I have are:
1. How long can eggs keep at room temperature and stay viable?
2. How should I store them?
3. What sort of hatch rate is reasonable to expect? (I'm going to take the chicks, and I don't want too many coming back my way.)
4. My rooster and one hen are brother and sister. In fact, I got those two birds as a result of last year's school hatching project. The hen lays darker eggs than the rest of my flock, and I don't plan on hatching her eggs since the offspring would be very inbred. Is this a valid concern?
5. My rooster is a mutt from some unknown mix of heritage brown egg-laying birds (he is actually a really pretty, wide-breasted bird that looks similar to a Delaware but the dark points are black not barred). The rooster's full sister is an excellent layer. The hens that will contribute eggs are heritage RIR and hatchery Barred Rocks and they are good layers (but are getting old). I am assuming the offspring hens will be good layers. Any reason why that's not the case?
Thanks for your help,
Neil
