how long can i collect eggs to atempt to hatch them?? when i googled it i came up with 2 weeks to 3 days???? my hens are very inconsistant at the moment some days i get 6 eggs in a day some times it takes a week to get that many..(working with 3 sexlinks hens)
I have read two weeks but that is just reading LOL. There are storage recommendations for them though. http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G8353
Most people will tell you 7 to 10 days, but stop and think how long it may take a broody hen to lay a clutch. At one time I had one metal Sears incubator. I would hatch a batch of eggs, disinfect, and start another batch. Many of those eggs had been held in excess of two weeks. I generally managed high percentage hatches. Incubator was maintained and eggs were stored in an earthen cellar where the temperature was around 65 degrees F and humidity 50 % plus and minus. Eggs were stored in clean trays of bedding and turned daily. Worked for me.
General rule is no longer than 10 days. Viability lowers each day. But Sourland is right. People hatch eggs from Trader Joes that must be weeks old. I would put them all in the bator and then candle around day 4 or 5....toss out the nongrowers. Good luck!!!
