collecting eggs???

[naightengale]

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)

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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

 

[sourland]

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.

 

[AZBootsie]

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!!!