Eggs and broodies

[greathorse]

I have a broody in my laying coop. My laying coop has a number of (seldom laying) Wheaten marans that I want to hatch. I only have the opportunity to collect eggs once per day, at the end of the day. Every evening when I gather eggs my broody is sitting on a few eggs. I take them from her and hope she will give it up one day soon. She is persistent. So far I am not motivated to put her in another coop.

So here is my question. Will the eggs that I take in and save for a few days be OK, or will they have started even if she has only been on them for a maximum of 10 hours and when I take them to room temperature will they quit?

I am going to set them I suppose but wonder if it is futile.

Thanks in advance for any information

 

[geebs]

I think you will be fine... For an egg to reach good fertility it has to sit around a little.. I would definetly try them...I usually let my eggs sit for 5 or 6 days till I hatch them so they can become maximumly (if that is a word) fertile... I hope this helps.

Geebs

 

[Ridgerunner]

I cannot claim any great expertise or insight to this as I don't have that specific experience. I will offer an opinion. I personally would set the eggs.

When growing up, I would gather eggs like you, once a day. Some of those eggs were from under a broody hen that could have been sitting on them all day. Mom always cracked eggs in a separate bowl just in case, but she hardly ever found one with a problem and when she did, it was meat spots or bloodspots, not an egg that had started to develop. I think you will be OK.

 

[PortageGirl]

Set them as in put them in an incubator? Or back out under the Broody? Either way would be fine I believe. Are you taking them away from her because she/they aren't frequent layers as you say? I guess I can see that... if should work out well, I'd mark the date they were layed or at least the date you set them all under her in case she or others lay more in the mix.

 

[greathorse]

I am taking them away becasue I am getting about 1-2 eggs per day and i want them all to hatch at the same time. I will set them in my incubator. I am concerned that the embryo may have begun to develop even after only 10 hours of the broody sitting on them and then incubation is stopped while I stock pile and wait for my day to put them in the incubator.

To me it would be a bit like putting them in the incubator for 10 hours then taking them out for a week and then setting them again.

I want to know what happens in the 10 hours do I get a start and then a dead cell when I take them out? I will set them and see, I was hoping someone may have run into this before

Thanks again