fertile egg ?

[tuesdays chicks]

Can you hatch an egg that has been refrigerated.? And how long can a fertile egg sit before you hatch it?

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is a difference in can and the best way to store an egg for hatching. You can do a lot of things but some things will hurt your hatch rate.

The ideal temperature to store chicken eggs for hatching is between 55 and 65* F, but many of us don't follow the ideal. I store mine at room temperature which is higher. Some people store theirs in the refrigerator and get some of them to hatch, sometimes they even get real good hatches. How cold your refrigerator is or how high your room temperature is makes a difference. The ideal temperature does not guarantee that it will hatch, just like being outside the ideal does not guarantee that it won't hatch. Being outside the ideal means it is not as likely to hatch. The further away from the ideal you are, the worse your chances.

The same thing applies to how long you can store an egg for hatching. The ideal is to set the egg within 7 days. You can certainly store an egg longer and it might hatch. If you store it under good conditions 14 days is not unrealistic. The longer you store it, the less likely it is to hatch. After a couple of weeks, that likelihood reall drops fast, but people have hatched eggs stored for a month. How you store them makes a difference too, not just temperature but humidity and whether you turn them or not. An egg loses moisture through its porous shell. If you store it in low humidity conditions, it can lose enough moisture to affect the hatch. If you don't store them small side down, the air cell can migrate away from where it needs to be. If you don't turn them, the yolk can settle to one side all the way to the shell, and the yolk will dry out and stick to the side of the shell.

How long can an egg be stored before it is hatched. Possibly a month if you are careful of how you store it, but the possibility of it hatching really drops after 2 weeks. Ideally within a week, but you still need to store it properly.

 

[tuesdays chicks]

Thank you ridge runner, I was curious. About this.