Fertilized Egg Storage

[303hunter]

I have a couple of silkie hens that have started laying, but only 2-3 weekly. I'd like to have at least 10 to put in the incubator. How long can I store them, and at what temperature or conditions?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's best not to store eggs more than a week to 10 days. Hatchability goes down dramatically after that.
If storing for up to a week, about 60F and relatively high humidity is best. If storing longer, the temperature should be lower (about 45).
Longer storage times are possible with a couple conditions. Storing in a gas like nitrogen can help. Pre storage incubation also helps them last longer.

All that said, it's best not to incubate pullet eggs for several reasons.

 

[303hunter]

...

It's best not to store eggs more than a week to 10 days. Hatchability goes down dramatically after that.
If storing for up to a week, about 60F and relatively high humidity is best. If storing longer, the temperature should be lower (about 45).
Longer storage times are possible with a couple conditions. Storing in a gas like nitrogen can help. Pre storage incubation also helps them last longer.

All that said, it's best not to incubate pullet eggs for several reasons.
[/quote
Actually, one has been laying about 4 months, the other close to 6 months. What are some reasons for not incubating pullet eggs? Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The good thing about setting pullet eggs is that the albumen quality is better than with older birds. Other than that, I posted the following on a couple other threads where the topic was discussed.

"Here's all I know about the subject.
It is true that many people hatch from pullet eggs all the time with no problems.
It's also true that the smaller chicks from small pullet eggs will usually catch up in size by a year or so.
So what are reasons not to do it?

A chicken deposits about 2 grams of calcium in an egg - regardless of age. So a pullet egg shell will be thicker than one from a mature hen and possibly more difficult to escape from.

There is clearly less albumen and a smaller yolk. That means less nutrition. Mammal babies can get all the nutrition they need from the mother and the abdomen can grow to accommodate. Once an egg is laid, that's all the nutrition and space there will ever be. Less nutrition means less vigor.

I've had old timers tell me that continuing to hatch from pullet eggs will decrease egg sizes in subsequent generations.

On the other hand, albumen quality is better with young birds than older hens.

IMHO it depends upon how big the egg is supposed to be based on the breed. Eggs from the breed I raise are supposed to be 65 grams or larger. I've always tried to set eggs that were 55 grams or larger.
Then I had a predator massacre and only 3 mature hens survived. The pullets had just started laying eggs so I decided to set every egg I could get reducing my low weight limit to 45 grams. Now that those birds have matured (they're almost a year old), I see the results. Unlike past generations that started laying larger eggs by about 8 or 9 months of age, the eggs are still in the small/medium/large range rather than the XL and jumbo they should be by now.
That probably wouldn't matter to most backyard chicken people or even noticeable to those with multiple breeds. But since I've eliminated all other breeds, it's very noticeable to me. And since I'm breeding to a standard, egg and bird size is an important part of that standard.
I'm now paying much closer attention to egg size when I set and track results through adulthood and generations to follow.
I group eggs by sire, egg color and egg size. I'm tracking eggs in the 50-55 gram, 55-60 gram, 60-70 gram and 70+ ranges. In those ranges I'm checking hatch rates, chick survivability and weights. I'm weighing every 10 days for a month then monthly. In adulthood these hens are supposed to be 4.4-5.3 lbs. and cocks 5-6.6 lbs. I had been shooting to be at the high end of that range so we'll see what the future holds."


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15869849

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Small eggs result in small birds. Their potential is stymied from day one. If breeding to standard pullets are not the best choice of a breeder as they can and do still change in coloring and shape until hens. Problems can arise until they are at least a year old and this will have been bred forward if used as pullets.

I store eggs for two weeks and don't have bad hatch rates. Many say a week is max for good hatching results but that's not proved to me. Last hatch of my own eggs stored for two weeks of collection was 100% hatch. My special method of careful storage is an egg carton on the kitchen counter. Eggs placed fat end up and the carton tilted side to side once or twice a day (prop side up with a book or block and move to other side once a day).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good point on the pullets not showing their true form until mature.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I just did an incubation with my pullet's eggs for the first time. They had only been laying a couple months. (We are talking mostly barnyard mix and my silkie.) I put 21 eggs in the incubator. Pulled one before 7 days that quit. Left me with 20 eggs. All 20 developed nicely and went into lockdown. I was a little concerned about the size of the polish/silkie mixes and the silkie's eggs. I shouldn't have been apparently. 20 went in to lockdown and 20 hatched. Perfect little fuzzballs. Best hatch I have ever had. Not a single chick with cord still attatched, no unabsorbed yolk, no leg problems, no neck problems, no pasty butt. Could not have gone better. (I incubate in the little giant 9200 model.)

 

[lazy gardener]

On the other side of the egg size equation, I've found that larger eggs don't hatch as well. This raises the question: When a mixed group of eggs goes into the bator, and all of the small ones hatch, but the large ones have a very poor hatch rate, would the outcome be different if the eggs were all the same size? ie: if all of the eggs from a particular setting were large, would they have a better hatch rate? I don't think so, b/c the hatching perameters would be the same. And, when cracking eggs into a frying pan, I've noted that the smaller eggs have much more viscous albumen, which IMO indicates that they have the nutritional advantage in the bator. I think that if given the option of pullet eggs of decent size vs. large eggs from older hens, I'd choose the pullet eggs. I did find that my hatch rate went up on large eggs when I completed lock down with them upright in egg cartons. Perhaps that less viscous albumen persists through lock down, creating a very wet hatch, with increased risk of drowning. This is my theory.