Hatching Refrigerator Eggs

[Duck Hill]

On this thread, post any information / experience you have with trying to hatch eggs that have been in the refrigerator.

 

[Duck Hill]

I put four fertile eggs in the refrigerator. These eggs were about two days old and showed a small bubble on the yolk when candling. Normally, when I incubate this type of egg, I see the baby circle two or three days later.

After about three weeks in the refrigerator, I set these eggs on the counter for three hours, and then set them in the incubator.

One began growing.
The other three had a bubble when they came out of the refrigerator, but no baby circle formed. They were not viable.

I also set in the incubator more than a dozen old eggs that had been on the counter for about three weeks. Not all were fertile, but some should have been. None of them started. (They were too old.)

Conclusion: Putting eggs in the refrigerator will extend the life of some of the embryos beyond the amount of time they could have lived at room temperature. But losses are high, with perhaps 25% surviving for three weeks (or surviving the cold refrigerator).

Questions for the future:

1) Would a fertile egg that wasn't started (no bubble) handle the cold refrigerator better?
2) Could an embryo hatch with an even longer time in the refrigerator?

 

[chickens really]

I successfully hatched eggs that were in the fridge. My friend brought them for me from my old bloodline. I set 6 and 5 hatched.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I recently hatched washed and refrigerated eggs and was very surprised at the results. I now have a nice group of juveniles getting bigger every day (and am that much closer to eggs)!