Help, I'm a newbie at incubating!

[PeachygirlGA]

Bought an incubator last weekend and started regulating the temperature yesterday. I've got it at a steady 99.5 degrees. Now, my question is this: I have 2 eggs that were laid yesterday and hoping for 2 or 3 more to be laid today. How long can I leave them outside in the coop before I put them in the incubator? Should I go ahead and put the 2 in that were laid yesterday or can they wait until this afternoon??? I know I'm not supposed to put them in the fridge, but the temps outside today will be around 70 and the incubator said to keep them at around 55 degrees.
Thanks for your help!!

 

[FeatheredFreind]

Hi. Eggs are usually good for 10 days. You can wait and do them all together today. I would bring them into the room with the incubator(pointed end of egg down) if you are planning on putting them in today.

 

[PeachygirlGA]

Thank you for the reply!
I was just going to put the eggs right on top of the wire in the incubator. Do I need to put them in a carton?

 

[kt6238]

Good morning,
The last reply was correct, my wife and I incubate RIR eggs each year.
• Collect the eggs each day, place in a carton and jeep at room temp.
• On the 7th day remove from carton and place all eggs on top of the wire mesh in incubator at the same time.
•The eggs need to be rotated 180 deg 3x daily for 18 days. Take a led pencil and write the date, 21 days from when you placed them in the incubator and be sure to stop rotating the eggs 3 days prior to the date you wrote. This allows the chick time to get in position to hatch out.
• be sure to keep water in the reservoir of the incubator. Humidity is also critical to successful hatching.
• minimize the period the incubator is open when rotating the eggs.

Hope this info helped, good luck and Happy Hatching!
•

 

[FeatheredFreind]

There is alot of threads on here that will walk you threw it. If you do not have an egg turner an easy way of doing it is to put them in an egg carton with a hole cut out of the bottom under each egg for air flow, prop a small book or something under one side and to turn the eggs just take it out and put it under the other side. What are you hatching?

 

[kt6238]

Never heard of a carton being used as described. Gave you had a good hatch rate doing it that way? Always up for trying new things! Never had a lot of luck with an egg turner. They rock the egg back and forth, never actually turning the egg.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Awesome! its very addictive! your welcome to my notes in article https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

here are a few pastes from that article..... also please refer to ventilation temps and humidity, if you have a fan model you are good at 99.5 AS LONG AS Thermometers were calibrated see article, also if it doesnt have a fan refer to temp section as that will be 102 degrees at top of eggs. There are some things to keep in mind for a successful hatch, like monitoring weight loss during incubation. its all in the article! Good luck with your hatch!

Collection & Storage of Eggs
Sources for eggs are to search the BYC buy sell trade section, Craigslist and eBay. Your local thread on BYC may be the best bet for local eggs! Look for your local site in the “Social section” “Where am I? Where are You!” on BYC.

Choose eggs that are of good size, not abnormally big or small. Do NOT set dirty, cracked, or porous eggs.
Clinical studies at the University of Arkansas have shown that if your going to set a dirty egg, set the dirty egg, DO NOT SAND, WASH OR WIPE dirty eggs as hatchability decreases with these practices!
The washing and rubbing action also serves to force disease organisms through the pores of the shell. Place the eggs upright in an egg carton with the FAT, air cell end of the egg UP! Allow eggs to sit in a moderately cool, somewhat humid place for storage. Basements are great. Moderately cool means 55-65 degrees. Rotate your eggs a 3 times a day to keep the embryo from sticking. An easy way to turn all of the eggs at once is to place a thick book under one end of the carton, and later remove the book and put it under the other end of the carton, 3 times a day. Before adding eggs to the incubator always WARM eggs UP slowly to room temperature. IF THE EGGS ARE COLD Condensation can cause bacterial growth on the eggs! You can collect eggs up until 10 days or so, but after the 7th day lower hatch rates may result. Stored eggs take longer to hatch (about one hour per day of storage).

It is important to ALWAYS wash your hands before handling your hatching eggs!

Omphalitis, yolk sack infection is caused by a bacterium that enters through the porous egg shell and easily kills embryo's and newly hatched chicks. Unfortunately, incubation conditions are ideal for breeding bacteria as well as incubating eggs.
For more information on storing eggs refer to Recommendations for hatching egg handling and storage


​

 

[Saskfarmgirl]

Great advice everyone has given you. I just want to add that if you can't tell which side is the pointy end of egg candle to find air cell. You want the air cell up other wise the embryo will develop on wrong end of egg. Only speaking from advice. The first time I incubated I made that mistake with an egg thank goodness I caught it at day 6 flipped egg and embryo moved to where it should be. The egg carton tilting vs flat turning is a lot nicer. You only have to have them tilted at angle no need for complete turning.

 

[PeachygirlGA]

Thanks everybody! I will definitely take some time to read the one with all of the instructions.
I have a buff orpington rooster and am hoping to get at least a few buff eggs since mine are getting older and laying less frequently. I also have a red and 3 easter eggers. 2 of the EE have already laid so will bring them in today while I wait for the others. I may even have them all by this afternoon.

 

[Saskfarmgirl]

That's great. Incubating can get really addicting. It's a lot of fun you will enjoy it. I have 25 eggs ISA brown 2nd generation left in incubator right now. On day 8. This is my first time collecting and incubating from these 26 chickens and 1 Roo. I started with 27 thinking maybe 50% fertility surprisingly all were fertile. I lost 1 within first day and 1 at day six because of some temp flux. But so far doing better than I thought. Want to see what these guys come out looking like since they won t be true to their breed and what their laying will be like before I start selling them. Their parents are great birds I get 25 eggs a day out of 26 hens and they are super friendly. Next I ll be trying to hatch some blue slate turkey eggs.