Help me prove a friend wrong

[Ms.Frizzle]

Long story short, I'm in a disagreement with a friend with how long eggs can sit before being placed in an incubator. He's being so disagreeable that unless I provide him with a scientific paper about it, he just isn't going to listen to anything I have to say about it. Could someone please link me to some sort of professional paper? My understanding is that they can last 7 days, 50-60 degrees F, large end up, being rotated twice daily so embryo doesn't stick. Correct me if I'm wrong, god knows he will.

Thank you!

 

[pdsavage]

The maximum storage period for chickens is about 3 weeks. Some turkey eggs will survive for 4 weeks, but quail will have difficulty developing from eggs stored longer than 2 weeks.

http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_storage.html

 

[Cindiloohoo]

They can last much longer than that. The fertility will go down after 7 days, but I have heard of eggs over a month old still viable and hatched. Even without "proper" handling of them pre incubation. He's wrong. So why do you have to prove it to him? Just curious

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not a scientific paper, but maybe some ammunition fo one of you. Not sure which one.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

The eggs we got from his mom. They sat out in the cold and were from hens 3+ yrs. None of them are developing in the bator, and he refused to belive that these could be the reasons why, and instead is saying it was because I let them sit for 4 days. Its one of those defending their name things. I know what causes fertility drops, bad hatching, about as much as he knows about cows. Arg!

 

[SierraView]

Not sure why he finds that so hard to believe. A chicken lays 1 egg a day, when she gets a clutch full she will sit and start incubating them. This would mean the first egg she lays is at east a week old. They can last longer then 7 days, you see people that have hatched ones almost a month after being layed. What does this man base his opinion on?

 

[aprophet]

according to studies chukar eggs are good for 28 days more then a few folks wait until the eggs are 2 weeks old before they try incubating them

 

[cackydoodledoo]

I have heard of people hatching store bought eggs!! Imagine they are even older than a month by the time they get to the grocery store and they have been refrigerated the whole time!!

 

[josie63]

My friend swears she bought a dozen at the gro. store, for got to put them in the fridge. She said she put them on her bator and hatched chickens.

 

[WallTenters]

Perhaps you can prove him wrong

Buy some hatching eggs that are at least a week old, and hatch them! We've hatched plenty of eggs that were over a week old, but we try to keep them under a week as there's no reason to incubate old eggs when our ladies lay more than we can handle

Did you check the fertility of the eggs? Was there anything developed at all? Has HE hatched anything out of these hens?