holding eggs before incubating them

[FLURRYOFTEXAS]

how long can you hold on to eggs before they go bad ... i only get 12 eggs a day and i am afraid to keep them longer than 4 day before i try to incubate them,

 

[chickensinwasillaAK]

Most ppl go a week to 10 days but you need to keep them cool but not refridgerated. Be sure to keep pointy side down and turn them a few times a day side to side

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
Check out my experiment. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=475734

I have a hatch going right now where I collected 15 eggs from one bird in 16 days and the hatch is going really well!

 

[cmom]

I have kept eggs for up to 10 days. I have kept eggs for up to 10 days at 65 to 70 degrees before I have put them in the incubator and also on my counter in a room where the temp stays around 80 degrees. My hatches have had the same success rate except the eggs stored at the warmer temp hatched earlier. Usually I collect the eggs I want to hatch for 3 or 4 days then put them in the incubator. The longer they set out the less viable they can become so I don't set any eggs that I have collected beyond 10 days and usually it is within 5 days. I don't handle the eggs too much. I usually candle at day 10 and again at day 18 when I take them out of the turner and set them for hatching. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[donrae]

Well, if you think about how a hen does it......she lays usually an egg a day for several days, most hens it's at least seven. Then they start sitting. So, she's sitting on a seven day old egg, a six day old egg......you get the picture. And anyone who's been suprised by a broody they didn't know was broody emerging with a little flock of chicks can tell you many times they would have sworn the weather was too hot or cold for those eggs to be any good. They're remarkably durable, it's the way they're designed. So I'd say you could hold them several days before setting them in the incubator.

 

[meagain]

I only wait for 7 days to put mine in the incubator