how long can eggs be left in nest before incubating?

[showjumper_girl2002]

have 5 eggs in my muscovy's nest, she's not sitting on them. my bator won't be here till wed or thurs. how long can they stay in the nest before they're less likely to hatch?

 

[Sophie Mae]

Has she started sitting at all? Mine did not sit until she and her sister had 30 eggs in the nest. She may keep adding an egg a day until she is ready to sit.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

Quote:
she was laying an egg a day but stopped 2 days ago with just 5 eggs and still isn't sitting. i want to try and incubate this batch if they have a chance of being fertile. however, she had 4 hatch out of 14 a little over a week ago. we took the ducklings and a week after we took them is when she started laying again. is that too soon after her first hatch for these eggs to be fertile? i'm new at this so if i can leave them in the nest till the bator gets here i'd prefer that because i don't want to mess up the chance of them hatching by bringing them inside and storing them incorectly.