How long can eggs be left in the coop?

[emsdial911]

As long as the egg is not being incubated there will be no development.


EVENTS IN EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT
Before Egg Laying:
Fertilization
Division and growth of living cells
Segregation of cells into groups of special function (tissues)

Between Laying and Incubation
No growth; stage of inactive embryonic life

During Incubation:

First day
16 hours - first sign of resemblance to a chick embryo
18 hours - appearance of alimentary tract
20 hours - appearance of vertebral column
21 hours - beginning of nervous system
22 hours - beginning of head
24 hours - beginning of eye

Second day
25 hours - beginning of heart
35 hours - beginning of ear
42 hours - heart beats

Third day
60 hours - beginning of nose
62 hours - beginning of legs
64 hours - beginning of wings

Fourth day - beginning of tongue

Fifth day - formation of reproductive organs and differentiation of sex

Sixth day - beginning of beak

Eighth day - beginning of feathers

Tenth day - beginning of hardening of beak

Thirteenth day - appearance of scales and claws

Fourteenth day - embryo gets into position suitable for breaking shell

Sixteenth day - scales, claws and beak becoming firm and horny

Seventeenth day - beak turns toward air cell

Nineteenth day - yolk sac begins to enter body cavity

Twentieth day - yolk sac completely drawn into body cavity; embryo occupies practically all the space within the egg except the air cell

Twenty-first day - hatching of chick


This is where I got my information.
http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_chicks_embryo.html

 

[Attila the Honey]

Right now, I am working nights, but (I hope) that is soon to change. As of now, I collect a few times per day. I am worried about when I start working days. I will be working 12-14 hour days. My eggs are NOT fertilized! I got rid of the roos, to be kind to my neighbors. I am worried about bacteria, etc. Granted, they will be cooked at a high enough temp to kill any bacteria that wants to rear its ugly head.

 

[Attila the Honey]

Where in Southern AZ?

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[NonnasBabies]

I live in Louisiana where the temps will get in the 100's during the summer. I also work 12 hours shifts. That means I can't collect eggs till around 6 in the evening when I'm on days and in 2 years I've NEVER had a bad egg.

 

[Dingleberry]

:what if it is cold outside? I got in the bad habit

of only collecting once a week because there was so few. (2 a day)

is that bad??? now we get them once a day because they came off of their laying strike

due to the warmer weather and they are cleaner when we get them more often.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

emsdial911---very interesting info. Thanks for sharing it!

 

[emsdial911]

Quote:
Sure thing.

 

[ralleia]

Quote:
As long as your hens are healthy and you pick up every egg DAILY you should be fine. The instance of salmonella in healthy chickens is supposed to be less than 1 in every 30,000 eggs. And actually, if an egg *IS* contaminated, cooking doesn't normally kill all the bacteria, either. I've been downing mine raw for the past two weeks, but at a contamination rate of 1 in 30,000 eggs, I don't expect to run into an egg that makes me sick for at least 16 years.

I DO COLLECT ALL EGGS DAILY, however.

And thank you for finding the development timeline, emsdial911! That was very enlightening reading!

 

[cochinfan]

I love collecting eggs so much that I couldn't even imagine not doing it at least once a day. Maybe my life is not very exciting but egg collection is a high point for me!

 

[BrekanArts]

"You may notice blood vessels on the yolk, but the egg is still edible." - this may be true in regards to relative health risk , however eating chicken eggs with blood spots in them UnKosher. A Jewish farmer collects daily if there's a rooster in the yard. If we see blood in the yolk, we dispose of the egg.