How long can I keep an egg?

[Aisha3789]

My hen laid her first egg on April 2nd and has been laying one almost daily since then but not gone broody. Now I have 6 eggs. How long can I keep them? For example that first egg was laid 7 days ago for how much longer is it good?

 

[Poultry keeper12]

My hen laid her first egg on April 2nd and has been laying one almost daily since then but not gone broody. Now I have 6 eggs. How long can I keep them? For example that first egg was laid 7 days ago for how much longer is it good?

If you are thinking of hatching them, you can keep them for about forteen days turning them after the first seven, BEest Rehards!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Every time a hen enters the nest to add another egg to her clutch she first shuffles the eggs that she has already laid. I you wish to hatch eggs then you should do as the mother hen does and turn your sitting eggs daily. A temperature of 55F and a humidity of 65% is almost perfect to keep eggs at in order to get the best hatch. After 14 days hatchability decreases to about 50%. After 21 days forget about hatching any egg that is 3 weeks old or older. Mark and date each egg so that you can chose the newest and best eggs to sit under you hen. You owe her that.
PS: has she been exposed to a rooster.... lately?

 

[bobbi-j]

How old is your hen? Has she ever gone broody before? Not all hens go broody, so I wouldn't count on it. What I do is, I keep a dozen eggs on the counter, ready to go if I do get a broody. I don't know how many chickens you have, or how many eggs you get in a day, or if you only want to hatch from that one hen, but I wouldn't count on her going broody - especially if she's a pullet and is just starting to lay.

 

[chickens really]

Collect the eggs daily and toss her off the nest. She won't hatch Chicks if you don't have a Rooster?...Also I would not eat that 7 day old egg either..

 

[Aisha3789]

Every time a hen enters the nest to add another egg to her clutch she first shuffles the eggs that she has already laid. I you wish to hatch eggs then you should do as the mother hen does and turn your sitting eggs daily. A temperature of 55F and a humidity of 65% is almost perfect to keep eggs at in order to get the best hatch. After 14 days hatchability decreases to about 50%. After 21 days forget about hatching any egg that is 3 weeks old or older. Mark and date each egg so that you can chose the newest and best eggs to sit under you hen. You owe her that.
PS: has she been exposed to a rooster.... lately?

Yes she has been with a rooster constantly. The rooster she was with died. We brought another one and I seen them mating (with her vent up) correctly the same day. I hope that makes sense i mean she was like accepting.

 

[Aisha3789]

How old is your hen? Has she ever gone broody before? Not all hens go broody, so I wouldn't count on it. What I do is, I keep a dozen eggs on the counter, ready to go if I do get a broody. I don't know how many chickens you have, or how many eggs you get in a day, or if you only want to hatch from that one hen, but I wouldn't count on her going broody - especially if she's a pullet and is just starting to lay.

We have only had her about a month and I don't know how old she is. But she lays perfect eggs like a champ everyday.

 

[bobbi-j]

What breed is she?

Again, I would keep pulling the eggs. If she’s going to go broody, it will happen whether there are eggs on the nest or not.

ETA -when I am saving eggs, I keep a full dozen on the counter, and start on another. When that carton is full, I put the first in the fridge, so the ones that are ready for the broody are always the most fresh.

 

[aart]

My hen laid her first egg on April 2nd and has been laying one almost daily since then but not gone broody.

They all don't go broody automatically after they start laying....some will never go broody. So if you really want to hatch some chicks now, best to get an incubator