How long can i kepp eggs

[oldchickenman]

I have 2 Silver Sebrights i want to breed. She is laying eggs now i just did get an incubator it arrived today. I need to know how long i can hold her eggs befor i have to incubat them and at what temp do i keep them. I would like to save up as many as possible. I will be putting them in breeding pen we built, by them selfs this weekend.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

7-10 days at the MOST and keep them about 50-60 degrees...basement usually works well. don't forget to turn them once a day while waiting for the incubator/

 

[swtangel321]

Ive kept mine up to 14 days and they have all hatched !!!! (lucky me, I guess) Also I don't turn them once a day. Just leave them in a draw in the bed room (around 65ish) and set them when im ready !!! Good luck, wishing you lots of happy hatches !!!

 

[MagsC]

I would say a cool room for up to 7 days. Just my opinion.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have had pretty good luck with just leaving mine in the nests for up to a week...But that's just me. Not supposed to do it that way...and now my hens are letting me know, they have begun hiding their nests. Don't like losing so many I guess.

 

[oldchickenman]

I thought about doing that, leaveing them in the nest. I have a Bantam hen that will lay 14 to 18 eggs and then sit them and they hatch out 21 days later and she did this all thru the sommer. She has 14 eggs now in the nest she will strat sitting this sat.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I didn't have any problem with it. I figured that if you let nature take it's course, the hens leave the eggs in there for however long it takes them to lay out. Plus they turn the eggs daily. I figured it was easier to let them do the work. And besides, it didn't really matter how many I hatched, I just needed something to do. I have a hen now that is sitting on a nest of 15 eggs that she had hidden...didn't even know she was laying yet!
If you don't want to incubate them, I would just leave them in the nest, and let the hens take care of egg care.
You could always store them until she starts to set. I have heard people letting the eggs wait for up to a month. It's just that the longer they go past 10 days, the lower the hatchability goes.

 

[deerman]

When setting in the incubator, no reason to leave them in the nest.
Yes the longer you keep past 10 days will drop the hatch rate.

I set mine once a week, easy to keep track when they should hatch, or you could set every 14 days.