How long can I wait before incubating eggs?

[hmlongino]

My maran eggs are taking longer to hatch than expected, and my guinea eggs arrived today! I am going to have to wait longer than I wanted to to start setting them.
I was wondering if guineas had a longer "storage" period than chickens??
I sure hope so!!!

 

[okdfarms]

the fact that the eggs have been shipped changes things as you really don't know how old the eggs are. i have successfully hatched eggs that i collected from my hens and stored for 10 days at room temp and admittingly, very inconsistent turnings. are you days away from hatching your chicks? maybe you could borrow an incubator from someone. your shipped eggs should rest for 12 - 24 hours before incubating.

 

[cracking up]

I was thinking the same thing about shipped eggs needing to rest. I've had the same experience with not setting right away. If they're stored right they should keep longer than chicken eggs.

 

[PeepsCA]

I've successfully incubated and hatched eggs that were between 16 and 18 days old before, several times. If you think about it... a Guinea Hen typically lays a clutch of 20-30 eggs before she goes broody, and given the optimal conditions and protection from predators many Hens will hatch out a significant number of eggs in their clutches, sometimes all of them. Obviously a lot of those eggs are way older than 10-14 days days. So I think it's safe to say that Guineas eggs have a pretty decent viability length, if stored correctly (in a cool place, out of direct sunlight, where they won't lose too much moisture and they get tilted or turned at least once a day).

Hopefully your eggs are still pretty fresh, but just to make sure can you contact the seller and ask when they were laid/collected? I'd put them in a cool spot and after they've sat/rested for 24 hours as suggested above and I'd start tilting them once a day until you can incubate them. I wouldn't push storage time much more than a week if you can't find out how fresh the eggs are tho, you don't want to lessen your viability rate any more than it might have already been just from the shipping journey, and you don't want them to lose too much moisture while they are waiting for their turn in the incubator.