How long can you save fertile eggs?

[sepaditty1]

I lost my rooster today. I have some 10-12 day old eggs on my counter. I was wondering if it would be worth a shot in an incubator.

I never found out exactly what breed he was, but gorgeous! Would love some babies

But I don't have an incubator, so spending money on one if the eggs won't hatch seems kind of silly. What do you guys think?

 

[FarmerJessie]

I just hatched out shipped eggs from Missouri which ended up being stuck in transit for 10 days so the eggs were about 12 days old. I almost didn't incubate them, but some folks on this forum convinced me to. Out of 7 eggs, three chicks hatched! When I disposed of the eggs, only 1 egg was not fertile! I was shocked! I also was using an incubator I had never used before so I may have had even better luck in old faithful!

 

[mychicks1313]

One of the hens is sitting on 2 fertile eggs however everyday there is another egg in her nest. Is it common for another hen to get into the nest box with her and lay? Iam almost positive that she does not leave her nest. I take her out and sit ber by the food and water every 2 days, so she will eat.

 

[briann107]

My broody hen has been brooding on 6 eggs for two weeks but one night she decided to brood on 3 of them and the other three got cold but now she's back on all six but I'm scared they might have died or when dormant does anyone have any opinions on what you think is going on

 

[donrae]

My broody hen has been brooding on 6 eggs for two weeks but one night she decided to brood on 3 of them and the other three got cold but now she's back on all six but I'm scared they might have died or when dormant does anyone have any opinions on what you think is going on

All you can do is let her finish brooding and see how things go. There are several folks here, myself included, who have had power failures to an incubator for hours and still had decent hatches.