How long can you save fertile eggs?

[clucktastic]

I want to set some eggs under my BR hen, but I want them to be from my EE's. How do you save the eggs that you want to hatch? how long can you save them, and how long would I have to get them under a broody hen? This is my first time with hatching, so I might be overanalyzing this, but... any suggestions?

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

I make sure they are under the hen or in the bator by day 5. They can hatch when they are 2 weeks old, but the longer you wait after 5 days, the less eggs you'll have hatch. Collect your eggs, keep them cool, 55-65 degrees, & turn them like you were hatching, & before or on day 5, start hatching!!!

 

[duckling 1234]

After 7 days they lose approximetly 3% hatchibility. After 2 weeks they lose 10%.... I don't usually keep them past a week.

 

[CoopCrazy]

I am glad this popped up today.. As i have coturnix eggs coming to me and for some reason they have been in transit for 8 days.. Hopefully they will be viable...

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Quote:
Quail, Pheasant, Turkeys, & various other game birds have a longer dormancy time than chickens. My turks & pheasants will lay a clutch for 3 weeks before they even think about hatching them. The hatch rate is always good.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
Quail, Pheasant, Turkeys, & various other game birds have a longer dormancy time than chickens. My turks & pheasants will lay a clutch for 3 weeks before they even think about hatching them. The hatch rate is always good.

Awesome .. Thanks for the advice.. I was getting a lil worried...

 

[Ridgerunner]

This site gives a lot of information on storing eggs for incubation, whether it is incubating under a hen or in an incubator.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

Don't get too stressed out if you don't follow these recommendations to the letter. Like many recommendations on this forum, these are guidelines, not hard and fast laws. The closer you can follow the guidelines, the better the odds of a good hatch, but failure to follow them does not guarantee a bad hatch and following them exactly does not guarantee a good hatch. There are no guarantees but you can improve your odds.

Since it is your first hatch under the hen, may I suggest you check out this link. You may already know everything in here, but something may help you out.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

Good luck!!!

 

[clucktastic]

Thank you guys so much!

I chose 10 eggs laid today to put under her tonight. I decided to move her into my old dog crate, because she was in the highest nest box she could get to, and I was worried about her getting those chicks down safely. So, I picked some especially pretty eggs, from a range of breeds ( all but a select few of the BR eggs will be mixed anyhow) and waited until dark. I have the cage in a nice dry area of the strawbale house I added to the coop for the winter, and she's currently sharing the greater area of the balehouse with my pekin duck pair. So my wonderful mother and I went out tonight after the lights went out in the coop and brought the marked hatching eggs with us. Mom prepped the nest and made sure the eggs were all set, and I moved the hen. ooooh man she was ticked!

Can you believe she was only brooding one egg? I decided that since it had only been 2 days that we would just let the poor egg stay with its mama, so she's sitting on 11 now.

we got her into the cage and let her settle in with some food, which she ate for the first time I've noticed in almost 3 days. Then we left her alone to get back to business I went back out 20 minutes later, and sure as the sunrise, she was on those puppies and back to work. I hope this isn't too many for her to brood, she seemed to be covering them really well, so I think it should work, even if it is her first time. I'm not expecting 100% hatch or anything, but it really is exciting to watch this occur... especially the whole process that birds like this go through. It's funny to me that they can just decide to "get pregnant" one day, and that they have a choice in the matter.

I'll definately be taking photos in a couple of weeks. WOOTe

 

[lildinkem]

I can't remember which one it was, TUFFLEDHEN or SPECKLEDHEN who had some eggs last year on the oven or fridge like over a month and forgot they were there, & she said she had like near perfect hatch.

 

[mychicks1313]

I am new to this site and chickens all together. I have a question that kinda falls under this...my broody left her nest and sat on another egg my guess her eggs sat for about 5 hours or so, its about 45 degrees out, and the eggs about 11 days old. Will the eggs still hatch?