How long do I let my shipped eggs settle before incubating?

[crazychickengirl]

This is my first batch of eggs coming to incubate (well second, but I fried my first batch after the temp spiked..). Anyways...I know you are supposed to let them settle before incubating them...but how long? My friend has been incubating for the past year and just recently started getting eggs through the mail. Well...our first set was sort of a flop...hers all died before hatching and I had 3 chickens and 2 ducks hatch out of 18 eggs. Just a few weeks ago, we were at an auction and ran into a guy who is a breeder and he mentioned that we should let them settle for 48 hrs before incubating and that we'd get a better hatch rate.

Just curious as to what your opinons are on this and what has worked for you!

 

[Country Gal]

I *think* that you're supposed to let them settle for 24 hours... but I usually can't wait that long... when I incubated I think I let them settle for 8 hours. (maybe that explains why I only got 10 out of 24 to hatch?)

 

[crazychickengirl]

I know what you mean! I had a few that could have been put in yesterday, but I knew I was for sure starting some today, so I had to wait! I'm curious to see if waiting a full 48 hrs does in fact increase the hatch rate...I'll have to let everyone know if/when they hatch!

 

[Country Gal]

Good luck! I'm getting that "incubating itch" lately, but my husband might kill me... we just got all the babies out of the garage and into their housing last week!

I think I need to hold off until next spring - I want to try to hatch a bunch and sell them at the local poultry swap meet in April...

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Anywhere for 6 to 24 hours.....

 

[speckledhen]

I have let them settle as little as 30 minutes, but usually about 5-6 hours is what I do. Never have done it for 24 hours and it didnt seem to make any difference. You just dont want them less than room temp going into a warm bator to avoid condensation on the eggs.

 

[conny63malies]

I let them settle from when they come to my door until late at night(about 11-12pm)when i put them in the bator, which is a total of about 10-12 hours.

 

[BirdLova]

would a tiny Quail egg not come to room temp much faster than a larger and thicker shelled goose, or turkey egg?