How many hours can eggs stay under broody before they're useless for future hatching?

[katefollot]

I go out as often as possible to collect them of course, but I have a confused on and off broody and am never sure how long she has actually been sitting on them. Just generally wondering if there's a time frame for development that can't be stopped and then restarted at a later date as I know there is a small amount of development that happens while inside the warmth of the hen (or so I've read).

 

[aart]

Just collect eggs daily and save for starting to incubate all at once.

 

[CiscoChickens]

I had a clutch of eggs that my silkie was starting to collect, but she only layed every 1.5 days. In-between that time, my other hens would pick that egg box, warm up the fertilized eggs, and left after laying their own. By the time my Silkie was ready to go broody (which seemed like 2 weeks), I thought for sure that the eggs were dead. They were warm, cold, warm, cold, almost on a daily basis!

But nope! She hatched them! Eggs are more resilient then you may think. They can wait in the cold, kind of in a hibernation state, until the broody decides to warm them up for good— that's when the activation starts and the chicks start growing!

I've been told that eggs get more shine to them the longer they sit, but that's not always the truth. If you want your hen to go broody and raise a clutch, I would put some fake eggs or golf balls in the nesting box until you don't see her budge for a few days. Then you know the future chicks will be happy and healthy!

Just save the most recent eggs (finding which one's they are to the best of your ability) and then stick them under mama hen when she's made up her mind.

Hope this helps!
--- CiscoChickens