I have 3 sets of eggs arriving this week. I have eggs that came today, the next set tomorrow. I am picking up the 3rd set on Sat that shouldn't need to set. I plan to let the eggs arriving USPS Friday afternoon to set 24 hours which puts them in the bator the same time Sat. eve as the eggs I'm picking up and driving home. The question, will it hurt the eggs that came this afternoon to sit 48 hours to wait to go into the bator Sat. eve with the other two batches so they are all on the same schedule?
Depends on how many days old they are at this point. Seven days from being laid til in the incubator is the prefered time frame. Up to ten days will probably be ok. I think you are on the right track trying to avoid a staggered hatch.
dbcooper02 is giving you good advice. I recently read a post on some hatching thread here on BYC that claimed he was getting good hatch rates from eggs that had set for almost 3 weeks. I guess that is possible but pushing the practicle limits of chicken hatchability. Guinea hens will lay an egg a day for almost 30 days and then set those eggs and get 100% or very close to it hatch rate. However Guinea eggs seem to have a much harder/tougher shell than the chicken egg shells. I've had chcicken eggs take 9 days to arrive by mail that were 4 and 5 days old when mailed and still gotten a 70% hatch rate. Guess you don't know till you try it. Good Luck whatever you decide.
I do know that the oldest eggs are from this Monday so by Sat., the oldest eggs going in will only be 6 days old. That'll be, give or take, about 8 eggs. About 8 more will only be 5 days old. All the rest will be from 1 - 4 days so I think I'll be good. My concern will be for batch 1 and 2 as they came through the mail and the last two I've had come that way only produced 5 growing eggs out of 29; only one of those hatched. Not a great hatch rate. Which is why I am going to pick up the 3rd batch directly from breeder on Sat. I can only pray for a good hatch and that the mailed ones came through smoothly. I'll drop a note later next week after they've had enough time to give a good idea with first candle.
