my first eggs were duds...

[badwolf7914]

I tried incubating for the first time as the roos were getting active with the hens finally. Well it's been a week for some, 5 days for some, and my dh put some in without marking while I wasn't arond this past week. Something was getting a rotten smell, so none of them had signs of life after this time, so I began opening to learn what was happening with them. One had a tiny blood spot. The rest were all normal yellow yolks with thick egg white except for one that was a runny yellow. The last one was most likely one he had put in today, and it's white circle wasn't normal in the yolk, so it might have been fertilized. I plan to restart another group of eggs, but how long can they stay out of the bater and at what temperature until I collect enough as she lays 1 a day. How do you store eggs set aside for the incubator until insert day?

 

[Shannon33]

I have only done one hatch, but it went great. I collected for about a week and half, and I stored them in an egg carton in my kitchen at room temperature. Out of 10 eggs, two turned out to be not fertile, and the rest hatched. Then the hen hatched some of her own, I am overrun with babies, lol!

 

[badwolf7914]

wonder how long it takes for roosters to have the ability to fertilize after they start mating? They have been mating the hens for at least a month now...

 

[TaLani]

Maybe it's not just the fact that he's doing it, maybe it's the fact that he's not perfected what he's doing when he's doing it???

I guess what I'm trying to say is that he has to have a "successfull" mating before your eggs will be fertile. If that's not the case, then I'm as clueless as you.

 

[Bat Cave Silkies]

TaLani is right. Young roos need practice to actually fertilize a hen; they may appear to be successful, but often aren't.

As for storing your gathered eggs~~I store my in an egg carton, after I've written the date and color on it. Elevate one end of the carton, and reverse that elevation everyday. I only store eggs for a max of 7 days before incubating....after that, the viability greatly decreases.

Don't give up...give it another try!

 

[badwolf7914]

how long do you think it will take them to practice before f. egg time???

 

[SkyWarrior]

If you eat eggs, you should be able to see if they're starting to get fertilized pretty easily. Then, you know.