I just my got first incubator and I am very excited how long can a egg be left alone and then in the incubator?
If I understand your question correctly, eggs can be kept for up to 10 days without too many problems, provided you turn the eggs daily. The easiest way to do that is keep them in egg cartons, and switch the carton from one side to the other every day. You can keep eggs longer than 10 days, but the viability drops after 10 days.
Agreed, you can keep them for around 10 days after their lay date before viability begins to decline. As for incubation, the short answer is they should be in there about 21 days before they start hatching. The long answer is: Go read everything on this link https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48726 and then if you still have questions, we'll be here for ya
Quote:I didn't answer that part, because the OP didn't state what type of eggs he or she is incubating Different types of eggs take different lengths of incubation, following is an overview of some common species: Button quail: 15-16 days Coturnix quail: 16-18 days Bobwhite quail: 21-24 days Ringneck pheasant: 23-25 days Bantam chickens:19-21 days Large Fowl chickens: 21 days Call ducks: 26-28 days Other (mallard derived) ducks: 28 days Muscovy ducks: 35 days Geese: 28-30 days Turkeys: 28 days Guineas: 26-28 days I think that about covers it
