New eggs............

[HickoryHollow]

I have Delaware's that should start laying soon. There is a Rhode Island Red rooster in with them. I haven't seen them setting down for him yet but probably will soon. The Pullets are about 5 1/2 months old. How long after they start producing eggs do you guys wait before putting eggs in incubator?

 

[Mister B]

I would wait until I at least see him breed them. Then you know they have a chance of being fertile.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

You could probably collect eggs after a couple of weeks to incubate. Just a word of caution, pullet eggs do have a lower chance of hatching. They're usually smaller, have thicker or thinner shells, sometimes they don't have all of the bits inside they're supposed to, ect.
I hatch them fairly often, but I don't get great hatch rates from them. You'd probably have better luck if you waited a couple of months for the egg quality to even out, but I can understand not wanting to

 

[HickoryHollow]

"pullet eggs do have a lower chance of hatching. They're usually smaller, have thicker or thinner shells, sometimes they don't have all of the bits inside they're supposed to, ect."

Thanks funky....that was my concern. I will probably chance it though.....got a huge incubator that really is itching to get filled! lol

 

[scflock]

"pullet eggs do have a lower chance of hatching. They're usually smaller, have thicker or thinner shells, sometimes they don't have all of the bits inside they're supposed to, ect."

Thanks funky....that was my concern. I will probably chance it though.....got a huge incubator that really is itching to get filled! lol

I would roll the dice. I've done well with cuckoo maran pullets once the eggs get closer to a normal size (about a month after they start laying). It would also give you a chance to do a test run with the incubator to learn what does and doesn't work

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I would roll the dice. I've done well with cuckoo maran pullets once the eggs get closer to a normal size (about a month after they start laying). It would also give you a chance to do a test run with the incubator to learn what does and doesn't work

I would chance it too. I mean, I do. I hatch pullet eggs often. I've gotten some really nice birds from them.