I don’t know how many you have laying or how many you plan to hatch. You might read this. It’s a good overall view at incubating and has a good section on storing eggs for incubation.
Texas A&M Incubation site
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/...e-Cartwright-Incubating-and-hatching-eggs.pdf
Most of that is just guidelines. That means they are targets to shoot for, not things that guarantee failure if you don’t do them exactly. Some things are important, like storing then pointy side down to keep the air cell where it’s supposed to be. But it says to store them at 55 degrees. I don’t have a place like that so I store them in a spare bedroom probably around 68 degrees. That’s close enough. Just do the best you reasonably can and you will probably be OK.
Another place to learn a lot I in the learning center up on top of this page.
I don’t know how long your hen or hens have been laying. When a pullet first starts she normally lays small eggs and sometimes she lays strange eggs. It sometimes takes her a while to get all the kinks out of her internal egg making factory. As complicated as the process is, it’s amazing how many actually get it right from the start. And the longer she lays the bigger the eggs will get.
This stuff does not come with absolute hard and fast rules. That’s why I call them guidelines. There are different reason to not hatch those tiny pullet eggs. When they first start the shell may be too thick or too thin or some of the internal parts may not be connected right. The chicks that do hatch will be small and not as strong as chicks from larger eggs. So it’s best to wait a while.
I’ve hatched pullet eggs. I’ve had good hatch rates with pullet eggs. The hatch rate is normally not as good as with eggs from older hens but many of them will hatch. I’ve raised the chicks from those pullet eggs. Those chicks are smaller when they hatch because the egg is smaller and does not have as many nutrients for them to grow bigger. I hardly ever lose a chick that hatches but occasionally it happens. When I do lose one, it is usually one from a small pullet egg. Because they are so small, they are just harder to raise. I still hatch pullet eggs and usually raise a lot of chicks from them.
I don’t know when your birthday is. What I suggest is go ahead and eat the eggs. I assume you have a rooster so the eggs are probably fertile. When you get the incubator, start saving eggs then. While you are saving eggs run that incubator and make sure it works. You may have to return that incubator or make adjustments. I know you want to get eggs in there as soon as possible but make sure that incubator is working right. Also, have all the eggs you want to go in there and start them all at the same time. That’s important. Don’t start off with a staggered hatch. That’s way too stressful for your first hatch.
Good luck with it and welcome to the adventure.
