Newbie here - questions about transferring eggs from coop to incubator

[goats-n-oats]

Hi all, I am thinking of getting an incubator. Have 26 prolific hens, one horny Swedish rooster. Laying about 15 eggs a day. None of them are broody.
1) Must the eggs be warm from the coop in order to survive transferring to the incubator?
2) I read something about accumulating eggs over a few days before starting the incubator. Won't the eggs from day 1 die if not incubated?
3) Let's say 15 eggs are harvested in one day. About how many will be fertile?
4) The Meyer Hatchery hens, while lovely, lay much smaller eggs than the Cackle Hatchery hens. Granted, this is their first month laying. The Swedish rooster from Meyer appears full size. Should I bother incubating the smaller eggs?
Thanks!

 

[Jada22]

The eggs don’t need to be warm to be transferred but you don’t want them to cool down after they have been warmed up. Don’t put them in the incubator cold, let them warm to room temperature first.
Hens usually gather their eggs over a few days before they start sitting on them- the general belief is up to 7 days is fine but after that the chances of them developing declines but some people incubate eggs up to 2 or even 3 weeks old.
Fertility would depend on how fertile the rooster is and ratio of hens to roosters as well as other factors. Hopefully someone else can help more on this.
Most people don’t incubate small eggs, I’ve heard people say that if you incubate smaller eggs those hens will go on to only lay small eggs.

 

[goats-n-oats]

The eggs don’t need to be warm to be transferred but you don’t want them to cool down after they have been warmed up. Don’t put them in the incubator cold, let them warm to room temperature first.
Hens usually gather their eggs over a few days before they start sitting on them- the general belief is up to 7 days is fine but after that the chances of them developing declines but some people incubate eggs up to 2 or even 3 weeks old.
Fertility would depend on how fertile the rooster is and ratio of hens to roosters as well as other factors. Hopefully someone else can help more on this.
Most people don’t incubate small eggs, I’ve heard people say that if you incubate smaller eggs those hens will go on to only lay small eggs.

ok thanks!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi all, I am thinking of getting an incubator. Have 26 prolific hens, one horny Swedish rooster. Laying about 15 eggs a day. None of them are broody.
1) Must the eggs be warm from the coop in order to survive transferring to the incubator?
2) I read something about accumulating eggs over a few days before starting the incubator. Won't the eggs from day 1 die if not incubated?
3) Let's say 15 eggs are harvested in one day. About how many will be fertile?
4) The Meyer Hatchery hens, while lovely, lay much smaller eggs than the Cackle Hatchery hens. Granted, this is their first month laying. The Swedish rooster from Meyer appears full size. Should I bother incubating the smaller eggs?
Thanks!

eggs can sit for up to 2 weeks if stored correctly before being incubated, they will still be viable for a few days before you incubate. They do start losing viability after about a week.
The eggs dont need to be warm from coop to incubator, you said none of the hens are broody? So they aren't being sat on currently?
As for how many are fertile, that depends on your rooster. 26 hens is a lot for one rooster to mate with, so I'd imagine some eggs wont be fertilised. Some people choose not to hatch pullet eggs, but I have heard of people trying with success.

 

[goats-n-oats]

eggs can sit for up to 2 weeks if stored correctly before being incubated, they will still be viable for a few days before you incubate. They do start losing viability after about a week.
The eggs dont need to be warm from coop to incubator, you said none of the hens are broody? So they aren't being sat on currently?
As for how many are fertile, that depends on your rooster. 26 hens is a lot for one rooster to mate with, so I'd imagine some eggs wont be fertilised. Some people choose not to hatch pullet eggs, but I have heard of people trying with success.

correct, none of the hens sit on their eggs. thanks for the other info.