Newbie question...how long to save eggs before incubating them?

[TheReidHomestead]

Hello, we just gave my daughter an incubator for her birthday, and are planning to attempt our first hatching later this month after a planned camping trip.

My question is, how long can I save an egg to be incubated, or how fresh do the eggs need to be? Can I put an egg in there that was laid 2 weeks before? What is the cut off? Is it better to leave them at room temp or to put them in the fridge while we collect and wait to pop them in there? I do know they need to be room temp, or not cold from the refridgerator before they go in, but not sure how old the eggs can be that we use. Thanks for any input!

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Two weeks is a little long IMHO. A hen however will lay a clutch of 8-10 eggs before she starts sitting. Personally I've never incubated an egg over 7 days old. I've read that they're good for at least six days but each day beyond that and you can expect a decrease in hatchability.

Now here's where someone comes along and says "s'cuse me but"

 

[Ridgerunner]

This Texas A&M website should be a lot of help to you.

http://gallus.tamu.edu/Extension publications/b6092.pdf

You'll find that a lot of people do not always follow these instructions to the letter and still get good hatches. For example, most people just keep them at room temperature and don't have a cooler at the exact temperatures recommended here. But the closer you follow this, the better your odds.

This site does agree with Chicky Tocks that it is best to incubate eggs less than a week old but it does give some tricks, such as turning them, if they have to be stored longer.

Good luck!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Thanks for your replies! That link is just what I needed!