newby question...

[clfromok]

I finally got a couple of roosters & want to start my first attempt at hatching. Yesterday was day one of introductions (roo's were busy!) I watched which ones were successfuly mated. So now, I wait a week & start takeing those eggs and as I understand it can hold onto the egg up to a week until I have the amount I want to put in incubator. (I wish I could just put them into the incubator a couple at a time) Is this correct? Any advice anyone?

 

[Ridgerunner]

That will work. Some info that might help.

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to make it through the hen’s internal egg laying factory. It can only be fertilized in the first 15 minutes of that journey. If a mating took place on Thursday, Thursday’s egg is obviously not fertile. Friday’s egg might be, depending on the time of day the mating took place and the egg started its journey. I usually assume no, it is not fertile. Saturday’s egg is almost certainly fertile.

Note this is after a mating. A rooster does not necessarily mate with all the hens every day. After a mating, the hen is usually fertile for about two weeks so he just has to mate with each one every two weeks to keep eggs fertile.

There are a lot of myths and mythology about storing eggs. It’s not like eggs are fine for a while then after a magic number of days they all go bad. What actually happens is that they are pretty much fine for a while then depending on how they are stored they gradually decrease in hatchability. In general you can store eggs for about a week and they are fine as long as you don’t go to extremes in heat or humidity and just take reasonable precautions. It is best to store them pointy side down. That way the air cell stays in the fat end where it belongs and try to avoid really cold (like near freezing) or really warm (like in the 80’s Fahrenheit). If you store them longer than a week you should turn them a few times a day to help keep the yolk centered. After two weeks of good storage hatchability can drop, but many of us violate some parts of this and still do pretty good. Doing it according to the guidelines improves your odds of success but does not guarantee absolute success just like violating some guidelines does not automatically guarantee absolute failure.

The big reason to set them all at the same time is to avoid a staggered hatch. Staggered hatches are really stressful and often lead to less than great success. Some people do staggered hatches as a matter of course but these are usually people with experience and often have a second incubator used only for hatching. They move the eggs to the hatcher for lockdown. You can have brooder problems too with different aged chicks. The successful ones have a system down for hatching and raising them. For your first hatch, I strongly advise against a staggered hatch.

There are lots of different ways to do about anything but I suggest you get some experience before you start to branch out. What you outlined sounds great to me.

 

[clfromok]

Thanks so much Ridgerunner. I appreciate you shareing your knowledge & experience. Can't wait to try my hand @ hatching& raising chicks. I picked up 2week olds pullets -10 Buff Orphington 2 Light Brahma's, & 2 New Hampshire Reds (one cockerel). I'm working my way to younger & younger chicks! Sounds like what an old pervert says. LOL
Thanks again!

 

[clfromok]

Ok more questions...
I candled the eggs (have not put in the bator yet) I couldn't see any spot or ring (if fertilized) -or even the yoke. I did see what I think is the air cell. Its not on the end tip like I thought it would be. Its off to the side on the blunt end

(Lower end/middle)
The air cell is not supposed to move, right?
Or am I supposed to wait until day 7 (1st candleing) to look for spot or something?

(turned the egg so cell is on lower end on edge just below my thumb on left)side view of cell.

 

[CayuseRanch]

Yep thats the air cell and generally thats what mine look like before incubating. There isn't any way to tell by candeling this early if it is fertile. At days 7-10 you may be able to see a small dot in there with some veins towards the air cell. Air cell should be at the fat end.

 

[clfromok]

Thanks, I guess I thought the cell would've been larger & right on tip of fat end. When I saw only dime size & off center I thought it was a bad egg. Whew! Its one I really wanted.
I saw thread that talked about blood spots & veining- ?? Ok first candleing/day 7.
I guess I don't have a bright enough light to see anything on my EE's olive eggs.
Thanks again!

 

[CayuseRanch]

Fresher the egg, smaller the egg shell. I have a hard time finding a light bright enough to see thrum my dark eggs. Try the light at the air cell and sometimes you can see veins.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Exciting!!

 

[clfromok]

Thanks so much!