I ordered hatching eggs and a bator off eBay, my bator was suppose to arrive yesterday and hasn't come yet but my eggs came today. What should I do? Is it ok to let the eggs sit for a while and how long if so? I will need to have the bator stabilize for 24 hrs. Ugh
I'm no expert but I have read that the eggs can sit 7-10 days at room temps before putting them in the incubator, maybe you could contact the egg shipper and find out how old the eggs are then go from there.
Thanks for the reply, the 'breeder' said they were collected on the day of shipment, so I figure I have some 'room'. I hope my bator arrives today. The eggs were layed on Tuesday according to the guy I bought them from. If my bator comes today I can set eggs tomorrow or even Sunday and they should be OK. It's my first hatch and I don't expect to have a very good hatch rate or even one at all, but I at least want to have viable eggs. Good thing I bought 'cheap' eggs to use as my first hatch. I've got really good quality ones coming the first week of April. This was my test run so I'm not all that disappointed if they don't hatch but I would like to know what I am doing before I get my pricey eggs.
You want shipped eggs to sit/settle for a good 12 hours anyway. It attempts to restore the air cell back to large end. Store them in a egg cartoon pointy end down, They can sit there for 12 to 24 hours and then start to turn them- put a book or something udner one side to tilt egg carton 45 degrees or so then move to other side to tilt other way. Best hatching results are for eggs under 14 days, after that hatch rate starts to deteriorate some and eggs take an extra day to hatch though folk hatch eggs three weeks old no problem. Store in basement or cool room at 50-60 F if keeping for more than few days before putting in incubator. Turn 2 to 3 times per day.
Keep the eggs at room temperature. The eggs should be fine. I left eggs outside for about a week and they all were okay (even though several of them had been rained on). So keeping them at room temperature for a few days should be fine. Also when you get the incubator, make sure it is at the right temperature before putting the eggs in it.
