Pre-incubation Egg Temps

[Beth K.]

My BO Honeybun is broody!

What I want to know is:
1. She was on an egg for I'm-not-sure-how-long today. Can I give it back to her tomorrow with the clutch I've selected?
2. Some of the eggs got kind of cold today. Will they still hatch? (She hadn't sat on them.)

Thanks!

(P.S. I need an answer by tomorrow evening, when I'll sneak her clutch under her.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. She was an egg for I'm-not-sure-how-long today. Can I give it back to her tomorrow with the clutch I've selected?

To this question, yes you can. It should be OK.

2. Some of the eggs got kind of cold today. Will they still hatch? (She hadn't sat on them.)

I don't know what you mean by kind of cold. If they froze, I'd not use them at all. If they were not frozen, I'd probably try it. It's hard to say how cold an egg gets inside. They are pretty dense and it takes them a while for the core temperature to change that much.

There is not a magic temperature where they go from "fine no problem" to "not no way". The longer they are at a cool temperature and the cooler that temperature actually is, the less likely they are to hatch. Less likely, but you may still get a reallly good hatch. It's sometimes surprising how tough life is.

 

[Beth K.]

Thank you very much! They were only "refrigerator cold" and I don't think that was for more than and hour or two, tops. I will try them. 1st candling will tell.

 

[Beth K.]

By the way, do I need to be turning the eggs until I put them under her?

 

[Ridgerunner]

If it is only for a couple of days, no you don't have too according to this Texas A&M site.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

I do though, whether it is for the incubator or a broody. I plug my automatic turner for the incubator in and store them in that. I figure it can't hurt.

 

[Beth K.]

Oh good. I have them standing on their smaller end, air cell up. Apologies in advance for any panicky, beginner questions I post here.

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No apologies necessary. That's what this forum is for. It would be a shame if your eggs failed to hatch or your chicks died because you were afraid to ask a question.

Never be afraid to post a question, no matter how dumb you think it is or how many times it has been asked before. This forum would die if people stopped asking questions. You never know how many people you help by asking a question they are afraid to ask and they see your post.

 

[kjt135]

Thanks so much for answering my questions too. I just have one more, I didn't know about storing the eggs big end up before putting in bator do my eggs have a chance?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, they have a chance.

Most of the stuff on here are what I call guidelines. They are not absolute laws of nature with guarantees that if you do it this way everything is fine and if you do something else you are guaranteed failure. Not that at all. All the guidelines do is improve your odds of success. There are plenty of us that don't follow all the guidelines exactly and do OK. I don't follow all the guidelines. I don't know all of them to start with, and sometimes I don't have the situation or facilities to do it that way.

Something else about the guidelines. They are often over-the-top. They are intended to cover everyone in practically any situation. Take the heat in a brooder recommendations for example. 90 to 95 the first week and drop it 5 degrees a week. If you have a decent brooder with good draft protection, or you have enough chicks so they can keep each other warm, you certainly don't need these temperatures. They will normally thrive at lower temperatures, especially after a couple of weeks. But if you have a drafty brooder and only a couple of chicks, you may need the warmer temperatures. Some of the guidelines are here to protect those few that have other problems or don't have the perfect situation. For a lot of us, they are over-the-top.

I'm not saying to ignore the guidelines, not at all. They are there to improve your odds of things going OK. I try to follow them as well as I reasonably can, but I don't obsess over them. Just do the best you reasonably can in your circumstances and you will probably do OK.

The reason you should store the eggs pointy side down is so the air cell stays on the fat end. It's possible the air cell can move and the chick won't develop right or may have trouble internal pipping if you store them wrong. It is possible, but it is not guaranteed. The longer you store them the wrong way, the more likely you are to have a problem, but people have had good hatches even if they stored them wrong for a while. Just get them in the incubator right.

For what it is worth to you, someone recently posted they incubated the eggs the wrong way and still had one hatch. A lot did not hatch, but at least one did after incubation the wrong way, pointy side up. So I say yours do have a chance.

 

[the1much]

i used to keep eggs in fridge up to a week before putting in bator, for best results while in fridge tilt them, put something under one side, or front or back, and switch sides 3 times a day, before giving back to her take them out for 24 hours to become room temp, but still tilt while warming..