Saving eggs for incubation...?

[Kadjain]

What is the best way to save eggs for incubation? I know that the temp has to be around 55, but if you don't have a temp controlled unit how do you keep them?

Thanks so much!

 

[dickhorstman]

We store ours in the coolest part of the basement. I store them in egg cartons pointy end down. I do not keep them more than 7 days.

 

[midget_farms]

55 degrees is good - but room temperature will be fine too - so long as you turn them 3x per day.

I keep mine in the basement next to the incubator and in an egg carton.

 

[Kadjain]

Coolness thanks.

 

[Me & Jack]

I have read a couple of different articles that suggest that temps below 80.6, but above freezing, are just fine. Most folks seem to say that 55 degrees is best. Anything above that 80.6, though, and the blastodisc commences operation! I keep my eggs in an unheated closet, which seems to stay around 65 degrees -- and my fertility and hatch rates seem to be just great.

Also, 7 to 10 days seems to be the standard suggestion for how long eggs will stay viable, but hatch rates only start to decline, and marginally, by about day 10. One article I read said that hatch rates decrease only about 3-5% per day starting on the tenth day, so if you set 10 eggs in your bator on day 11 you could still expect to hatch 9-10 chicks, assuming everything else went the right way. Ive heard of people having 50% hatch rates after four or five weeks of collecting eggs, though I'd never want to take that chance, and hopefully never will.

Best of luck!

 

[cmom]

I have stored my eggs in a rack on top of my incubator and they hatched just fine.

 

[AlienChick]

I kept mine in an egg carton on the floor in the dining room in a dark corner out of the way.

The carton was propped up a bit on one end and I would turn the carton throughout the day as I would pass through the dining room.

I kept them for about 14 days only because I wasn't sure if I was going to hatch them or just give them to the dogs.

I ended up throwing them all into the incubator and they all hatched (except for the 5 unfertile eggs from a new young pullet).

 

[9Catsz]

Quote:
That's how I do it. Temps in the high 60s to low 70s. I keep mine for at least 10 - 15 days and the only eggs that don't hatch were either infertile (very few) and/or fully developed but died before pipping (2-4 each hatch).

 

[Charm1704]

I keep mine in an egg turner in a room that isn't heated this time of the year....~Charm1704

 

[AlienChick]

Quote:
That's how I do it. Temps in the high 60s to low 70s. I keep mine for at least 10 - 15 days and the only eggs that don't hatch were either infertile (very few) and/or fully developed but died before pipping (2-4 each hatch).

Yep!

Also, the egg turner (without heat) is also a good idea if you're not using it for hatching and you don't mind using the extra electricity.