Saving up eggs to incubate...decisions to make, please help

[Citychick11]

Hi, I have about a dozen eggs that I have gathered this week in hopes of incubating them when I get enough. I haven't refrigerated them and I have been turning them by tipping one side of the crate up and then the other. Is this the right start? Did I do anything to wreck the process? Each of them are labeled by date so I can track how old they are.

My plan is to pick 10 to incubate in a mini incubator that will be arriving later this week. However, I do have a white rock and a barred rock that tend to get broody. They always have feathers missing on their bellies and they hide their eggs in the yard quite often. If I put one of them in a kennel with a soft cozy nest box and a clutch of eggs, would she go broody and set on them? I have so many questions about how to do that.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
TJ

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You could try some eggs in a nest to see if she sets but there are never guarantees.
Cool with relatively high humidity is best for storage but anything over 10 days probably won't hatch.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I save my hatching eggs in the basement on a pool table. I tilt the cartons up on the edge of the table,seems to work great. I don't keep over two weeks.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi, I have about a dozen eggs that I have gathered this week in hopes of incubating them when I get enough. I haven't refrigerated them and I have been turning them by tipping one side of the crate up and then the other. Is this the right start? Did I do anything to wreck the process? Each of them are labeled by date so I can track how old they are.

My plan is to pick 10 to incubate in a mini incubator that will be arriving later this week. However, I do have a white rock and a barred rock that tend to get broody. They always have feathers missing on their bellies and they hide their eggs in the yard quite often. If I put one of them in a kennel with a soft cozy nest box and a clutch of eggs, would she go broody and set on them? I have so many questions about how to do that.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
TJ

You are not going to be able to "make" a hen go broody and I feel if you take a hen away from her regular place and put her in a kennel----It would probably scare her to the point she would not think about going broody. I feel you can encourage a hen to go broody(might/might not) by placing fake eggs(golf balls, etc) in a nest. I have kept eggs for 2 weeks and had good hatch percentage, but Never wash them and keep turning them, also keep them in a cool place(not the fridge). Good Luck with your hatch---I just now looked in my incubator---lots of babies--most of the eggs have hatched---some pipped---today is day 21.