She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[Ravynscroft]

Hi guys, I'm going to jump in here, hope you don't mind! I'd categorize myself somewhere between the 2 thread starters. I love to candle, and I'm pretty good at leaving things be once lockdown has come. I will assist a stuck chick if I need to though.
Along with some EE's and OE'S, I have 1 marans hen laying a nice dark egg for me about every other day. I really want to hatch some of her eggs, so the eggs I'm going to set next week are going to be older than your normal "7 days or newer" eggs. I'm keeping a damp towel over them in a Styrofoam egg container, tipping opposite ends twice a day. The air cells appear to be maintaining, eventhough the air in our house is so dry. (Cold here in Michigan, furnace running).
I've heard of people hatching old eggs or even refrigerated eggs. I'd love to hear some tips from those that have some experience with this.
Thanks ~ Megan

Welcome to the thread!!! We've been working on some tests even shipping older eggs kept in humidity controlled environment... maybe @WalnutHill can pop in with some tips?

 

[BYC910]

Hi guys, I'm going to jump in here, hope you don't mind! I'd categorize myself somewhere between the 2 thread starters. I love to candle, and I'm pretty good at leaving things be once lockdown has come. I will assist a stuck chick if I need to though.
Along with some EE's and OE'S, I have 1 marans hen laying a nice dark egg for me about every other day. I really want to hatch some of her eggs, so the eggs I'm going to set next week are going to be older than your normal "7 days or newer" eggs. I'm keeping a damp towel over them in a Styrofoam egg container, tipping opposite ends twice a day. The air cells appear to be maintaining, eventhough the air in our house is so dry. (Cold here in Michigan, furnace running).
I've heard of people hatching old eggs or even refrigerated eggs. I'd love to hear some tips from those that have some experience with this.
Thanks ~ Megan

Hi Megan glad you came by just wondering where you got the seven days we do ten as a rule and haven't had a problem . other thing is what is the humidity in the house . I wonder about the damp towel on the eggs . Marans eggs are hard to hatch as a rule. so incubated at a lower humidity . what will day count be on the oldest egg be at set ? Walnuthill farm has set and hatched older eggs seems like up to twenty days I'm sure when she comes on she will touch on this . I don't even tilt mine I just stack them on the counter and when I'm ready in the incubator .I started gathering on the 24th and will set on the 5th which puts me at ten days. no Marans this hatch though.

I'm right here where I've always been...

Have you read pipe dreaming's post any thoughts

 

[BYC910]

Welcome to the thread!!! We've been working on some tests even shipping older eggs kept in humidity controlled environment... maybe @WalnutHill can pop in with some tips?

guess you did read it .

I haven't seen Walnuthill yet today

 

[FridayYet]

Hi guys, I'm going to jump in here, hope you don't mind! I'd categorize myself somewhere between the 2 thread starters. I love to candle, and I'm pretty good at leaving things be once lockdown has come. I will assist a stuck chick if I need to though.
Along with some EE's and OE'S, I have 1 marans hen laying a nice dark egg for me about every other day. I really want to hatch some of her eggs, so the eggs I'm going to set next week are going to be older than your normal "7 days or newer" eggs. I'm keeping a damp towel over them in a Styrofoam egg container, tipping opposite ends twice a day. The air cells appear to be maintaining, eventhough the air in our house is so dry. (Cold here in Michigan, furnace running).
I've heard of people hatching old eggs or even refrigerated eggs. I'd love to hear some tips from those that have some experience with this.
Thanks ~ Megan

Only experience I have is that in my last batch, I grabbed some eggs out of the fridge that I knew were older than a week. 2/4 hatched healthy chicks, the other two were clear.

It's worth a shot to hatch the older Marans eggs. Good luck!

 

[Pipe Dreaming]

I must have read the 7 day rule thing here somewhere.. but I like 10 better!
Here's what I've collected so far..

I didn't start dating them before 2-29.. but I have a good idea the oldest eggs are from 2-25. That will put them just over 2 weeks when I set them all on Saturday. (3/12)
Nice to know that the tilting isn't a huge thing, I've been working a lot of hours so I just do it in the morning and when I get home. And since I've been getting home late.. you'll notice my Olive egg says "cold" on it.. it was so cold when I collected eggs that evening that the 1 olive egg is the only one from that day I'm going to attempt to hatch. It had some condensation on it after coming inside, so not even sure if that'll hatch or not.
I have shipped eggs coming next week.. my first time trying shipped eggs. So I'll probably be a little cautious with those. Heck, I even ordered another incubator so I could hatch them separately from mine..
Oh one thing about the damp towel, it's keeping the eggs cooler than without it. I think cooler is better than warmer, right?

 

[fishnet1971]

And then there were 5! 5. 5. 5!!!! Quintuplets, Yup, candled again.. .. feel stretch marks already!!

So, I have been contemplating team red team blue.......

 

[WVduckchick]

I must have read the 7 day rule thing here somewhere.. but I like 10 better!
Here's what I've collected so far..

I didn't start dating them before 2-29.. but I have a good idea the oldest eggs are from 2-25. That will put them just over 2 weeks when I set them all on Saturday. (3/12)
Nice to know that the tilting isn't a huge thing, I've been working a lot of hours so I just do it in the morning and when I get home. And since I've been getting home late.. you'll notice my Olive egg says "cold" on it.. it was so cold when I collected eggs that evening that the 1 olive egg is the only one from that day I'm going to attempt to hatch. It had some condensation on it after coming inside, so not even sure if that'll hatch or not.
I have shipped eggs coming next week.. my first time trying shipped eggs. So I'll probably be a little cautious with those. Heck, I even ordered another incubator so I could hatch them separately from mine..
Oh one thing about the damp towel, it's keeping the eggs cooler than without it. I think cooler is better than warmer, right?

I have a couple of silkie eggs in my bator now that I also marked cold, collected after work on cold days. They are on day 11 and growing fine so far

And then there were 5! 5. 5. 5!!!! Quintuplets, Yup, candled again.. .. feel stretch marks already!!

So, I have been contemplating team red team blue.......

PURPLE!!!

 

[BYC910]

I must have read the 7 day rule thing here somewhere.. but I like 10 better!
Here's what I've collected so far..

I didn't start dating them before 2-29.. but I have a good idea the oldest eggs are from 2-25. That will put them just over 2 weeks when I set them all on Saturday. (3/12)
Nice to know that the tilting isn't a huge thing, I've been working a lot of hours so I just do it in the morning and when I get home. And since I've been getting home late.. you'll notice my Olive egg says "cold" on it.. it was so cold when I collected eggs that evening that the 1 olive egg is the only one from that day I'm going to attempt to hatch. It had some condensation on it after coming inside, so not even sure if that'll hatch or not.
I have shipped eggs coming next week.. my first time trying shipped eggs. So I'll probably be a little cautious with those. Heck, I even ordered another incubator so I could hatch them separately from mine..
Oh one thing about the damp towel, it's keeping the eggs cooler than without it. I think cooler is better than warmer, right?

well room temperature on the cool side. the foam carton will help keep the eggs from losing moisture .what kind of incubator did you order what kind do you have now ? how many eggs do you have coming ? what I'm wondering if you could do a split hatch of sorts . what I'm wondering is could you start all the eggs you have on Saturday and get them working . gather as many as you will have extra space in the new incubator with the shipped eggs . which by the way I wouldn't worry about keeping separate from yours. use all available space .

 

[BYC910]

And then there were 5! 5. 5. 5!!!! Quintuplets, Yup, candled again.. .. feel stretch marks already!!

So, I have been contemplating team red team blue.......

well you sure fit here

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hi guys, I'm going to jump in here, hope you don't mind! I'd categorize myself somewhere between the 2 thread starters. I love to candle, and I'm pretty good at leaving things be once lockdown has come. I will assist a stuck chick if I need to though.
Along with some EE's and OE'S, I have 1 marans hen laying a nice dark egg for me about every other day. I really want to hatch some of her eggs, so the eggs I'm going to set next week are going to be older than your normal "7 days or newer" eggs. I'm keeping a damp towel over them in a Styrofoam egg container, tipping opposite ends twice a day. The air cells appear to be maintaining, eventhough the air in our house is so dry. (Cold here in Michigan, furnace running).
I've heard of people hatching old eggs or even refrigerated eggs. I'd love to hear some tips from those that have some experience with this.
Thanks ~ Megan

Jump in anytime!!!

I must have read the 7 day rule thing here somewhere.. but I like 10 better!
Here's what I've collected so far..

I didn't start dating them before 2-29.. but I have a good idea the oldest eggs are from 2-25. That will put them just over 2 weeks when I set them all on Saturday. (3/12)
Nice to know that the tilting isn't a huge thing, I've been working a lot of hours so I just do it in the morning and when I get home. And since I've been getting home late.. you'll notice my Olive egg says "cold" on it.. it was so cold when I collected eggs that evening that the 1 olive egg is the only one from that day I'm going to attempt to hatch. It had some condensation on it after coming inside, so not even sure if that'll hatch or not.
I have shipped eggs coming next week.. my first time trying shipped eggs. So I'll probably be a little cautious with those. Heck, I even ordered another incubator so I could hatch them separately from mine..
Oh one thing about the damp towel, it's keeping the eggs cooler than without it. I think cooler is better than warmer, right?

A lot of hatchers won't hatch eggs over a week old. The most quoted rule is 10 days or less and most agree that over two weeks significantly reduces hatch rates.

And then there were 5! 5. 5. 5!!!! Quintuplets, Yup, candled again.. .. feel stretch marks already!!

So, I have been contemplating team red team blue.......

I think you surpassed red 2 candlings ago!!

well you sure fit here