Storing eggs to incubate

[wjhuskey]

My chickens lay anywhere from 2-6 eggs a day so collecting them for a batch to incubate can take the maximum recommendation of 5-7 days. Because I want around at least 30 eggs to incubate. I usually quit collecting on the 6th day with about 30 eggs or more. I've been told that the eggs you want to store up for incubating need to be unwashed and stored at 55 degrees but NOT refrigerated. How is this possible to keep them at 55 degrees without placing them in a refrigerator that has had the temperature turned up to 55?

 

[A Chicken Owner]

You can store incubation eggs in temperatures in between 55 and 60 degrees. Find a cool area of your house, they should be alright there.

 

[wjhuskey]

But I'm not sure I have any places in my house that cool...

 

[A Chicken Owner]

I have heard of people keeping them in a refrigerator but I don't know if they got a good hatch rate. I've also heard of people keeping their hatching eggs like that in the kitchen but again I'm not sure if they got a good hatch rate.

 

[wjhuskey]

But are there any other tips for keeping them at 55 degrees? I have them in the floor of my basement where it is dark and cool but I'm not sure how cool it is. I'm going to place the thermometer by them today. Whats the max that it can be with it hurting them? Anyone know?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

For those of us who live in the southern half of the United States it can be pretty much impossible to find a place that stays naturally in that ideal 50-60 degree range from midspring to late fall.

So failing the ideal location we have to settle for one that can be made to work. To wit, put them in your refrigerator in a place that will not freeze. Unless I've mail ordered them I keep all of my hatching eggs in my fridge as I accumulate them. I typically set 50-80 at a time and I'm particular about the eggs I choose so it may take as much as two weeks to get enough. The part of my fridge I keep my hatching eggs runs between 36-40 degrees. If they are in there longer than say four days I turn them every day.

With eggs we produce we typically get hatch rates of 90% or better.

Put them in the fridge but don't let them freeze.

 

[tcmstalcup]

Im in West Texas (semi arid and hot) I have AC on in the house when its warm but that's it at 78. I collect eggs in my closet.- safe place not to get knocked over by kids and dogs and get warm from kitchen stove. I have close to 100% hatch rates.

 

[wjhuskey]

Thanks for the responses. I may try the fridge if what I'm doing now won't keep it cool enough but I checked the temp at where I have them at now and it was surprisingly, 59 degrees. I have a little bathroom in my basement with a shower I never use so I placed them in the floor of the shower so they won't get stepped on. I keep the door shut in the bathroom, the light off, and the AC vent open. It being a little bathroom, it gets cool in there quick with the vent open.

 

[kynewbchickie]

I've been collecting and keeping them on a high utility shelf that has holes JUST perfect-sized enough to place them in, small point down, and allow me to gently move them to one side or the other. My "chicken room" is the unfinished bathroom in the basement - it stays around 60-65 degrees and not really humid down there, and since no one but me goes in there, it stays dark unless I need to get in there for supplies. I'm collecting OEG bantam eggs (self-blues) to ship to Cali this coming week, so I'm hoping that will suffice. My husband keeps the fridge far too cold to put the eggs in there - they would freeze for sure. :-/

 

[LTygress]

I've always kept them in a barely-used room at room temperature before hatching. My hatch rates have still been in the 90% range (as long as nothing ELSE happens to them, such as the dogs trying to eat them, and pulling them down to the floor). And I'm in Georgia, so it's already in the 80's down here during the day!



By the way, even a hen will let hers warm up to the outdoor temperatures for several days before she finally sits on them. And if that didn't work, there wouldn't be any such thing as a chicken!