Storing hatching eggs in wine cooler

[Digby57]

I wish I had seen this a bit earlier because I'm wondering the same thing now. And looking over this I wanted to say I'm concerned after using what we here call a "wine fridge" that I know why its a bad idea. It seems like that little thing is made so that the fan blows all the time. And I imagine that I can see in the infrared spectrum and can see the moisture just peeling off those shells (even in the cartons) like a mirage on the desert floor. I'm not being cheeky, I just googled "storing hatching eggs in a wine fridge" and this is the first thing I clicked on. Cheers though, in any case.

 

[Digby57]

I should also say that I've done 5 hatches this way now (and never any other way) and using a hygrometer I know that the humidity is near 60% and I keep it that way with a boveda 84% but that was all faulty logic on my part. Its the wind. The wind doesn't get under a hen's back in a nest.

My best hatch percentage is now 76%. I won't state my worst. Ok it was my second one at 45%.

 

[trescloudy]

You can't beat a broody hen when it comes to hatching rates. I've personally noticed they can hatch older eggs better than an incubator. I won't be using one this year as my previous broody was so protective over her 3 month chicks that it ended up getting her killed so will just be using an incubator this year.

I don't drink so i will be buying one just for eggs although 400 is way out of my budget. I'm going to look for a used one or buy a cheap new one.

Yeah but you need 5 or 10 broody hens to hatch a decent number of eggs.