Storing hatching eggs?!?!?

[Cwill49]

I have built my first incubator! I work in the HVAC trade and many components available to build one. I am operating it this week with out eggs as a test run on temps and humidity. In the mean time I am saving back eggs from last years chicks.

I can incubate 104 eggs, but I can only collect 7-9 eggs a day. Can I successfully store my eggs that long?

I am storing my eggs at 55 degrees and turning them twice to three times a day. I am though concerned about the humidity levels in the room. They seem low. As in about 30% What effect will this have on storing my eggs. Last night I put a large container of water next to the cartons and covered them with moist paper towels. The towels dry out very quickly.

Is it better to have your incubator completely sealed up as long as temp and humidity is good, or is it better to have some fresh air with good temps and humidity?

 

[midget_farms]

Welcome to the group! you are among friends here.

Let me take a shot at your questions.

1) you can safely store eggs for up to 10 days w/o much loss. Though really it can start to decline at day 7. So if you average 8 per day you should safely be able to set 80 eggs.

2) humidity in the room for storage is fine. You want some of the water inside the eggs to evaporate to give an air cell for the chick to pop its head into while it trys to excape the egg. There is no need to add water or wet paper towels.

3) You need air flow in the incubator. The eggs in the last 3 days need as much air as a live chick. If you don't have enough air flow (it doesn't take that much) they can suffocate.

4) your storage temp is perfect!

Congrats on the new bator & keep us up to date on how the hatch is going!

 

[Gypsy07]

General advice is that fertility in stored eggs drops off rapidly after about 10 days but I've had great success with eggs up to 15-16 days old. I'd suggest you collect enough eggs to fill the bator, mark each of them with the date you collected them, and see how they get on. If you have a poor hatch rate with the older eggs, you'll know not to try it again, but if you have a good hatch rate, then you'll be able to run your bator at full capacity!

Humidity in your 'storage room' does sound a bit on the low side to me. But that's just based on a few incubation guides I've read online. They suggest it should be as high as 70%. Eggs do lose moisture even before you start incubating them, that's why you do the float test on older eggs to decide if they're fresh enough to eat. And you don't want your eggs losing much moisture in storage. I'm not sure about putting moist paper towels on them though. That could let moisture (and bacteria) enter the eggs.

I'd suggest you just keep doing what you're already doing, and keep notes. No point in changing things half way through. If you do that, and things go wrong, you won't know if it was the first thing you did or the thing you changed to that caused the problem! Just do what you're doing, and see what results you get. Then you can decide what you'd like to change for your next hatch.

But I'd definitely mark the eggs so you know which ones were the freshest and which were the oldest.

 

[Colonel77]

I recently purchased a dozen Old English Creole eggs from an Amish fellow here locally. He was storing them in his basement waiting to fire up his kerosene incubator. I talked him into selling me the Creole eggs he had and after paying for them it occurred to me to ask how long they had been stored. He told me his basement was 50 degrees and he had been turning the eggs 3 times a day and the oldest egg was 3 weeks old... 21 days!!! Holy Cow!!! Well since I had already paid for them I couldn't back out so i decided to ask if he had had any success at incubation when waiting to set eggs for so long. He told me for years he has saved eggs for well over a month and he always turned them while storing. He said he doesn't ever remember having less than an 80% hatch. After talking for awhile I decided instead of letting them go to waste I would try them. Today is day 10 and I candled the eggs. I was completely shocked to find that all 12 are developing just as they should and looking great!! I would have been happy if only a few were good... LOL I hope they continue to grow as well as they are now.

I know they say 10 days is pretty much the golden rule of storing but I also think that alot of it has to do with "how" they are stored. I'm not trying to tell you what to do or how to do it, just sharing my experience.

 

[Gypsy07]

Colonel77 - Please let us all know the results of your hatch! I'd love to know...

 

[Cwill49]

Thanks for all the info. This info helps to give me piece of mind. I feel much more confident that I'm on the right track.

 

[knjinnm]

Check BYC for hatching "Trader Joe" eggs. The is a lot of good info on the subject of storing hatching eggs for meat and egg laying birds.