Stupid Question #.........um, I forget...

[tothemoon]

Im wondering something, ive been reading about people gathering eggs and keeping them for a while but not incubating them. So you can gather eggs and then when you have enough, you can put them in the incubater? So my question is, how long can you keep them after you gather them from the hens, until you put them in the bater? Also, should you do this or is it better to put them in right after laying? (I feel sorry for my first batch of eggs!)

 

[Mahonri]

I'm going to be incubating in later December or early January.

I plan on gathering the eggs each day for 7 days putting them in cartons at room temp, pointy end down and tilting the carton at least twice a day..

At day 4 or 5 I'll fire up the incubator and make certain that it's up to temp, that the humidity is right and that the turner is working.

Then on day 7 I'll pick the 41 (hopefully I'll have that many) best eggs and put them in the bator.

Hens usually lay a clutch of 6-8 eggs before going broody and incubating their eggs.

 

[speckledhen]

Keep them no more than a week, preferably; store in cool, but not cold, temps, 50-65 degrees is good. I don't tilt mine unless I'm storing more than 5-6 days.

 

[Suechick]

Hi, I'm new, but I've read that you can hold fertile eggs for 6 to 10 days before setting them to incubate, depending on the conditions. If you keep them at around 70 degrees they'll stay viable for at least 5 days. If you want to store them for 10 days they should be kept around 50 degress to preserve viability. Before they are set in the incubator they should be allowed to warm up to room temp. This will prevent them from having too much condensation when going in the bator. Avoiding condensation is a good thing to keep the chances of bacterial infection down. I received 28 eggs, on different days, and waited for 5 days before setting them. At least 23 of them have developed (based on candling) they're due in 3 days.

well, I tend to ramble, but that's my 2 cents.

sue

 

[speckledhen]

You can store them a few days longer than a week, however, hatchability goes down some after that, and after two weeks, it plummets. During fall through spring, my bsmt is the best place to store them. It never gets cooler than 48 degrees and rarely higher than 70. Some have hatched eggs from the fridge, me included once, but that's really a bit cool for optimum hatchability.
Absolutely let them come up to at least room temp before popping them in a warm bator.

 

[tothemoon]

Thanks to all that posted, it cleared a lot up for me. One more question I have is, if I wanted to see if the hen would go broody and sit them herself, I should leave the eggs in the nest and wait to see if she starts to sit? I had read that if you leave the eggs in the nest, the hens or roosters could resort to egg-eating. Man, i feel kind of helpless right now, trying to figure everything out. Thank the Good Lord for BYC!