Temperature for storing hatching eggs

[Maiahr]

At what temperature do you guys store hatching eggs before putting them in the incubator? I store at 10C-15C , 50F-59F, pointing down and turning 3 times per day. Is that ok?

 

[ashlierami]

At what temperature do you guys store hatching eggs before putting them in the incubator? I store at 10C-15C , 50F-59F, pointing down and turning 3 times per day. Is that ok?

I've always just stored at room temperature in a carton out of direct light for up to 7 days.

 

[Maiahr]

I've always just stored at room temperature in a carton out of direct light for up to 7 days.

Room temperature is usually 24C. I've been told this is too warm. Do they still hatch with you? What about position and turning?

 

[Justso]

I've been told to put in a carton, raise one end slightly, then change to the other end every 1/2 day.

 

[Maiahr]

I found this article:
http://lohmann-information.com/content/l_i_46_artikel7.pdf
plus the below table:

 

[slordaz]

I store mine at room temp out of direct sunlight in egg cartons for up to 2 weeks without doing anything to them, and they have hatched fine

 

[slordaz]

I found this article:
http://lohmann-information.com/content/l_i_46_artikel7.pdf
plus the below table:
View attachment 1901273

That is for incubating , not storage of eggs you want to hatch but it's also good info for someone thats going to incubate for first time, which they need to store the eggs first and that high of humidity that early will most likely drown your chicks or cause them to be squishy, I don't even use that high of humidity at lock down.
Where are you that you need that high of humidity?

 

[slordaz]

I've been told to put in a carton, raise one end slightly, then change to the other end every 1/2 day.

That is more for incubating them, but if your hand turning them during incubation it should be at least 3 times a day

 

[Ridgerunner]

At what temperature do you guys store hatching eggs before putting them in the incubator? I store at 10C-15C , 50F-59F, pointing down and turning 3 times per day. Is that ok?

That would be closer to perfect than I am. The commercial hatching operations, the ones that might hatch 1,000,000 chicks every week in one hatchery, have spent a lot of money studying the ideal conditions to store eggs before they start incubation. They have determined the ideal temperature is around 55 F. Other things are important too. I'll include a link that gives the "ideal" storage conditions. The closer you are to these ideal conditions the longer you can store eggs without them losing hatchability. I think some of this stuff is overboard but they are trying for ideal which most of us can't meet.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/...e-Cartwright-Incubating-and-hatching-eggs.pdf

Under ideal conditions they say you can go two weeks. I don't have close to ideal conditions. I store mine at room temperature which is in the 70's F and with whatever humidity I have, which is below ideal. I can store mine for a week and still get great hatches but would not want to go much longer. 24 C is 75 F so about my temperature.

It is not that at a certain age the egg just dies. Some eggs are tougher than others. Over time some eggs lose their hatchability faster than others.

There are two storage positions that are OK. If you store them upright, the air cell should be at the top. That means pointy end down since the air cell is in the round end. Or you can store them laying flat. That's what a broody hen does. Both methods work quite well. What you want to avoid is storing them with the air cell low, otherwise the air cell may migrate out of position, which is not good.

Turning does a few things, mostly once incubation starts. The main thing about turning them during storage is to keep the yolk centered so it doesn't touch the porous shell where it could get stuck, which would kill the chick. Three times a day is normally given as a minimum and it is enough. There is a reason three times is given as a minimum. More is OK, but you want the egg to spend about half its time with one side up and the other half of the time with that side down. If you set up a routine where you turn them at the same time each day day, an odd number of times will assure the egg gets this half and half over a two day period. There can be long times where you cannot turn them. You might sleep all night or be gone to work or school all day. So if you turn them when you get up, when you get home, and when you go to bed you are doing OK.

I have a turning rack that I can take out of my incubator and it still works. I store my eggs in that rack so it does the turning for me.

I don't know what your other storage conditions are, but if you are turning them three times a day and are not storing them pointy side up you are doing that part right. If you store them at 12 C you can store them longer than at 45 C, but you will probably do OK at 45 C as long as you don't wait too long. For me too long is over a week.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

double post