The Great Eggsperiment

[robertparker]

Today I found three eggs in storage I missed on my last hatch, and they were dated June 2. That makes them 48 days old. I decided to toss them in and see if they would hatch.

This brings up an interesting quesion-it occurs to me that there is very little published on the viability of eggs according to their age. So, let's answer that age old question on the age of eggs. Let's see just how old they can be and still hatch.

I'm going to start collecting daily and dating eggs starting tommorow and storing them for 2 months. After 2 months I'll stick them all in the incubator at once and see how many hatch, and how old the oldest ones are that hatch. That way we can see exactly how long eggs can possibly stay viable.

I'm going to also compare different kinds of eggs. I'll start with quail since they are laying well right now. I'll move on to chickens later.

 

[sourland]

Way back when I had one round metal Sears incubator. I routinely held eggs 21 + days (long enough to hatch a batch, disinfect, and restart) with high percentage hatches. When you consider how long it may take a hen to build a clutch the 'maximum of 10 to 14' day holding period seems somewhat unrealistic. A lot of viability has to do with the conditions under which the eggs are held prior to incubation.

 

[robertparker]

Yes, I just wonder just how long they can stay viable.
I'm sure 48 days is pushing it if not already too far gone.
But I guess we'll find out.
Thanks for the welcome

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Cool experiment for personal clarification on your own flock, but as an average above the board there is a lot of variables that would effect the results, such as age of laying hens, nutrition, which leads to egg quality. Storing methods. I'm still very interested to see your outcome though. Next spring I plan on running a couple test hatches to verify or dispel certain hatching philosophies. I did a couple already this spring on candling and not turing after day 14 with great results.