Time between lay box & bator ?

[BJ37]

Is it OK to go straight from picking the eggs out of the laying box and into the incubator? Is it better to let the eggs "rest" a few hours or a day before going into the incubator. We are getting ready to start a load, and on Tue. there will be enough for a full load. Can they to go into the incubator within an hour so after being lay-ed? ? ?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can do it either way. It’s impossible to say if one way is better than the other with your eggs. I use the word “better” pretty loosely. It’s extremely unlikely you will notice any difference one way or the other. I do it both ways.

I’ll take a chance and pass on some information that might confuse you or cause you some concern, but it really shouldn’t. Each egg is different, even of laid by the same hen. The vast majority of the time these differences don’t make a bit of difference in the hatch except that the eggs don’t hatch exactly at the same time even if kept in the exact same conditions. Maybe the shells vary a little bit in thickness or porosity. Maybe the egg white is a bit thicker in one than another. These can affect how much moisture is lost during incubation, which can affect exactly when it hatches.

This leads into how and how long they are stored. The longer they are stored and the conditions they are stored in (temperature and humidity) can have an effect. It’s best (again using the term loosely) to store all the eggs in the same conditions and about the same amount of time as you can. Don’t read too much into that. You can store one egg for 10 days and take another straight from the nest just being laid and you can’t be sure which will hatch first.

I know, too much information. What you are proposing is what I do. Good luck!