Quote:
On the contrary, I've heard discussion here on the forum that eggs CAN be pulled out of the fridge and will still hatch. In fact, there have been whole threads on people who bought fertilized eggs in the grocery store and hatched them. Here's a link to one of them... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=220795
As for the other part of the question (about how long eggs can stay viable without being warm) I would say it depends on how far the development is. The closer it is to hatching time, the more critical it is for the hen to stay on the eggs. I am no expert, but we have home-hatched some. We were really concerned, because after a couple of days of sitting on the clutch the broody got off the nest and returned to the wrong nest box. After that, we separated her from the rest and the eggs hatched just fine.
On the contrary, I've heard discussion here on the forum that eggs CAN be pulled out of the fridge and will still hatch. In fact, there have been whole threads on people who bought fertilized eggs in the grocery store and hatched them. Here's a link to one of them... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=220795
As for the other part of the question (about how long eggs can stay viable without being warm) I would say it depends on how far the development is. The closer it is to hatching time, the more critical it is for the hen to stay on the eggs. I am no expert, but we have home-hatched some. We were really concerned, because after a couple of days of sitting on the clutch the broody got off the nest and returned to the wrong nest box. After that, we separated her from the rest and the eggs hatched just fine.
