Weekend vacation and egg laying with a rooster.

[ZoobysChicks]

Hello. Question. If I have a rooster with the hens and go on a weekend vacation leave Friday after work around 6 and get back Sunday morning would the eggs already be developing and if I cracked one open would there be signs of embryo development? If not how long could I go before I crack an egg and have that development. For reference I have a gigantic coop for 30 birds but only plan to have 15 this year. Also have a giant run that will be more than predator proof so they can go in and out while I’m gone. Also giant gravity feeder/water.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Sounds like you'll be gone about a day and a half? If you're asking if the eggs will be safe to eat, they are. I'd just pop them in the fridge when you get home to halt development.

Now if you were gone for a long weekend (3 days), I would not want to crack those eggs.

 

[kattabelly]

This is how quickly chicken embryos grow at the optimum temperature for development.

Spoiler

A bit colder and they'll grow more slowly. Unless your ambient temperatures are already pretty warm (you haven't added your location to your profile), they won't start to develop at all unless you have a broody hen sitting on them.

 

[NatJ]

leave Friday after work around 6 and get back Sunday morning would the eggs already be developing and if I cracked one open would there be signs of embryo development?

Collect eggs Friday before you leave, collect eggs again Sunday morning when you get home. Put eggs in the fridge at that point. You will not see any embryo development.

If not how long could I go before I crack an egg and have that development.

If the outside temperature is below about 70 degrees, and there are no broody hens sitting on the eggs, you will never see embryo development. In a week or two or three you might find rotting eggs, but still not embryo development.

Above about 80 degrees is when there starts to be a chance of development. Above about 90 degrees is when there will definitely be development.
Incubators usually run about 100 degrees.
Those are Fahrenheit temperatures. For Celsius, that would be about 27 degrees before you have any chance of eggs developing, with incubator temperature being about 37 degrees.

Looking at the chart posted by @kattabelly, "day 1" would be when 24 hours have passed (as in, the egg has spent "1 day" in the incubator or under a broody hen.) Day 2 is 48 hours, day 3 is 72 hours, and so on.