yikes hatching dilema

[kelliepulido]

I forgot about an out of town dog show I am going to and ordered eggs that arrive today.If I set them tonight they will be due on the 26 of august,I will be leaving the 27th,should I hold on to them til monday then they would be due the day I would be coming back.I would stop turning them the day I would be leaving.

 

[mrslb333]

You should be ok to leave them on lockdown at least if you're not home you won't be sat watching them constantly as long as your incubators reliable they should be fine, and if they do hatch they will be ok for 24/48 hours in the incubator

I just remembered the same thing with eggs I ordered today I'm going to have to buy an automatic incubator to turn them while I'm gone quite a costly mistake lol

 

[kelliepulido]

so hold them and set on monday?I know the fertility is best if set soon after arrival but if I set tonight they would be hatched the day I leave and would be gone for several days,21 days would make it the 26 I would not be back until the 30th if i set them monday they would go into lockdown the day I leave.

 

[mrslb333]

I think it's 10 days you can leave them till incubating as long as you turn them regularly. Failing that would some one be able to watch them for you?

 

[BeccaB00]

you can hold the eggs for 7-10 before incubating. you will not be able to hold them for very long, go ahead and put them in the incubator monday, and leave on lockdown day. when the chicks start growing the temp alot of times will spaz

its really annoying. so you'll need to be able to monitor that. When you leave just make sure that there is water in the incubator and that the temp is good and stable. Then, when you come home you should have some little fuzzy butts!!!

 

[kelliepulido]

I went ahead and set them at 12am.I hope the hatch.Wish me luck!!I will be excited for these little guys.10 seramas

 

[Kedreeva]

Good luck!

And to temper the responses above about the length of time you can hold eggs... well, yes you CAN hold eggs for 7-10 days. However, with shipped eggs you must figure that any seller worth their salt will be giving you eggs less than 4 days old at shipping. They spend 2, maybe 3 days in transit. So the oldest they SHOULD get to you is 7 days, the youngest being 2 days if the eggs are picked in from being laid that morning (not picked in that day from being laid the night before) and they get to the PO in time to be shipped that day. The average age, I would say, is probably 4 days- eggs laid a day or two before shipping (or laid one day and brought to the PO too late to go out that day).

However, depending on where you get your eggs from, there's always a chance that people are giving you eggs OLDER than 4 days at the time of sending (for instance, people with only a few hens).

So yes, eggs can be 7-10 days for setting... but you may not be able to hold onto them for that long if they've been shipped. And in this heat, I wouldn't hold them long at all before incubation because they can, have, and do start incubation in the shipping box.