New to incubation HELP

[4th generation farmer]

I've now uploading pics of the broader my husband purchased for me....and I ran it empty all night last might it kept Temps between 99.5 and 100 degrees all night and humidity stayed between 50 and 60 percent all night

Hello all....my husband got me a 41 egg incubater with auto egg turner and circulating air yesterday... so excited to start incubating, but I have some questions...

I live in kentucky and atm it is staying at night between 22 and 34 degrees ...my hens r in contact with 4 roosters so eggs r fertile but with the cold temps.. r the eggs I collect able to be incubated or has the cold Temps already killed the possibility of an embryo...during the day Temps r anywhere from 22 to 54 degrees (but not many days above 40 degrees lately) and that's question 1

Question 2
How long can I take collecting eggs for the incubater bc I'd love to fill atleast 3/4 of my incubater with eggs but I only have 14 hens so it may take several days ...and how do I store the eggs while I gather my desired amount.


ALSO ANY ADVICE AND TIPSMFOR INCUBATING EGGS WILL BE SOOOOO MUCH APPRECIATED THIS IS A PROJECT FOR ME AND MY 3 SMALL BOYS AND I WANNA DO IT RIGHT

 

[sourland]

Collect days several times daily, and they should be fine. Recommended holding time is generally 10 days, but I have held eggs longer with good hatching rates - it takes a hen longer than that to build a clutch. Good luck with your incubation and hatch.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Do you have a stable place to keep them in the meantime? Thats the main determining factor on how long I think, if they are stored with stable temps and humidity, you could even go a little longer, depending on if you are trying to fill up your incubator. I don't know how many laying hens you have, or about how long you would expect that to take.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

We've had similar temps in this area. I collect eggs just once a day, late in the afternoon. I pick and choose from those every day for the ones I want to set: Well formed with one rounded end smaller than the other, average to large size (none small or jumbo), smooth, clean (do NOT wash them!), and none frozen.

I put them in clean egg cartons and store them at room temperature until I have enough to fill the incubator. I've read that viability starts dropping after 4 days, but is still good up to 2 weeks. After that, it drops severely.

I just hatched 26 of 26 eggs this way, collected over 4 days.

 

[nuthatched]

Hi there, what type of incubator? Some aren't worth using without alterations.

 

[gimmie birdies]

be sure to warm eggs to room temp before setting.

 

[4th generation farmer]

Do you have a stable place to keep them in the meantime? Thats the main determining factor on how long I think, if they are stored with stable temps and humidity, you could even go a little longer, depending on if you are trying to fill up your incubator. I don't know how many laying hens you have, or about how long you would expect that to take.

I have 14 hens...and I plan to store them in a Styrofoam egg carton till I fill the carton

 

[4th generation farmer]

Hi there, what type of incubator? Some aren't worth using without alterations.

This is the incubater I'm using my husband paid 170.00 for it I tested it out last night empty of course it reach and stayed between 99.5 degrees and 100 degrees all night.. and kept humidity between 50 and 60 percent and h9lds 41 eggs...it also has 2 holes on the sides 2ith removable plugs tonf8ll the water tunnels in the bottom under the eggs without opening the incubater

 

[nuthatched]

This is the incubater I'm using my husband paid 170.00 for it I tested it out last night empty of course it reach and stayed between 99.5 degrees and 100 degrees all night.. and kept humidity between 50 and 60 percent and h9lds 41 eggs...it also has 2 holes on the sides 2ith removable plugs tonf8ll the water tunnels in the bottom under the eggs without opening the incubater

Alright, that looks like a good one. I ask because most large capacity incubation on the market are very poorly made and bring nothing but disappointment.

 

[4th generation farmer]

Alright, that looks like a good one. I ask because most large capacity incubation on the market are very poorly made and bring nothing but disappointment.

Yeah my husband said he'd done research for weeks on which ones were better he planta to get me a brinsea incubater if I determine I have fun incubating which I'm sure I will if I can get the hang of it