Can you eat unfertilized, incubated eggs? What size incubator should I get?

[nuthatched]

No, you should not eat infertile, incubated eggs.
Maticoopx incubators are on Amazon and a very nice.

 

[aart]

No? I don’t have an incubator or eggs yet, I’m just getting prepared.

Here's some good info to read about incubation before you get started.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. Can you eat unfertilized eggs if you’ve incubated them for a week? (Both safety and taste wise)

From a safety standpoint you should be fine. If bacteria gets inside them they would not be safe but you should be able to smell them if they have gone bad. Fertile or unfertile doesn't matter. It's all about bacteria getting inside. Chickens can incubate eggs for three weeks without the eggs going bad from bacteria.

Taste is individual, some people like some things, others don't. They might be a bit watery after a week but I'm not sure about that.

The question is "can you?" Yes you can. If the question were "would I?" the answer would be no.

2. I know that eggs can sit out for about a week, and if they’re fertilized they can still be incubated, but where should I keep them in the meantime?

Ideally someplace relatively cool and humid. I don't have an ideal placed so I put mine in a spare airconditioned bedroom safe from a dog with temperatures in the mid 70's Fahrenheit.

You also need to turn them a few times a day. Three times is enough. Turning helps keep the yolk centered and away from the shell. If it touches the inside of the shell it can get stuck and then can't hatch. I put on "x" on one side and an "o" on the other and lay them flat. When it is time to turn them I roll them over.

3. If I have 13 hens, how many eggs should my incubator hold?

The number of hens has nothing to do with it. How many chicks do you want to hatch?

4. Are there any good incubators available on Amazon?
5. If I do use Amazon, what are some red flags I should look out for?

A few years back there were basically three brands available online: Little Giant, Hovabator, and Brinsea. The Little Gints were fairly cheap but required a lot of hands-on when incubating. They were not very user friendly and often took a learning curve. A lot of chicks were hatched in Little Giants but a lot of people did not like them. The Brinsea were top of the line. More expensive but did not take much work from you. The Hovabator was in the middle of those pricewise and how hands-on you had to be.

With any of them you could not trust the factory presets, you needed to calibrate them to make sure the temperature was actually what it was reading. I used a Hovabator. It took about three hatches to get it set correctly but once I did it was extremely reliable. I hatched a lot of chicks the first time I used it but in time I got better.

Now there are so many makes and models of incubators I don't know them. The best you can do is look for reviews and hope they are being honest. The things I look for on an incubator is an automatic egg turner so I don't have to be around all the time turning them by hand.

I want one that is forced air. That means it has a fan so the temperature is pretty much the same anywhere inside. In one without a fan (still or thermal air) warm air rises so you get different temperatures at different levels inside. That makes it harder but a lot of people use them.

The other features I'd want is one that makes it easy to add water and one that I can see the eggs inside when they start to hatch.

6. Once the chicks are here, should I mark them in some way once I’ve sexed them, or should I just put them in separate brooders?

I don't know why you'd want to do that or even how you would sex them before they are several weeks old. You can do whatever you wish, there is no baby chick police that will arrest you.

Should I put aside a batch of 20, then put them all in at once, then check them to make sure they’re growing? And if they’re not fertilized, should I switch them out?

You should start all eggs at the same time so they hatch together. Do not take some eggs out and start others unless you take all of them out. That would create a staggered hatch which usually does not end well.

Gathering information before you start is great, much better than many people do. Read through Aart's links to get an idea and come back on here with any questions. There can be a learning curve but a lot of people hatch chicks. It is an adventure.

 

[Finnie]

For a table top incubator, I really love my Incuview. However, I got mine back in 2016, and they have made improvements (?) since then. I don’t hardly recognize the one they are selling now. https://incubatorwarehouse.com/prod...AWfemYjIrXcoqGLtMUSlhj43RTnomf5xoCBQcQAvD_BwE

But Incubator Warehouse has an awesome reputation for customer service, and I think any brand of incubator they sell is probably going to be a quality one. They have their own website, but they also sell on eBay and Amazon.

 

[GodLovesU]

I think they mean that you shouldn’t add eggs in on separate days. It’s best if you put all you eggs in the incubator on one day. Then all the eggs are able to lock down together.

Yeah that’s what I meant just worded it weird

 

[Altairsky]

Oh ok! Thanks for clarifying. Should I put aside a batch of 20, then put them all in at once, then check them to make sure they’re growing? And if they’re not fertilized, should I switch them out?

1 yes
2 if they're not fertilized you remove them and wait for the developing ones to hatch. I strongly advise to never add new eggs to an already incubating batch, especially if you have a small incubator. It's asking for trouble.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh ok! Thanks for clarifying. Should I put aside a batch of 20, then put them all in at once, then check them to make sure they’re growing? And if they’re not fertilized, should I switch them out?

Well? Have you hatched? How did it go? What incubator did you get?

 

[Milo08]

Well? Have you hatched? How did it go? What incubator did you get?

I actually haven’t had a chance to yet, unfortunately. My health had a pretty sudden decline and I’ve only really been able to do school and routine care for my chickens. I might be able to next summer though. I really hope I can. (Just clarifying, I’m not dying or anything but I’m chronically ill so unfortunately flares like this happen sometimes. )

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I actually haven’t had a chance to yet, unfortunately. My health had a pretty sudden decline and I’ve only really been able to do school and routine care for my chickens. I might be able to next summer though. I really hope I can. (Just clarifying, I’m not dying or anything but I’m chronically ill so unfortunately flares like this happen sometimes. )

Understood, same. Does it make sense why you don't want to take some eggs out and put fresh ones in?

 

[Milo08]

Yeah now that I think about it, it would interrupt incubation.