Keeping fertile eggs at 46⁰?

[BuddhaBob]

My fridge door butter compartment stays around 46.5⁰f according my digital thermometer. I know the ideal temp is around 50⁰f. I've only got 3 hens and wanted to accumulate a dozen or more for my 18 egg incubator. Can this work?

 

[MountainWoman73]

My fridge door butter compartment stays around 46.5⁰f according my digital thermometer. I know the ideal temp is around 50⁰f. I've only got 3 hens and wanted to accumulate a dozen or more for my 18 egg incubator. Can this work?

Keep them on the counter at room temperature. They should be fine for 8 days.

 

[welderskelter]

Yes. dont refrigerate. Some hens steal out a nest and lay in it for around 13 to 16 days and still hatch almost all of them.

 

[Yardmom]

What is the temperature inside your home? Your butter department might be ok to store them, but your counter is likely the better place.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My fridge door butter compartment stays around 46.5⁰f according my digital thermometer. I know the ideal temp is around 50⁰f. I've only got 3 hens and wanted to accumulate a dozen or more for my 18 egg incubator. Can this work?

Can it work? Absolutely. I've read that the ideal temperature is a little closer to 55F than 50 but that doesn't matter. 46.5F is well above freezing and is probably closer to ideal than your countertop.
As long as your countertop is not higher than the upper 70's F you can easily store eggs there for a week and get great hatches. You should be able to store eggs in that butter compartment for a week and get great hatches.

Mother nature was not so cruel that she requires eggs for hatching to be kept at one extremely precise temperature for them to hatch. She gave a fairly wide window that works. Most countertops and your butter compartment both are in that window.

Do you slam your fridge door? The temperature is fine but if the eggs get shaken up that can interfere with them hatching. That would be my concern, not the temperature.