what temp do you keep eggs at before incubation?

[cmom]

So can I just go out to my coop and grab some eggs and put them in incubator? It is in the 20's outside right now. Do I need to wash them or pick really clean looking eggs? I

If the temperature is in the 20's and the eggs have been out there for a few hours they probably won't hatch. If you collect them and they have not been out in the cold for a long time they probably will hatch as long as they are fertile. Usually fertility goes way down during cold or hot weather. Maybe break open an egg and check it for fertility. Don't wash they eggs. If they are quite poopy you can brush off the poop but don't wash the eggs.

 

[Terethomas]

Don't wash they eggs. If they are quite poopy you can brush off the poop but don't wash the eggs.

According to the instructions that came with my incubator, you are supposed to wash the eggs before incubating. I have only done 1 hatch so far, but I had a 98% hatch rate on my chicken eggs, and 90% on the ducks and quail. I guess it comes down to personal choice. If anyone know differently, I would be glad to hear what you know!

 

[JimBobHenrietta]

What temperature do I store my hens eggs? And how long can I store my hens eggs? We lost our bantam cochin rooster last week on feb 12, 2014. We are trying to save some off spring from our rooster. My hen would not lay any eggs from the 12th to the 17th, maybe she was too stressed out and depressed form loosing the rooster, they shared the cage together. We really loved our rooster and miss him something awful. So we are hoping she has fertile eggs, we have collected once she started to lay again, so we have one from the 18th, one from the 19th and one from today the 20th. I have put the eggs in a empty egg carton in one of my bedrooms, and have the window cracked open. I am waiting for my incubator to arrive, I ordered it on Monday they said they shipped it out priority mail on Tuesday, but when I tracked the incubator it showed it never left florida, and still sitting there since they first accepted the item. I am worried I wont get it in time. I don't want the eggs to spoil, we are trying everything to keep my boys off spring. Please, any advice would be very helpful.

 

[cmom]

What temperature do I store my hens eggs? And how long can I store my hens eggs? We lost our bantam cochin rooster last week on feb 12, 2014. We are trying to save some off spring from our rooster. My hen would not lay any eggs from the 12th to the 17th, maybe she was too stressed out and depressed form loosing the rooster, they shared the cage together. We really loved our rooster and miss him something awful. So we are hoping she has fertile eggs, we have collected once she started to lay again, so we have one from the 18th, one from the 19th and one from today the 20th. I have put the eggs in a empty egg carton in one of my bedrooms, and have the window cracked open. I am waiting for my incubator to arrive, I ordered it on Monday they said they shipped it out priority mail on Tuesday, but when I tracked the incubator it showed it never left florida, and still sitting there since they first accepted the item. I am worried I wont get it in time. I don't want the eggs to spoil, we are trying everything to keep my boys off spring. Please, any advice would be very helpful.

Your girl should be fertile up to around 3 weeks after loosing the male. I don't worry to much about the temperature I store my eggs at as some people do. I just keep them at room temperature. The stored eggs are fertile for about 10 days. After that the fertility rate may decline. I have had many very successful hatches. Monday was Presidents Day so nothing would have gone out that day. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Spangled]

Don't wash they eggs. If they are quite poopy you can brush off the poop but don't wash the eggs.

According to the instructions that came with my incubator, you are supposed to wash the eggs before incubating. I have only done 1 hatch so far, but I had a 98% hatch rate on my chicken eggs, and 90% on the ducks and quail. I guess it comes down to personal choice. If anyone know differently, I would be glad to hear what you know!

It may be personal choice, but often it's based on more than a flip of the coin. Both methods (clean vs dirty) are popular. I've had old-timers tell me not to wash their eggs before incubating them. I've had old-timers not want to let me hatch their eggs if I'm going to wash them. Sometimes traditions are based on wisdom and sometimes not. People have good reasons on both sides of the issue. Some people even fumigate their incubators and eggs, too, I think, but that's pretty rare nowadays. There's a whole list of why washing is good and a whole list why washing is bad.

Since egg shells are porous, I don't wash the eggs because I fear that some of the bacteria from the poo may be introduced to the inside of the egg shell when the cuticle is possibly removed by the water. However, the poo was a little wet (or a lot) in the first place, so bacteria may already be inside. I try to only incubate clean, unwashed eggs and work hard to keep the floor a few feet in front of the nests clean and the nests clean. If I have to incubate a messy egg, then I use fine grit sandpaper to remove the poo, using a new spot on the sandpaper for each spot on the egg. Of course, there are those that think that sandpaper grinds the bacteria into the porous shell. But my thought is that there is less chance of the whole incubator becoming infected with the bacteria if the outside of the egg is clean. But seriously, who knows for sure? And I have had 100% hatches, etc., too. Both ways give consistently good results. I don't sandpaper the eggs if I'm using a broody and I definitely don't wash them since I think that would make a difference under a hen. I've had hens hatch at 100%, too.

To OP, 55-65F is supposedly ideal. Over 70F and they can start developing a bit. 10 days seems to be my limit for optimum hatches, but I have needed some eggs to hatch and have hatched an egg that was like 18 days old once. The 18 day old egg hatched and so did the 17 day old, if memory is serving me. I don't think it was 19 and it wasn't 20 days. I was shocked, but I kept them in a humid area at around 60-65F and tilted them (in egg cartons) 2-4 times a day prior to hatching. I also super fed my hens so that they were making really hatchable eggs. The regular feed for layers isn't the best feed out there for the making of hatching eggs. Hens making hatching eggs make eggs with a high rate of hatchability if they are fed a ration that is supplemented beyond what they get in normal egg-laying feed, which is formulated for chickens to lay eating eggs, not hatching eggs. Truly, though, I don't know/remember the percentage of difference between the hatching rates according to the studies I read a few years back.

 

[mortie]

Argh. I have been storing some eggs to put into the bator this weekend and I totally forgot to turn them! I just turned them now but I am totally kicking myself. I hope they are ok. I am storing them for a few days at 68 degrees...and now I will remember to turn them.

 

[Spangled]

Argh. I have been storing some eggs to put into the bator this weekend and I totally forgot to turn them! I just turned them now but I am totally kicking myself. I hope they are ok. I am storing them for a few days at 68 degrees...and now I will remember to turn them.

They are likely absolutely fine. Best case scenario is turning them while collecting. However, the hen usually lays eggs for like about 5-10 days (or whatever her hormones tell her to do according to her size, etc.,) and then she starts setting on them so that they hatch all at the same time. During those days that she is laying them, she isn't turning them throughout the day. She gets on the nest. Settles in. Maybe jostles them a bit. Lays an egg. Off she goes to dig around and dust bathe.

Truth be told, I have put eggs in the incubator, thinking I turned on the auto egg turner only to realize about 3 days later that it didn't get turned on. I turned it on and still had a good hatch. Surprising to me at the time. Sure, maybe the hatch may have been better, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary ... still a good hatch. I wouldn't want to goof up like that nearer the end of the 21 days, though.

 

[mortie]

They are likely absolutely fine.  Best case scenario is turning them while collecting.  However, the hen usually lays eggs for like about 5-10 days (or whatever her hormones tell her to do according to her size, etc.,) and then she starts setting on them so that they hatch all at the same time.  During those days that she is laying them, she isn't turning them throughout the day.  She gets on the nest.  Settles in.  Maybe jostles them a bit.  Lays an egg.  Off she goes to dig around and dust bathe.

Truth be told, I have put eggs in the incubator, thinking I turned on the auto egg turner only to realize about 3 days later that it didn't get turned on.  I turned it on and still had a good hatch.  Surprising to me at the time.  Sure, maybe the hatch may have been better, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary ... still a good hatch.  I wouldn't want to goof up like that nearer the end of the 21 days, though.

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thanks, I feel better! I suppose people hatching shipped eggs often let them sit a day or two to let them settle. Thanks for the info!

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I'm sure they are fine too. I don't turn my eggs but I do put them in the racks I put in my incubator, I have a cabinet incubator. When I put shipped eggs in a rack I usually put then into the incubator and the first day leave the turner off while the eggs are warming up and the next day turn on the turner and as the previous poster said I have forgotten to turn it on and still have had very good hatches. There are some studies where chicks were hatched without ever turning the eggs. If my old memory serves me correctly, I think the hatch was fair. I have had broody's sit on eggs where they all didn't hatch at once. They will usually sit for about 4 days when the chicks start hatching and after that she will stop and start teaching her hatched chicks. I have one of my small styrofoam incubators ready because I have a broody right now on a nest and the last time I checked there were 13 eggs. When she gets off the nest if there are any unhatched eggs I will candle them and if they look good I will put the in the incubator.

These were Pheasant eggs that were shipped to me. This was a few years ago.

 

[TurkenItUp209]

To the guy who has eggs at 20*f .....if they've gotten that cold I do not believe they are still fertile.