[ceri green]

how long can you keep eggs between laying and putting them in the incy? and what conditions should they be kept in during this period?

A friend wants to try hatching some eggs in his incubator from a blue fenton hen that we have borrowed to go with our blue fenton cokerel, but presumably we will be lucky if we get one egg a day on consecutive days (so looking possibly at least 6 days old before going in the incy?)

Any advice appreciated please.

  Ceri

[Bodger]

Hi Ceri,
You have to look to how chickens live in the wild. If you think that the wild relatives of our modern chickens probably laid an egg every other day and built up clutches in excess of ten or a dozen before incubating them, then this gives you an idea of just how long eggs may remain viable.
In reality, I wouldn't use any eggs much older than ten days and fresher than that if possible. I have hatched eggs in the past that have been well over three weeks old.
The eggs store better when they are kept neither too hot nor too cold. I've seen advice given that eggs should be stored upright but again, this simply doesnt happen in the wild. When a hen gets on its nest as its building up its clutch, it does however move the existing eggs around a bit, so I always turn the eggs whenever I think about doing it. :oops:
I hope this explains OK :thumright:

[Foxy]

Just to add to Bodgers post - I pop mine in a egg box which is propped up at one end then every morning I prop the other end -so the "germ" inside the egg doesn't stick.