So It's time to try and incubate your first (or maybe your second or maybe your third) batch of chicks! You have hens and a rooster and you decide that you want to hatch a whopping 30 eggs! Holy Cow! You are in for a show! You go out to the coop and you find....8 eggs. You thank your hens but when you turn your back, you are crying inside. You think... well I have 2 dozen eggs in the fridge... maybe I can use those...? No. Well you can I guess.. but before you run to your fridge, I'm gonna try to show you how to store your eggs for a while without lowing the hatching rate and keeping your hopefully future chicks safe!
Materials you will need:
Eggs duh
A carton or two
A room between 55 to 60 degrees F
Yourself.
Hens to lay the eggs.
A candler
First Step. Make sure to get viable eggs. You need to look for certain things before you just go grabbing any eggs. First grab out any of the obviously dirty eggs. (The ones that have yolk on them, poop, or any other nastiness on them.) Once that is done, then grab out any damaged ones. Now this isn't as important, but the better the eggs you choose the better the hatch rate. You need to candle eggs. I know what you're thinking... Tay, why in the world would I candle eggs before they've ever been in the incubator. Good thing I know the answer to that question. You don't want an egg that looks like this....
That egg is an example of a "mottled" egg. If your eggs look like this, it could affect the chicks growing ability. It is more prone to any diseases in the incubator.
You also don't want eggs that look like this...
This is an egg that has cracks that you couldn't see as well. This could also affect a chick's hatching ability. I just wouldn't risk it. Your pretty little ladies lay you some pretty eggs that are way better than this.
Now that you have taken away all of the defect eggs,take your cartons, eggs and go to your room that is in the good temperature range. Are you there yet? Ok. Now listen very closely. You are going to take one of your eggs, one of your cartons and..... put the egg in the carton. NOW WAIT A MINUTE DO NOT JUST "PUT" IT IN. Sorry for the yelling I had to get your attention. Please forgive me. Ok. Now grab that egg again and make sure that it is point side down. This is very important. Just do it ok. Do this for everyone of your eggs.
Ok now that whatever that was is situated, you will want a small object that you can lean your egg carton on, approx. 2 inches high. When you are done putting all the eggs that are viable for that day is in the carton, close the carton, and lean the carton on the object. it should be an incline. Everyday, and when I mean everyday, I mean EVERYDAY, turn your eggs around to incline the opposite way. This prevents the yolk from sticking to the side.
Boom one day goes by and you go out and there are 5 eggs today. 2 of the are mottled, and you think "Great! Now I can only incubate 11 eggs, because, surely, eggs are only good like this for incubation for no more than a day!" SPOILER ALERT!! THAT IS FALSE!!!!! You can repeat this process for 8 days! Now granted, the longer you store eggs, the lower the hatch rate, but up until day 10 it is very low chance of it hurting your eggs. After day 10 of your first clutch of eggs being put in, hatch rate goes down to 50%. So I would collect eggs up until day 8 and then put them in the incubator.
HAPPY HATCHING!!!!!
Materials you will need:
Eggs duh
A carton or two
A room between 55 to 60 degrees F
Yourself.
Hens to lay the eggs.
A candler
First Step. Make sure to get viable eggs. You need to look for certain things before you just go grabbing any eggs. First grab out any of the obviously dirty eggs. (The ones that have yolk on them, poop, or any other nastiness on them.) Once that is done, then grab out any damaged ones. Now this isn't as important, but the better the eggs you choose the better the hatch rate. You need to candle eggs. I know what you're thinking... Tay, why in the world would I candle eggs before they've ever been in the incubator. Good thing I know the answer to that question. You don't want an egg that looks like this....
That egg is an example of a "mottled" egg. If your eggs look like this, it could affect the chicks growing ability. It is more prone to any diseases in the incubator.
You also don't want eggs that look like this...
This is an egg that has cracks that you couldn't see as well. This could also affect a chick's hatching ability. I just wouldn't risk it. Your pretty little ladies lay you some pretty eggs that are way better than this.
Now that you have taken away all of the defect eggs,take your cartons, eggs and go to your room that is in the good temperature range. Are you there yet? Ok. Now listen very closely. You are going to take one of your eggs, one of your cartons and..... put the egg in the carton. NOW WAIT A MINUTE DO NOT JUST "PUT" IT IN. Sorry for the yelling I had to get your attention. Please forgive me. Ok. Now grab that egg again and make sure that it is point side down. This is very important. Just do it ok. Do this for everyone of your eggs.
Ok now that whatever that was is situated, you will want a small object that you can lean your egg carton on, approx. 2 inches high. When you are done putting all the eggs that are viable for that day is in the carton, close the carton, and lean the carton on the object. it should be an incline. Everyday, and when I mean everyday, I mean EVERYDAY, turn your eggs around to incline the opposite way. This prevents the yolk from sticking to the side.
Boom one day goes by and you go out and there are 5 eggs today. 2 of the are mottled, and you think "Great! Now I can only incubate 11 eggs, because, surely, eggs are only good like this for incubation for no more than a day!" SPOILER ALERT!! THAT IS FALSE!!!!! You can repeat this process for 8 days! Now granted, the longer you store eggs, the lower the hatch rate, but up until day 10 it is very low chance of it hurting your eggs. After day 10 of your first clutch of eggs being put in, hatch rate goes down to 50%. So I would collect eggs up until day 8 and then put them in the incubator.
HAPPY HATCHING!!!!!
