Storing eggs prior to incubation

[Davetedjack]

Afternoon all

As a newbie to breeding I'm struggling to find a suitable location between 12 and 15 degrees to store my fertilised eggs prior to incubation.

I don't have my incubator yet but am looking at buying a Brinsea Octogon 20 advance auto ex as they seem a very popular and reliable machine

This may seem a daft question but can you set the incubator to say 13 degrees and hold it there while the collecting is done thereby keeping the eggs at a constant temp ?

I've had a quick look on the Brinsea website but it doesn't seem to give this info.

I know someone on here will be able to help

Thanks in advance

Dave

 

[chrismahon]

You can keep them in the fridge if necessary Davetedjack. I asked this same question last year when the coldest place in our house was over 20 degrees. They must go straight in though and not be left inside then moved to the fridge. Store point down and bring them back up to room temp well before they go into the incubator. Ideal storage is 12 degrees with 80% humidity.

Not sure if the Brinsea unit will operate down to that temperature, but are you too low or too high? What temperature will you be operating the incubator in, because some are very sensitive to ambient temperatures?

 

[Marigold]

I would have thought that, if you're in the UK at this time of year, any cool place with a steady temperature would be fine. Eg the shelf of a garage or, in our case, a minimally heated storeroom. The incubator idea wouldn't work because you will need to test it well before putting the eggs in, to get it up to incubation temp. And check the running temperature against a second thermometer, besides checking the turning mechanism etc.

 

[Davetedjack]

I have checked and the incubator only goes to 20 degrees which is a little too warm.

I'm probably being a little too cautious but as it's our first time we are trying to find the best way from the start.

I'm moving a max/min thermometer around the buildings we have to find the best place, I'm sure I will find somewhere suitable.

Anyway I have put 6 Cream legbars with a Cream legbar cockerel. He seems to know what he is doing so that's good as well.

How long should I wait before starting to collect eggs for incubation. I want to put the full 24 into the incubator so will load it when I have enough good quality eggs, but I'm not sure when I should take the first ones. Should I discard them for a few days, a week or longer or is it just guess work?

Dave

 

[Marigold]

Does anyone know at what point in its development an egg is fertilised?
It takes three weeks for a hen to develop an egg, from releasing the cell from her ovary, to lay. Hens have a sort of bunch of grapes arrangement inside, whereby up to 21 eggs are maturing in turn, from the smallest one just released from the ovary, to the one which is next in line to be laid. So, if the egg is fertilised at the point when it's released from the ovary, any eggs your girls lay in the next three weeks may be infertile even if they're mating with the cockerel, and if you want best fertility it would be sensible to wait four weeks before beginning to collect the egg. This is assuming the eggs are fertilised at an early stage in their development, but I may be wrong about this. I do know that hens store sperm once mated, and can go on laying fertile eggs for 3-4 weeks after the cockerel is removed. Or they can lay eggs fertilised by Cockerel no. 1 for that length of time, even if in with Cockerel No. 2, which is necessary to know if you wanted to be sure about parentage.

 

[chrismahon]

Check the eggs by looking at the blastoderm Dave. That is the embryo on the surface of the yolk. Unfertilised it will be a solid white spot, but fertilised the cells will begin to divide and it will appear as a pale ring about 3mm across.

It takes a day to surround a yolk with white and shell. Prior to that, as Marigold says, there are many yolks in development around the ovary waiting to be released into the oviduct, each carrying an 'egg' on the surface waiting to be fertilised. I don't know, but would have thought they would need to be fertilised at the last moment, otherwise the embryo would develop within the hen? So perhaps they will be ready a couple of days after being trodden by the cock. The hens move the semen to a storage position where it can remain viable for up to 17 days I've read. So if there is a change of cockerels a period of three weeks is left by breeders before collecting eggs.

 

[Davetedjack]

Looking at the replies and a little reading on the web I'm probably going to leave it for 21 days before collecting the see how many days it takes before I have filled the incubator(taking about 7 days as the limit to store before starting incubation)

Thanks for your help so far. More will follow I'm sure.

Dave