AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

G'day,

This ended up being a long post with a few questions so I'm starting a new thread for it. I hope no-one minds.

What I have been doing (and only started on 4 Feb 08 ) is this...

- I have an egg carton (holds a dozen eggs...in case anyone was wondering) sitting on top of a six foot metal bookcase in my office. It used to be a sunroom and the ceiling is on an angle and is about 20cm above the egg carton. I don't think it is particularly "warm" up there, but I doubt you could say it is "cool".

- I bring the eggs up from the chook pen each day (about 2-4 per day) and add them to the carton.

- As I run out of space in the carton, the oldest eggs go into the fridge where they can be used for cooking, etc. (eg. scrambled eggs).

I added "04/02" eggs to the fridge yesterday (08/02) and "05/02" and a "06/02" today (09/02). Thus the eggs seem to be spending up to 24 hours in the nesting box and a further 48-96 hours in the egg carton.

We live in an area where Summer has so far been about as unsummer-like as last winter was unwinter-like. In fact, at 1am last night when I was out checking on the 6 week old chickens, I was a little cool in a polo shirt and long pants. According to the web, in recent days a nearby town reached a maximum of 32 and a minimum of 13.

Question: Is my arrangement going to...
a. Ruin the eggs viability for hatching (remember, they are likely to be no older than 4 days** before being put under a broody hen or the yet-to-be-constructed incubator)?
b. Greatly increase the chance that they'll be "bad" when used for cooking?

I work for [a big supermarket chain] and though our eggs arrive cold, we don't store them in the coldroom. They get only get refrigerated again when on display for the customers (who think they're always kept cold). I don't recall any problems with eggs from my work.

The reason I ask is because County Lodge earlier said that if they don't put the eggs under a broody hen, they give them to the dogs. I wondered if that is because they are expected to be inedible. (or, it could be that County Lodge already has a fridge full of eggs).

Also, how important is turning the eggs every day BEFORE setting/incubating?

And, since I'm on a roll, if I suddenly placed 6-8 eggs in the nesting box, how likely is it that one of my five hens (four are bantams) would decide to go and sit on them for three weeks?

Thanks in advance for your responses and discussion.


Charles


** 4 days may be extended if I start a second carton (unlikely but possible, in case I whack a dozen in my yet-to-be-constructed incubator and then a hen goes broody before I've collected enough eggs for her).


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a) no they will be fine, only 4 days old. If it was hot and they were 3 weeks old then I would question them. The refrigerated ones may not be suitable to incubate but I presume you realise this.
b) The ones then refrigerated should not be a problem for cooking. I have been using mine when out on bench for up to two weeks for cooking.

Turning eggs: I incubate a heap of eggs these days and I don't bother/forget to turn the eggs each day prior to incubation and haven't found any problem with the fertility rates, important thing is to turn when incubating.

leaving the eggs in nest box: very likely one or more will go broody, probably the whole lot of them, you see they seem to sense that when there is a nest "full of eggs" that it is time to do some thing about them. if you keep taking the eggs away it will deter them from going broody except those very determined hens.

I suggest if you want some chickies and don't want to use/wait for an incubator then stop collecting eggs, wait for them to build up in the nest and in about a week I bet one will be broody. When one does go broody, partitian off the area where she is so that the others don't lay to her and give her food and water away from the nest so she needs to come off for it. 21 days later you should have a nice little clutch.

hope this helps. [/quote]

Hey charles , I incubate eggs , I don't turn them before they go in the bator but I do store them pointy end down while their waiting to go in , works for me , Ian

yeah I am a bit slack on the pre-incubation turning too----can't say noticed a whole heap of difference

if u want a broody leave a couple of eggs there----then chuck them when u set the proper clutch


eggs are fine up to a week( stored) before incubating after that the theory is they decrease viability by 10-20% per day


cheers pam

Yep I do the same PJH I normally sacrifice a few of our eating eggs until I'm sure their clucky , Then swap them for the real thing , Ian

jo-chicken: thanks, including the advice about leaving the eggs to encourage broodiness. Might do that as well as building an incubator.

I bought a Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer on ebay Saturday night AND a Digital Controlled Hydromatic Automatic Systematic Thermostatic Thermostat Power Supply thingy. So, after paying for those, I just have to proceed with building my incubator.

It will have ....ah...forget it. I'm going off-topic on a topic I started. oops.




Yeah, I've been storing mine pointy end down so the air sac is at the top. Why? Ummm...I think gravity will screw up the air sac. And, I might have read it somewhere. In fact, I think that's the reason. I turned them all pointy end down about four days ago.

You could try those crazy plastic eggs XD

at my produce store they are 2 bucks!!!

i reckon thats a rip off!

Pointy end down: The membrane inside the shell suspends the yolk when in this position. If the egg is turned up the yolk can touch the side of the shell and sticks a little. This really affects the progress of eggs to develop because my father gave me a doz pointy end up (he didn't know) and I got one chicken. Plenty of others were fertile but didn't develop properly.

i've tried those plastic eggs but I've found that they are a bit light and the hens chuck them out of the nest. Feed places have been selling stone ones that look so real and are heavy, I find these work really well. Only problem is if you have visitors who have little understanding don't let them collect them and take them with them (One of mine was taken all the way to Tas before my visitors realised that the egg wouldn't crack! ) I must admit my husband collected it by accident one day too and he grew up on a farm!

I was just telling my wife a couple of weeks ago about how I'd go over to my great-grandmother's place and bring in the fake eggs.

I look back and realise that my great-grandmother was a patient woman and I was a silly little boy. I can't believe I was ever that dull.

My g-grandmother also had a huge (to me anyway) incubator and sometimes a table with dozens and dozens of eggs in cartons. It was so common-place it barely registered at the time and I don't recall messing with either the incubator or any of the eggs. Well, I hope I didn't.

Could I take my children to such a place? NEVER!

I also remember her brooding boxes. Cardboard, a light, newspaper on the bottom and that "chicken smell".

Ahhh...the old days. (the 1980s)



PS - I saw plastic eggs (looked cheap and light) that were a dollar-something at Haigslea near Ipswich a couple of weeks ago.

Several people have suggested golf balls and other things as alternatives...but that is another topic.


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