How long can you keep chicken eggs before incubating

Sometimes it is necessary to store eggs before incubation. If you are collecting your own eggs, for example, or if you bought eggs before having a way to incubate them. It happens more than you would think, and it’s always better to be prepared just in case. Below is more information on how to properly store and handle eggs in order to get the best results. Feel free to give us a call (888) 667-7009 or message us on Facebookor Instagramif you have any questions!

Improving Egg Quality

The most important thing to remember is that egg quality cannot be improved once they are laid. After an egg is laid that is the highest quality it will ever be, and it’s only downhill from there. Improper storage and handling makes matters worse, but following certain guidelines can help your eggs last until you’re ready to incubate. Note: Eggs should always be stored pointy-end down.

Temperature

If eggs are stored at a high temperature they will start to develop, which can cause problems when you set them in an incubator. The ideal temperature range prior to incubation is 53 - 59°F. Our article on temperature variations gives more detail on what happens if the eggs are stored at a higher temperature. Temperatures that are too low could cause freezing and a breakdown of the embryo structure.

When you do incubate the eggs, it is important to bring them up to temperature slowly. Moving an egg from 53 - 59°F to 99.5°F too quickly can cause thermal shock. Slowly bring the eggs to room temperature and then into the incubator to avoid complications.

Humidity

Proper humidity during storage is important, because low humidity can cause the egg to dry out before incubation. The ideal range is between 75 and 85%, which is easier to achieve at low temperatures.

Time in Storage

The rule of thumb for time in storage is seven days. Eggs have been successfully kept for longer periods, but seven days is the longest you should plan to store your eggs. Hatchability chances decrease after the seven-day mark, due to vitamins decaying and the membrane breaking down.

Cleanliness

Cracked, misshapen, and heavily soiled eggs should be discarded (if possible). You can read our article on cleaning eggs before incubation if you would like to try cleaning dirty eggs. Always wash eggs in a solution that is warmer than they are so that the water does not flow inwards and contaminate the egg. Wet cleaning will remove the outer cuticle from the egg, so cleaned eggs should be incubated as soon as possible.

Turning During Storage

Even during storage eggs should be turned. They don’t need to be turned as often as they do during incubation, however. Once a day should do the trick, back and forth for 45° each time. Not turning the eggs during storage can cause the yolk to float and touch membranes, which can cause it to stick and prevent the embryo from growing during incubation.

Handling Eggs

Care should be taken while handling the eggs to keep from rupturing the yolk. If any internal damage occurs the egg will not hatch.

Collecting Eggs

If you are collecting your own eggs there are a few reasons why it’s important to collect eggs first thing in the morning. You can also check again around noon to see if there are any more eggs to collect. This can help keep eggs clean and it can also prevent hens and predators from eating the eggs.

Egg Shape, Texture, and Quality

Eggs that are naturally misshapen may not hatch. Small eggs usually have a large yolk in proportion to the albumen, and large eggs can have two yolks, or twins, and cannot be successfully incubated. Other types of misshapen eggs can have faults in the shell.

Contact Us

Have you found yourself in a difficult situation where you can’t incubate your eggs immediately? Proper storage and handling procedures can help the hatchability chances tremendously. If you still have questions after reading this article, please give Brinsea Products a call! You can reach us at (888) 667-7009 or on Facebookand Instagram. Happy hatching!

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Before You Incubate
Storing Fertile Eggs

Got your eggs but not able to put them into the incubator yet?

Now you need to make sure they're stored safely to keep them as healthy as possible until you're ready, so that they have the best possible chance of hatching.

How? Easy!

Let's make like a hen!

In the wild, a hen will lay several eggs before she starts sitting on them - sometimes as many as twelve. To her, incubating one at a time makes no sense.

So, as hens can only physically lay once each day, her clutch can be several days old before she begins to incubate.

What can we learn from a broody hen?

As with everything in hatching, our aim is to reproduce as closely as we can the way a hen will instinctively behave until she's ready to hunker down and start incubating.

Here are 5 pointers, learned from learning about chickens in the wild, watching my own hens, and my own experience in successfully hatching several clutches after transporting eggs from the UK to my coop in Italy.

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1. Keep your nest box clean!

One of the most critical issues for hatching is to avoid contamination with bacteria. By choice a hen will use a quiet, clean place to set her clutch.

If for any reason you need to store your fertile eggs for a few days before incubating, copy that instinct.

Although you won't be able to see it, bacteria can lurk in storage containers. Unless you're careful with hygiene, you run the risk of contaminating your current clutch.

How to avoid problems?

If you're storing your fertile eggs in standard cardboard cartons, make sure they're new - don't use them for more than one set. Mark them "Fertile eggs - not for eating"!

If using plastic or resin containers, wash thoroughly before use. I use a baby-bottle sterilising liquid but a mild bleach solution is fine. Use one teaspoon of bleach to one litre (about one quart) of warm water.

A container like this one I use is ideal. It's strong, reusable and easily washed. After incubation it can be used to store eggs for eating.

2. Store the right way up!

A hen will keep her eggs lying sideways, and that's the way smaller incubators like the Brinsea Mini Advance (my favourite incubator) also work.

If you need to store them in a container like the one above, the eggs should always be stored with the more pointed end facing downwards, even if it's only for a short time. This makes sure the yolk stays properly suspended.

It's the way they should be set in the incubator, too.

If the more rounded end faces down for too long there's a danger that the air cell will become dislodged and the developing embryo will die.

Experience and evidence is clear that storing fertile eggs the wrong way up, and certainly incubating them the wrong way up, will result in few, if any, hatching.

My preferred option is to remove them from the upright container trays and lie the eggs on their side, protected by either kitchen roll or tissue paper.

It's how I transport them by car or plane, too.

Some of my hatching eggs placed on their side to rest before going into the incubator.

3. Turn them at least twice each day.

If you watch a broody hen (a hen who is about to sit on her clutch, or is already incubating) you'll notice that she turns them every so often both before and during incubation.

She knows instinctively that she has to prevent the embryo sticking to the membrane inside the shell.

So we need to do the same.

Proper storage means a successful hatch!

If you're storing your fertile eggs upright in a container, you will need to twist each individual egg, making sure the pointed end remains downwards.

If you're storing them on their side in a container, you can simply turn the container upside down. That way, the pointed end remains flat; the eggs are moved from one side to another. that's how I do it, and it works well.

Make sure you mark the container so you know which side is which: a simple '1' and '2' will be fine. If you're likely to forget whether you've turned them or not, mark them something like 'morning up' and 'afternoon up'. That way, you know which side should be facing upwards at which point in the day.

Remember: if your eggs are smaller than the container you'll need to use packing to make sure they don't break when you turn them. Food grade tissue paper is a good solution.

4. Keep them cool and dry.

A hen knows instinctively that an embryo won't start to develop until she sits on her clutch and they reach a specific temperature. So, until we're ready to begin the incubation process, we need to keep our own 'clutch' of fertile eggs cool and make sure they don't get wet.

This is really a question of balance. Wherever you store your eggs, their fertility will be best maintained if they're cool - but not too cold - and dry - but not too dry.

Store somewhere cool - not frozen!

How to find the ideal setting?

Look for somewhere in your house that's not heated and not humid. A garage or a dry basement or cellar is ideal, particularly if it's got a concrete floor. The ideal temperature is between 5º and 10º Centigrade (40º to 50º Farenheit).

Whatever you do, don't store them in your refrigerator - it's too cold and the air is much too dry. In dry air, eggs will lose moisture through the shell, particularly if they're small bantams or have particularly thin or porous shells.

5. Incubate your fertile eggs as soon as possible.

If your chicks-to-be have arrived by post, or if like me you've carried them long distances, they will need to settle and come to room temperature before you set them in the incubator.

Using your own fertile eggs? Collect them daily.

Allow them to "rest" for at least twelve, preferably 24 hours after arrival. Wherever possible, begin incubation immediately after that.

Advice about how long eggs will remain fertile varies. In reality, the longer they're left, the less fertile they become.

If they're kept in ideal conditions, some authors - Gail Dammerow, for example, in her wonderful book "Hatching and Brooding Your Own Chicks" - considers it possible that they will remain viable for up to three weeks.

When I've been driving to Italy from the UK with hatching eggs, I've had to keep eggs for as long as two weeks before incubating.

I've kept them in as near-optimal conditions as possible in the meantime, and hatch rates have been about 75% - 80%. It's obviously much better to incubate before that, though.

Where to next?

You've chosen your eggs, transported them safely, and stored them correctly to make sure they remain as fertile as possible.

It's nearly time to incubate!

Before that, though, there are a couple more stages to go through: candling to choose the best quality eggs, choosing the right equipment and setting up your incubator.

The articles here will walk you through those steps.

Looking for more information about hatching and caring for chicks? Try these articles!

How do you store eggs before incubation?

If eggs need to be stored before they go into the incubator, they must be kept below room temperature. Fresh eggs up to five days old can remain at a temperature in the low 60s. If the eggs must wait longer than five days before hatching, place them in the refrigerator in an egg carton.

How long can fertile eggs be cold?

Prior to incubation, a fertilized egg can be stored for a maximum of 7 days in a cool room kept at a steady 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit (not in the refrigerator – it's too cold!).

How long can Fertilized eggs survive without heat?

Some embryos can survive at temperatures below 90°F for up to 18 hours, so do not give up. You should continue to incubate the eggs after the outage; then candle them 4 to 6 days later to see if there has been further development or signs of life.

How do you know if eggs are fertile before incubation?

If you crack it open, a fertile egg can be identified by a small white circle on the yolk, that has a 'bullseye' like shape - i.e. one small white circle, with another white ring on the outside of it. This is created by a cluster of cells that, if incubated, will hopefully develop into a baby chick.