Precious Poultry

In our experience (what has worked best for us) is not to keep hatching eggs any longer than 14 days, as after this time, hatchability falls quite dramatically.

When storing eggs that you are going to place in an incubator, always store then in an egg carton with the pointed end facing down and place that carton on a 45 degree angle, rotating once every 12 hours.

Some rules for keeping hatching eggs are:

1. Keep only clean eggs as dirty eggs can introduce bacteria to a developing chick.
2. Never wash an egg for hatching as this will remove the protective antibacterial coating the chicken leaves on the egg when laid.
3. Never keep hatching eggs in the fridge.
4. If using an incubator candle the eggs after the 7th day and before the 14th so you can remove any dead or infertile eggs so they do not go rotten and explode in your incubator contaminating the other eggs.
5. Do not hatch mishappened shaped eggs.