Storing hatching eggs

Most people say they can be stored for up to 2 weeks, or even 3 weeks. They should be at a temperature between 11-15 degrees Celsius, and turned twice a day (not upside down; just lift one side of the container and then the other). The rounded side should be up, because that's where the air sac is, and it shouldn't be under the weight of the egg.
How long have you stored hatching eggs before incubating them?

Edit: this is about quail eggs, and I guess it's similar with chicken eggs. Do you have experience with other eggs? Is it different?

I would consider how long it would take that bird to lay as many eggs as they would normally sit on... and use that length of time as the standard.

For instance an average hen lays 1 egg a day and can sit on 12-15 eggs at a time. I would not want to store the hatching eggs more than 15 days.

Google says quail lay about 1 egg a day, and can sit on 8-12 eggs at a time. I personally would not want to store them for longer than 12 days.

I found some interesting research papers about this.

"Hatching performance of Japanese quail from eggs stored for different periods - a preliminary study - this article says, that although quail egg quality deteriorates during prolonged storage, the researchers still had good results hatching quail eggs stored for 24 days, which is longer than hen eggs.

"Although chicks obtained from the oldest eggs (24–32 days) showed significantly lower activity, poorer down quality and limb malformations, this did not significantly affect the differences in their overall evaluation."

The optimal eggs for incubation were considered to be those weighing 11.51–12.50 g. Researchers observed egg weight loss during storage, due to water transpiration.

Eggs in this experiment were stored at "physical zero conditions", which is a temperature at which embryo is not developing.

"Egg Storage and the Embryo" - this article discusses optimal temperature for egg storage; 15°C is considered "physiological zero", but in other experiments eggs were stored at room temperature. Also, eggs stored for longer time may not start developing in the incubator right away, so the incubation time may be extended too.

Mad scientist mode! This is interesting too:
"Effects of Egg Storage Material and Storage Period on Hatchability in Japanese Quail" - they tried to reduce egg weight loss due to transpiration, by using different materials (B = no use of any storage material, P = use of perlite, H = use of hay).
Another problem during prolonged storage are bacteria developing, so perlite makes sense. From conclusion:

"Perlite is an inorganic material, having low heat conductivity and also in which microbial agents and bacterial fermentation cannot exist. [...] The present study revealed that perlite did not influence the early or late embryonic death rate but had an increasing effect on hatchability of quail eggs, in three storage periods. Perlite is concluded to be safe for use in the storage of hatching quail eggs."

I only have experience with Chicken, Duck and Goose eggs - not quail. My friend has experience with Bantam Chicken eggs as well.

There are so many experiments we could do with this concept if we had the time!

Factors that I'm aware of, but no clue as to how accurate the info is:
1. I've always been told, "room temperature", but it may be more complicated than that... I recall reading that some eggs should be warmed up every day or two, rather than being left at the same temperature, because every 1 to 2 days, the bird returns to the nest to add another egg, warming the existing eggs in the process. (Geese lay every second day, and I may be recalling correctly that this is the group the warming up applied to.)

2. Shell strength and thickness may impact storage. We find that younger birds tend to lay smaller eggs with stronger shells than older birds. The problem is that smaller eggs result in smaller chicks, which also has risks. We were told by one person that when a chicken first starts to lay, those eggs won't be as viable as eggs laid even 1 month later.

3. When we first started, we did just put the hatching eggs in a paper carton and flip it over each day. My friend with the banties follows Flora's method of raising the different side each day. However, I heard at one point that leaving the eggs on their sides the way they'd be in the nest was better for storing and rolling them over once a day was best. For eggs going under a bird to hatch (our Muscovy *love* to hatch eggs and tolerate me insisting they hatch Khaki Campbell eggs or goose eggs, but much prefer to hatch Muscovy eggs - we simply don't have room in our universe for the number of Muscovy this would result in!) However, the incubator my friend left here has an automatic turner and it has the eggs vertical on their long axis and tips them slowly back and forth over a 12 hour period. This turner will cope with chicken, Khaki and just barely Muscovy eggs, but I have to manually turn the goose eggs or buy more equipment.

4. Even if the plan is to have a duck/chicken hatch and raise eggs, I still need to store them while waiting for various stars to align. I need a safe place for the broody bird where other birds can't add more eggs at a later time. Ideally I need to catch her when she's done laying, and ready to start sitting, otherwise she might add more eggs herself. So normally, I start saving eggs from multiple birds and when I have a suitable clutch size, I start removing the older ones which are still perfectly fine for human consumption, while adding new ones. If your goal is to have an incubator full and have them all hatch at once, this will usually require you to store many more eggs for longer. I would only do this if I had multiple birds laying, as I would worry about the decrease in quality.

5. I also wonder if humidity may be a factor. Higher humidity may help the eggs last longer, because they might not loose water as quickly. I don't recall any recommendations for humidity levels for storage - only for incubating and hatching. This would again be something worth researching.

One of my reasons is that I could have the rest of the herd in the freezer and travel while the hatching eggs are stored... Which makes me think of putting them in a box filled with perlite and hanging up a tree on a string... which should keep them nicely ventilated, somewhat protected from humidity loss, bacteria, and physical damage, and the movement of the tree would do the turning. And temperature should be ok during autumn months, perlite keeping it stable but not the same all the time. The downside is that it might be a bait for predators. Dress it up as a scarecrow? I should turn off the mad scientist mode :D

Flora Eerschay wrote:... The downside is that it might be a bait for predators.

I think I'd want the box well covered with 1/4" square hardware cloth. There are plenty of critters other than humans, who consider eggs a tasty treat!

Jay, this reminds me of a gadget I saw in one restaurant. There was a discount for clients who lock their phones in a small cage. The waiter kept the key. Or, the hatching eggs could be (safely) stored in a trap, to catch all those predators ;)