Collecting eggs can be complicated, especially with five coops. Some eggs are for eating and others are for hatching. Complicating things even more, is that we have green egg layers in three of the five coops. When I want to hatch Isbars I need to make sure they are pure Isbars from Coop #5 not Easter Eggers, Olive Eggers, or Project birds from another coop. Right now I am hatching Isbars.
I am normally the one who collects the eggs but occasionally Michael will pick up eggs if he goes into a coop for repairs or some other reason. He is a tad forgetful, so I give him the third degree about in which coop he found the egg(s). If he hesitates in the least, that egg goes in the fridge for eating. I won’t risk hatching an egg if there is any uncertainty of the breed.
We keep our breeds separate, in covered runs where they can’t wander around and crossbreed. My habit has been to gather eggs and put them in different pockets to keep them separate. This practice is fraught with potential disaster. I hate gathering eggs and having to go into the house several times to keep the eggs separate. I looked for a divided egg basket to no avail. Finally one day while shopping at Target, I found this basket with three compartments. It is perfect for collecting eggs. The woven surface reduces cracks and the compartments allow me to keep the eggs separated by breed. I use the big compartment for the eating eggs. Isbar egg colors varies quite a bit as you can see by the eggs in the upper right compartment. They look a lot like my project birds and olive eggers.
Most of the eggs get rinsed and go straight into the fridge for eating.
Others are destined for my incubator or shipping to someone else to hatch. Hatching eggs are not washed to keep the protective film intact. All three of these are Isbars and, after being marked with the collection date, they rest upright in an egg carton for a few hours.
Then they go into the incubator where they hopefully hatch in 21 days.