i was wandering how long you can leave an egg under a chicken before it becomes bad and unfit to eat? we are trying to start raising some chickens but my husband also wants some eggs to eat so how long can we leave them in box before he eats them? and also how do you know if a hen is going to sit onthem to hatch??

If she's brooding (sitting on them), they will be growing so if you don't want to see an embryo, remove the eggs right away. Normally, you'll want to collect eggs daily. If you want the hen to sit on the eggs, leave them there. You can date them if you want to leave some and take only the newly laid ones for eating. Use pencil to mark the date (or a code of some sort) or even just an x so you know not to take those. You'll know when the hen wants to sit on them because she'll sit and stay there all the time. She'll peck you if you try to take the eggs at that point.