Hatching store bought eggs

kyeschicks

Serama Chicken Enthusiast
14 Years
Nov 11, 2008
6,961
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Texas
Before I start, if any of you have successfully hatched store bought eggs please share your experience!

Now, I have been a chicken addict for almost a decade and I've noticed sometimes that my store bought eggs are fertilized. Some, not most.
I built an incubator recently and its currently under going various tests to check the fluctuation of temperature and all that, so far I'm able to keep the temperature of a water wiggler between 99-100f for the past two days. Since I don't have any fertilized eggs with me I decided to test and hatch some store bought eggs (fresh farm, cage free) it has been about 12 hours that I put the eggs in the bator so I will candle next Thursday and see if I have any development! I doubt it, but a fun experience nonetheless :)
 
There are several threads on here about people hatching eggs from Trader Joe’s. You might find them interesting reading.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cery-store-egg-hatching-club-are-you-a-member

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/698879/trader-joes-fertile-eggs-started-8-11-12

Fresh farm, cage free doesn’t mean a lot. There is nothing there that suggests a rooster may be in the mix. Some places do sell eggs marked “fertile”. That would be your best bet. A potential problem is that you don’t know how long they have been stored or how. But as you said a fun experiment.

If you have any farmer’s markets still operating you may get fertile eggs from there, chat with the sellers. Or find your state thread in the “Where am I? Where are you!” section of this forum and chat with your neighbors. Or call your county extension agent and chat with them. They should be able to find someone around that has fertile eggs.

If you really want fertile eggs you can find some. But if the experiment is what gets you excited, have fun.
 
There are several threads on here about people hatching eggs from Trader Joe’s. You might find them interesting reading.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cery-store-egg-hatching-club-are-you-a-member

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/698879/trader-joes-fertile-eggs-started-8-11-12

Fresh farm, cage free doesn’t mean a lot. There is nothing there that suggests a rooster may be in the mix. Some places do sell eggs marked “fertile”. That would be your best bet. A potential problem is that you don’t know how long they have been stored or how. But as you said a fun experiment.

If you have any farmer’s markets still operating you may get fertile eggs from there, chat with the sellers. Or find your state thread in the “Where am I? Where are you!” section of this forum and chat with your neighbors. Or call your county extension agent and chat with them. They should be able to find someone around that has fertile eggs.

If you really want fertile eggs you can find some. But if the experiment is what gets you excited, have fun.

Hehe I am planning on breeding porcelain d'uccles but gave yet to find someone who had those eggs available during this time of the season lol
My main goal was trying to relieve stress from college and building an incubator helped me through this last hard week lol I have no means in hatching eggs exactly right now but I guess to keep myself distracted from the stress I just put store bought eggs and see what happens :lol: I know there won't be any development (and I hope none develop because I am unprepared haha) but it'll get me through these last two weeks of college :)
 
So upon conclusion, I cracked all eggs at 72 hours of incubation and none were developed. So store bought eggs from a fresh farm, cage free chickens were not fertile, no surprise here.

The good part is that my homemade incubator was able to maintain a stable temperature between 97f-100f air temperature and 99.5f inside of egg temperature. Ready for my hatching eggs now! :D
 
They have to be labeled as 'fertile'. That means that the farm keeps roosters in the flock with their laying hens. Most commercial egg farms don't have roosters because it's wasted money to feed birds that will never produce any eggs.
 
They have to be labeled as 'fertile'. That means that the farm keeps roosters in the flock with their laying hens. Most commercial egg farms don't have roosters because it's wasted money to feed birds that will never produce any eggs.
I understand, this was just an experiment :)
 

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