Hens lay fertile eggs without Rooster?

I read where a guy once said he hatched a chicken out of storebought eggs!

My dad just bought a 96 egg incubator. I told him to go spend 15 bucks on walmart eggs, and put em in it. Just for giggles to see what happens.
It must have been a fluke. The eggs from grocery stores are from battery hens (no males). There are some stores such as Trader Joe's that used to sell fertile eggs.
 
I haven't heard of this study., But, we haven't had a rooster for over 6 months and one of our hens lays eggs once in awhile that have zygotes in them. We have been trying to figure out how that is even possible. Now we have an explanation. Thanks for bringing up this topic.
:welcome :frow I have heard but to my knowledge none have developed. They appear to start but quit. I don't think anyone has successfully hatched any that I have heard of.
 
I told him he was full of bull, but he insisted there was a study...so I did try to Google something, but had no luck. All the information you shared I know and told him. I thought I would ask in case someone had heard something (but honestly, if this was legitimate, then I think we would ALL have heard about it!!).

Thanks for the responses and for verifying what I knew to be true!
Awesome discussion. I agree and try to verify the points made. I rely on good old common sense. if a study was done back in the1930 I would anticipate this kind of outcome. But you all have given me the answer I was looking for. Interesting that a chicken may be able to keep rooster stuff for several weeks. Interesting idea and I may or may not believe this as absolute. But that being said I would say unless there is a proven study done with a blind group then we all have to assume it is possible but not absolute. You have to love these wonderful animals that God has given us through an evolution process or another way. That is a truth I believe.
 
If the functioning ovary is damage for some reason, a hen can develop rooster characteristics, but she will still be genetically female. She may breed the other hens, but the eggs will not be able to develop into chicks.
Exactly, kinda like a transgender chicken(unused ovary produces male hormone while the other produces female), same thing as if we took hormones of the opposite sex. They will start to appear and act male, but will never have the parts that make fertilization possible...roosters have internal testicles, which a hen will never have.
 
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My question to the group comes about after a conversation I had with a gentlemen last evening. I know that hens lay eggs without having a rooster around - no problem, happens all the time. And I know that once you have a rooster, the hen will then lay "fertile" eggs.

My friend was telling me that back in the 1930s a study was done with 100 hens that were completely isolated from any roosters. After a while, 17 of the 100 hens laid eggs that were not only FERTILE, but were all female chicks. It was explained as some sort of throwback survival thing.

I find this hard to believe - if it were true, why would we need roosters at all (except for their beauty and lovely crowing)? If we could guarantee female-only chicks, that would certainly solve the headaches a lot of people have when they find that they got the 1 in 100 male.

So - has anyone ever heard of this study? Has anyone every experienced this phenomenon? Or has he done a really great job pulling my leg?

Thanks for any comments (except those that say I am completely gullible!).
HE is not pulling your leg....right now, in our little pen, we have three hens.. we get three eggs a day.. recently we have noticed one of our red hens "humping" the other two.. also recently, we are getting VERY fertile eggs.. just this morning cracked one with about a three/four day old embryo in it.. my biggest question is HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???
 

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