Advice needed for my rooster and hen with controlled reproduction.

[Kerri Ladybug]

Hi, I have a silke hen and rooster which have raised some lovely little adorable babies. I have some more eggs now that are incubating. My problem is that i will end up with too many babies. But if i remove the rooster, he will be alone and this is not kind. I do not want to pull and use the fertile eggs as food for animals or people. I do not want her to lay any fertiles anymore. I want to keep hens with hens, but what about the rooster. Is it cruel to keep him alone if he wants to fight. How do other people prevent their chickens from reproducing over and over without keeping them alone. I can't find an answer for this. Can someone help me and my chickens. Thank you.

 

[galanie]

Why won't you use fertile eggs for food? Unless you look closely, and know what you're looking for, you can't tell the difference. They taste just the same.

 

[saddina]

Short answer is you can't.

Long answer is that eating fertle eggs causes no harm, so keep them as a family and pick up the eggs daily.

 

[Zaxby's2]

A hen has to sit on eggs for a few days before a chick starts to develop, so unless a hen has sat on it for a while there isn't anything in the egg. Eating a fertile egg isn't killing anything, because there was nothing in there to begin with. It just has potental to be a chick.

So if you keep your rooster in with your hens then you can still eat the eggs.

 

[Kerri Ladybug]

Thank you so much for these wonderful answers. The only reason why i didnt want to use the fertile eggs is that i felt like i was killing one of my pets. Was it an abortion (chicken abortion i guess)if i continued to pull the eggs and let her continue laying, as he mates with her a lot. However, i really liked Zaxby's2 answer in that no chicken starts to develop BEFORE incubation. This is exactly what i needed to find out. I have no problem whatsoever with using the eggs for people or animals (I have lizards, a pig and some stray cats). I can see the little white circle on the yolk of the fertile ones. So if it is true that it is not a chicken being destroyed (that i am not being careless) by removing them before incubation then this is exceptional news.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
It is absolutely, totally, undoubtedly true there is no chicken - just the potential for one - in fertilized eggs until incubation is at least a day or two along. And that's 24 hours a day of incubation (momma only leaves the nest once or twice a day at most, for about 10 to 30 minutes maximum).

Veins don't being to form until around day three of constant incubation. You could set fertilized eggs on your kitchen counter for several weeks (I do) and nothing would happen. Certainly nothing can possibly begin if you refrigerate 'em.

 

[Kerri Ladybug]

Thank you gryeyes

. This is such a relief to me and my problem is solved. I think that there is an omelet on the menu tonight!! Whoo hoo!! Much smiles.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you eat nuts or maybe the seeds with tomatoes? Those have the potential for life, but they have to be kept in certain conditions before they sprout and life develops. Fertile eggs haved the potential for life, but life only develops if they are kept at warm enough temperatures for a time.

Some people, for their own reasons, refuse to eat a fertile egg. That is their choice. Nothing wrong with that. But that has never bothered me.

In some cultures, partially developed eggs are considered a delicacy. If memory serves me right, Bulat is one of the ways to serve them. While there is nothing unhealthy or dangerous about a partially developed egg, that is not for me. Once they start to develop, I won't eat the egg. But until they start to develop, I have no problem with eating fertile eggs.

 

[Kerri Ladybug]

hello Ridgerunner, interesting theory on the plant seed comparision. Makes sense. I have no problem pulling the eggs for comsuption either. When i learned and saw the small white circle on the yolk of a fertilized egg, i thought that it was the extreme micro beginnings of a chicken. Thus i wanted to try and have her not lay those. Thinking that i was letting life begin unneccessarily.These answers have been great in teaching me that it is still not a bird. Obviously there is no chicken yet, but i was worried that even before the incubation beginning that it was still a formed life, no matter how basic.I am happy to have solved this riddle.

Yes, i have heard of and read too about people (especially Asians) consuming an egg WITH an chick inside. In fact, some get quite cruel and will boil an egg with a live ducking inside approximately a day before hatching. I've seen pictures of this and it is not nice. However, i did have some eggs where some of the chicks unfortunealy did not develop fully during incubation and perished. These i had no problem to feed them to my lizards or stray cats. My thoughts are that (besides selective breeding for productiveness by humans) some animals need to produce many youngs because in nature there is a high mortality rate. So these i try to give off the carniverous animals without having to sacrifice a healthy animal.

 

[Zaxby's2]

Glad that everthing worked out for you, we were happy to help.