Can I incubate eggs I bought from the farmer's market refrigerator?

[washxc]

Quick question. I just incubated my first batch of eggs ever. I had 14 Buff Orpington eggs in a borrowed hovabator and only 2 ended up hatching. Early candling showed that about half were developing but a few quit sometime between day 8-16. It was an awesome experience though, and we're looking forward to trying again.

Anyways, I buy eggs from a market house that sells brown eggs from a local Amishman. I saw a spot this morning in one of them while making breakfast... The Buff Orpy eggs cost $15, and I was thinking it might be nice to incubate a few eggs for $2-3.

Any thoughts?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

You'll first need to find out if they are even fertile.

Then you'll need to know their approximate age. Up to a week is OK, over that hatchability begins to plummet.

Refrigerated eggs can hatch though. My step-father asked me for some eggs from my birds one day so I just gave him a dozen sale eggs out of the fridge. They had been washed, but were less than a week old. He hatched 10 out of 12 in the most disreputable looking styrofoam incubator I'd ever seen.

.....Alan.

 

[washxc]

That's encouraging, especially given the disreputable state of my styrofoam hovabator

 

[raimnel]

yep it works, just bring them to room temp and away ya go.

I bought a dozen and cracked 2 to check fertility and in the bator they went fastforward to today day 9 and I have 9 little chickies in the eggs moving like you wouldn't believe. Check out this thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=290845

 

[IggiMom]

I sell eggs and although they are most likely fertile, they would never hatch. This is because I rub them with food quality mineral oil to increase the length of time they are fresh.

Probably most others don't do this, though.

Heck, what do you have to lose? Just stick them in there, and in 10 days check and see if anything is growing!

I know there is even a thread about Trader Joe's fertile eggs being hatched from the fridge.

Catherine