Can you eat fertilized eggs?

[AshleyBickle]

I have three hens and one rooster.. They are all kept together. My plan from the beginning was to raise these chickens as egg layers but i ended up with a rooster also. So im curious if i can keep them together once they reach maturity and start laying. I plan to remove all eggs laid daily but didnt know if i should separate the rooster from the flock once they do start laying. Im completely new to this whole thing so just not sure if its safe to eat fertilized eggs or not?

 

[Intetdreamer]

It is fine to eat fertilized eggs, if you don't incubate or leave them under a broody, you will not get chicks

 

[AshleyBickle]

I did some research on this question prior to asking it. I found that as long as you remove the eggs daily its fine if they are fertilized i just wanted to get a second opinion. So thanks!

 

[dainerra]

you don't even have to worry about removing them daily. It's only an issue if you have a hen that goes broody. You will tell because she will park herself in the nest and never leave. Other than that, there is no difference at all between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized one.

 

[Lifestudent]

When I was in the Philippines I learned that earthquakes will cause the embryo to stop developing, so to avoid wasting fertilized eggs that were partially developed they boil and eat them. Yes it's gross for us Americans, but it shows that you have nothing to fear from eating a fertilized egg. You won't be eating a balut, so you won't have the feathers, but if you refrigerate the egg within hours of it being laid you'll never know the difference between it and an egg that isn't fertilized.

 

[Stef82]

It's very safe to eat fertilized eggs. When I worked at a hatchery, once a month a family will order eggs that are 18 days old. It's called Balut. I was told it's really good tasting.
So as long as you get the eggs with in 2-3 days with no broody hens on the eggs, your fine. We have a male silkie and I'm not too sure if he's been mating, but we still eat the eggs.

 

[Happy Chooks]

you don't even have to worry about removing them daily. It's only an issue if you have a hen that goes broody. You will tell because she will park herself in the nest and never leave. Other than that, there is no difference at all between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized one.

Yup!

 

[AshleyBickle]

What should i do if i get a hen that goes broody? Is it safe to just remove her.. Before we decided to bring these chickens home to begin with when they were only a week old we looked into the breeds that they are and personality traits and our local feed supply store where we got them from said we shouldn't have a problem with the isa browns sitting on their eggs but possibly the barred rock hen that we have. We are interested in having more chickens at some point but don't really want to get back into having baby chicks right before winter as i live in Michigan and it gets quite cold pretty quick. Probably wouldn't be a proper release into the coop when they reach the age that the 4 we have now were when we finally had them stay in the coop full time. So the plan is to wait until next spring to let our fertilized eggs fully develop. Im completely new to all of this so my questions im sure will be on going.

 

[Lifestudent]

It's very safe to eat fertilized eggs.  When I worked at a hatchery, once a month a family will order eggs that are 18 days old. It's called Balut. I was told it's really good tasting.
So as long as you get the eggs with in 2-3 days with no broody hens on the eggs, your fine. We have a male silkie and I'm not too sure if he's been mating, but we still eat the eggs. 

A delicacy in the Philippines, they usually use duck eggs commercially, but often use chicken eggs at home. I never could eat one, but did at least try. The middle is like chicken soup. That part I could handle.

 

[dainerra]

A delicacy in the Philippines, they usually use duck eggs commercially, but often use chicken eggs at home. I never could eat one, but did at least try. The middle is like chicken soup. That part I could handle.

ok, now I'm going to think of that next time I have chicken soup. ick! lol