Definition of "hatching eggs?"

[LittleChocobo]

Sorry, I'm a little confused.. When someone says that they have hatching eggs for sale, does this mean that they ship eggs, which you have to incubate before they'll hatch? Or does it mean that they send chicks in that 48-hour time period where they don't need food or water?

I've looked online and the internet tells me that "hatching eggs" can mean both -- which is it? I'm so confused.

 

[Katy]

Hatching eggs are fertile eggs that can be incubated and hatched.

 

[TXmom]

"Hatching eggs" are fertilized eggs that you will need to incubate and hatch. If someone is selling chicks, they'll call them day-old chicks.

 

[ILOVEFRIZZLES]

they will send you egg that you can hatch. Means they are fertile

 

[LittleChocobo]

Ok, cool! Thanks so much. I was looking around on another site and it was just a little unclear. I knew I could come here for help!

 

[joyasmita]

Hatching means production of a chick from a egg.as its an 'ing' involving term,clearly it means a running process.like if i say i m hatching 85 eggs in my hatchery,past 5 hours.it means i am continuing my programme.so here if any breeder says that he is going to provide you with hatching eggs,its his grammatical mistake.....and he need to work on his english......
Dealing with hatched egg means chick,pre hatched means egg......


best of luck to all my breeder friend.......
joyasmita
student....

 

[joyasmita]

Hatching means production of a chick from a egg.as its an 'ing' involving term,clearly it means a running process.like if i say i m hatching 85 eggs in my hatchery,past 5 hours.it means i am continuing my programme.so here if any breeder says that he is going to provide you with hatching eggs,its his grammatical mistake.....and he need to work on his english......
Dealing with hatched egg means chick,pre hatched means egg......


best of luck to all my breeder friend.......
joyasmita
student....

 

[AinaWGSD]

I've never heard the term hatching eggs used to refer to chicks that have just hatched. Everyone I've seen advertising eggs or chicks for sale uses the term "day old chicks" to denote sending chicks in that 48 hour time period after hatch before they need food and water. The term "hatching eggs" is used to denote eggs that are assumed fertile (and usually are, although some breeding set ups or pairs of birds for whatever reason do not produce 100% fertile eggs so there's always a chance that a few of them may not be fertile) and sent to you for the purpose of you putting in your incubator to hatch.

As for "hatching eggs" being a grammatical error when used to describe the kind of eggs, technically it is not. This is one of many instances where the rules of English are bent and an action word is used as an adjective to describe the intended purpose of the noun instead of a verb. Like sewing needle, cooking wine, marking pencil, walking stick, or gardening gloves. In many languages, grammatical rules state that in order to denote the purpose of a noun the noun must be followed by the purpose, such as "gloves used for gardening." But in English it is common and acceptable to use the -ing involving term as an adjective in front of the noun. Therefor, "hatching eggs" becomes a correct structure because the -ing involving term "hatching" is a verb being used as an adjective to describe the eggs. This inconsistency in grammatical use of terms is one thing that makes English somewhat challenging for some non-native speakers to learn, but it is correct use of the English language.