Do you need to separate roosters from the flock??

[OKVet]

I was recently told by someone that chickens will not lay eggs if there was no rooster present. I had to laugh.

 

[donrae]

I was recently told by someone that chickens will not lay eggs if there was no rooster present. I had to laugh.

Yeah, and women who live in households with no men don't menstruate

RR--thanks for the info on the days. I'd always thought it was 3 days, I'll amend that to 2 in the future.

 

[pnwoldie]

In the spirit of seeing all sides, I think you could crack an egg and have an embryo fall into the hot grease IF, as several have pointed out, you did not collect the eggs every day. Before I got my own hens, a neighbor offered me a dozen eggs and cautioned me to break them into a bowl first because she had got them from a pile that a hen had been hiding in the barn.

The conclusion not to eat fertile eggs would be wrong, but not irrational. Thank goodness we have this forum to learn from the wisdom and experience of others.

 

[aart]

In the spirit of seeing all sides, I think you could crack an egg and have an embryo fall into the hot grease IF, as several have pointed out, you did not collect the eggs every day. Before I got my own hens, a neighbor offered me a dozen eggs and cautioned me to break them into a bowl first because she had got them from a pile that a hen had been hiding in the barn.

The conclusion not to eat fertile eggs would be wrong, but not irrational. Thank goodness we have this forum to learn from the wisdom and experience of others.

True Dat^^^

Local 'farmer' buddy that has free range eggs for sale had a customer find a fairly developed embryo in an egg.
They'd been crabbin' about the egg hunts and that finally convinced them to confine the birds long enough to lay in coop.

 

[azygous]

Okay. I stand corrected. I suppose anything is possible. Since I usually can be found standing outside a nest box waiting for the egg to drop out of the hen's butt, I can safely say a partially developed chick embryo is not going to fall into the frying pan in my kitchen.

 

[aart]

Okay. I stand corrected. I suppose anything is possible. Since I usually can be found standing outside a nest box waiting for the egg to drop out of the hen's butt, I can safely say a partially developed chick embryo is not going to fall into the frying pan in my kitchen.

Haha!!
Can picture you standing there with your hand out!

Not my kitchen, or customer, either....but, ya know, some folks<shrug>.

 

[Shezadandy]

I've seen the yolk start to organize if a hen sneaks her egg in with a broody and I don't catch it til the next day or two. Any egg that comes out of the broody's nest (her eggs are of course marked) goes into a separate container not to be sold.