Eating Fertile Eggs?

[jlgoinggreen]

DH is worried about eating fertile eggs. I honestly didn't care either way, but as we get ready to hatch our first sets of eggs (both in an incubator and a set under our hen) and getting ready to study all about embryology....well now we wonder. Is the incubation period from the moment the eggs are laid? And if that's the case, the eggs I am having delivered....do I still put those in the incubator for 21 days?

We never worried or thought about it before because we only had hens, but my ds brought a rooster (he's awesome btw...for those who read about my past worries) into our lives and now there's the wondering. If I go egg hunting (we free range and have some hens who prefer to lay eggs in the goat pen and some in the cow's barn - Easter Egg hunting everyday in our farm

) everyday and put that days batch in the fridge at night or the next morning, I shouldn't have a problem right? How long can we leave the eggs out before it does become a problem and we should not try to eat it? Our fear is opening an egg with a baby chick already formed in it.

Or even worse, get a phone call from one of our customers who purchased eggs to eat.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you collect eggs every day and store them at a cooler temperature, they won't develop into chicks. Shipped eggs shouldn't start to develop until you put them in an incubator.

A fertile egg doesn't start developing into a chick until it is held at a higher incubation temperature. That way, a chicken can lay eggs for many days, until she gets enough in the nest for a brood of chicks. At that point, she lays on them and they all start to develop at the same time. This means they will all hatch at about the same time.

If you find any eggs in an out of the way place and you aren't sure about them, you can candle them. This would let you see if any development had started. In the old days, it was common for the people that sold their eggs to candle them. I guess only big commercial egg producers do that, now, from what I read on this forum.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
I agree with this...and it saved me a lot of typing so TY WoodlandWoman

 

[WoodlandWoman]

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Thanks! This eases a lot of our worries.

Now off to set my incubator for the first time. We just got an email that our first set of eggs are on their way!!! Woohoo!!!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

How exciting!