Eating fertililized eggs

[60ACRES]

Eat the rooster, will solve all your problems.

 

[mrbstephens]

Quote:
If you eat sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, corn or even tomatoes you are eating something that could have life...........

They are Vegetarian, so eating seed would be the same as eating corn,tomatoes and etc. ???? what your point its not meat

Wait, that's just weird!

 

[greyhorsewoman]

As a personal choice, if you don't want to eat fertilized eggs, just go the no-roo route. However, chickens are naturally OMNIVOROUS, opportunistic animals that don't thrive well unless THEIR diet includes meat.

Does it bother me, no, neither does eating duck or goose eggs (which for some reason DOES bother a lot of folks I try to share my ducks eggs with ??) The average fertilized chicken egg actually has LITTLE chance of becoming a chick unless humans intervene with incubation. Laying an egg every day or so produces an enormous amount of eggs per individual chicken and, unless she goes broody, she will just let them sit wherever they are.

 

[citrusdreams]

mrbstephens, if you were leaving the egg under the chicken for a few days, I could understand you being disturbed by it, especially as you are vegetarian. Or even just two days.

My chickens, unless broody, just lay their egg and leave. And actually, several chickens use the nest that way. So there is no opportunity for development of the life you're worried about, unless it's either hatched by a chicken brooding, or put in an incubator.

I understand where you're coming from about the potential for life that you don't want to eat. But if you collect the eggs daily, they shouldn't be developed. Fertilized yes, but when you remove them and put them in the refrigerator, any development should have stopped, if it ever started. I can't think of a reasonable comparison atm. I know seeds aren't going to cut it for you

So to answer your question, no, it doesn't bother me because I have stopped the development. I collect the eggs often and refrigerate them before they have an opportunity. So to me, it's just an egg.

If you can't get past that, you can always rehome the rooster. They really don't need a rooster to lay eggs, and you can be assured that if it goes against your grain, that the eggs truly aren't fertilized.

 

[WriterofWords]

You need to find your rooster a home. I understand that you feel he's beautiful and all, but ask yourself if it's fair to expect him to be around your hens and not do what comes naturally to him. It's your choice as to what you put into your body, but he doesn't have a choice as to what comes naturally and he should be where that can happen and it won't be considered a problem.

 

[scarter]

This got off topic. To your question about eating fertilized eggs I don't have a problem with it. But we eat meat so there is a different mentality for us. It WOULD however bother me if it was sitting under a hen for a couple of days and we cracked it open to find development. I couldn't eat that. We just collect daily and refrigerate. Oh and we got rid of our roosters last fall but with our last order have more. They will be leaving the farm in the fall if not before. So normally we don't have to worry about it.

 

[dancingbear]

Most fertile eggs won't ever hatch because they won't ever be incubated. Hens don't just automatically try to hatch every egg they lay. They only set on the eggs and incubate them when they go broody, which with most hens (there are exceptions, I have some that will brood 3 or 4 times a year, if I let them) happens once or twice a year, if they are a breed that goes broody at all. So in the absence of a broody hen, unless you plan to buy a really big incubator and gather and incubate each and every egg your hens lay, you'd either eat the eggs or let them rot. It seems both wasteful and pointless to let them rot.

I have 7 broody hens right now, all setting on eggs I saved up for them, and 2 more hens off egg-duty while raising chicks, and 2 dozen more eggs in my incubator. I still have a bunch more eggs that are being laid every day by the non-broodies, and we will eat or sell those.

You can easily see how sheer numbers would quickly overwhelm you. The idea that you're ending a life by eating that egg that isn't ever going to hatch anyway, unless you choose to incubate it, is pretty much all in your head. But it's a personal choice, like any other food, anyway.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
It's about half and half for the organic ones from the store. Look for the little bullseye whenever you crack one and you'll know for sure. The farm? I am willing to bet they are fertilized.

A rooster can bring a lot of entertainment and joy to your family and flock, but if the thought of having fertilized eggs is against your belief, I would suggest rehoming your roo, It's going to be the only way for you to have peace of mind.

 

[taraann81]

This is the way I look at it. Which is the lesser of two evils?

Eating a fertilized egg, which if left to the hens devices(depending on breed and broodiness) will never become a chick. OR rehoming your Roo which could very well be eaten. Around here roos are a dime a dozen, and unless you have a rare or ornamental breed chances are any where you rehome him he would eventually end up as a chicken dinner( I am stating this about my specific area it may be different where you are)

I personally choose to eat my fertilized eggs rather than let somebody else eat my pet roo.

Like others have stated it is a very personal decision and you are the only one who can make that decision.

Good luck and let me know what you decide. I think this is an interesting thread, I enjoy reading others views on the subject.

 

[Julie08]

Okay, here is my somewhat demented take on the entire thing. When I had RIR that wouldnt go broady it never bothered me because no matter if I took the egg or not it would never develop because the hen wouldn't sit on it. BUT now that I have cochins who are croncially broody, it does bother me to eat the fertile eggs. I know wierd.