Egg questions

[Sharoane]

Hey all, I just got three new hens yesterday and a pullet who is too young and scruffy to be out with the rest so she's chilling out in my bedroom in a nice, warm space. Anyway, one of my new hens laid an egg, which is good news. However, I think she was kept with a rooster, so it might be fertilized egg. Don't want babies, pulled the egg and put it in the fridge.

Two questions: First, how long does she need to be away from the rooster to be laying unfertilized eggs. Second, her previous owner dusted her with sevin dust for mites...can the chemicals get into the eggs? I'm not going for totally organic, but I want to have nice, clean, happy chickens laying eggs for me and that includes chickens not getting treated with chemicals.

Thanks!

 

[Sharoane]

I can't help it that I wonder these things...

 

[JakRat]

I am not sure... you can eat fert. eggs though...the mites thing though... I am not sure... its better to be safe than sorry. You can always call a hatchery and find out too, or the previous own would know as well... I would say give it a week to be on the safe side, but if you are unsure you can always wait longer.

 

[Sharoane]

I know you can eat fertilized eggs, I just can't do it. I was going to use the eggs for my sugar gliders or dogs, but if the chickens were just dusted with Sevin I'm not sure it's good for the gliders. They're really small animals and fragile. I'll probably compost my eggs for now and give them a few weeks.

 

[canada-goose]

Why can't you?

 

[Sharoane]

Ha, it just really bothers me. I don't care if other people do it, but honestly, I just can't.

The other half of the issue is the Sevin dust issue. From what I've read in other parts of the forum, Sevin can leave a residue in eggs. I'm sure it's not enough to hurt me, but I was going to feed the eggs to small animals. I don't want to poison them--so, what I was wondering is if anyone has any information about how much can get into the eggs.

Really enjoying the girls, though, eggs or not.

 

[evonne]

i could be wrong, but i was reading up on mites and lice... the way i read it...
with the sevin dust...
eggs were fine, but you wouldn't want to eat the chicken until after a certain amount of time...
that info could have been on one of the other methods though...