our chickens are 5 weeks old and i think there's a rooster in the bunch. a fellow chicken guy at work said he doesn't like the roosters because of the "yucky stuff in the eggs". anybody notice this? if so what is it? thanks again everyone, gages gramps
Did you ask them what they mean by the stuff? There isn't any yucky stuff in the egg. I need a magnifying glass to tell if an egg is fertile and it isn't yucky nor is there any taste, constituent or nutritional difference. There are things in all eggs. Two whitish twisted strands called chelazae that hold they yolk in the middle of the egg. There is a blastoderm, which is the white dot on the yolk. If fertile, it is imperceptibly more of a halo shape rather than a dot. There is also the inner and outer membrane that surround the albumen and the air pocket is between them. Rarely, there is a blood spot or some shed tissue from the egg gland. That has nothing to do with fertility. If a fertile egg is kept at a warm temperature for a length of time, cell division will begin which after several days could become yucky. Fertile eggs kept below about 72 degrees won't get yucky.
The yukky stuff in the eggs does not change the flavor of the egg. If you were to fry a fertile and a non fertile egg, or scramble them and had a blind taste test, I doubt anyone could pick the fertile egg. When you crack an egg they all have a spot on the yolk. A fertile egg's spot is more like a target. Unless the egg has been incubated it is not an embryo just a fertilized egg. If you have room for a rooster and don't mind crowing. They do a good job of protecting the ladies in their care from hawks and I have had one rush a fox to save a pullet. I then chased the fox and he let my rooster go but that rooster put himself in harms way for that pullet and roosters are not all bad. Caroline
This exactly. I always dare folks to tell a fertile egg from a non-fertile egg. It takes a pretty trained eye, and no taste difference.
