Can anyone tell me why it si more expensive to buy a fertilized egg than it is to buy an actual baby chick - seems weird! I am a biology teacher/small-scale chicken farmer and I wanted to incubate some eggs in class - then I realized how expensive they are to buy! Where i looked they were somewhere between 2-5 bucks per egg!! Was I looking in the wrong places or is this really how it is!! Thanks! Ryan
Purebred eggs can be a lot more expensive than that. It depends on the demand for the breed, the quality of the parents, etc. On the other hand, any backyard chicken keeper or farmer who has a flock with a rooster and sells eggs for eating can provide what you need. Backyard eggs usually run around $2 to $4 a dozen. You can even buy fertile eggs from some food markets (probably a natural foods store or the like.) You won't get much of a hatch rate after they have been refrigerated, though. There's a current thread on this section for hatching store bought eggs. Many on here have hatched Trader Joe eggs. I'd ask around, see who has chickens with a roo, maybe look for "farm fresh" eggs at a farmer's market. Ask around at the local feed store. Even someone who doesn't usually sell their extra eggs would probably help you out. When I had roos, I never sold eggs, but I'd have given you a couple of dozen! I usually had more than we eat and would give them away. If you buy fresh eggs but don't know whether the seller had a rooster, crack one and check it for fertility. Here's how: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures
Flockwatcher has good advice. I have already had someone from a school ask for chics, but they might also want eggs...and I would certainly not ask that kind of price and might even give it free for the cause. Try to find someone local. Good luck
