Fertile egg and no rooster

[Ezzfletcher]

x2. Is this the first egg you’ve gotten that looks fertile?

There was one a couple of weeks ago that was but I thought it was just me seeing things and put it out of my mind I haven't really looked since but when I used eggs today I saw it straight away...

 

[Ezzfletcher]

Oh okay hmm that’s odd. Have you ever let them free range? Do you know if there’s any feral roos?

No never free range as I've lost chickens to foxes before and there's no way anything can get into there pen ... I've had no crowing or anything either and my chickens are between 6 and 8 months old

 

[Dephora]

There was one a couple of weeks ago that was but I thought it was just me seeing things and put it out of my mind I haven't really looked since but when I used eggs today I saw it straight away...

I could write it off if it was just the one egg, but to have multiple eggs... and all your chickens are laying. Such a mystery.

 

[Dephora]

Parthenogenesis refers to the ability of unfertilized chicken and turkey eggs to develop embryos.

I read about this a few years back, mainly in turkey eggs. It is really rare in chickens. That egg does look fertile. This is the only explanation I can think of if it is not a rooster.

Thanks for posting about Parthenogenesis, I had no idea it was possible with birds. But apparently it is possible, especially with certain breeds or if selecting birds for this. I found alot of interesting info and papers on it.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19276421/
They just studied how many eggs were fertile from quail hens with no access to males, they didn't incubate the eggs to see what the survival rate was of the eggs however.

https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/155/6/REP-17-0728.xml
This is a great meta-analysis of all studies dealing with Parthenogenesis. It apparently happens more than we think. Table 2 shows all the studies done, the amount of fertile eggs laid from virgin birds, and the amount hatched from those eggs. They also talk about age of birds further in the study, saying this is more common with young birds.

Interesting results, from lots of studies. I would guess in most cases however, it is usually fertile because a rooster is involved, sometimes the easiest answer is the answer. What is the breed of your virgin mary chicken?