fertile egg question

[greenapple]

2 of my BR girls and both my EE's have been free ranging with my cornish roo. The girls eggs are are dark and very difficult to candle. I would like to let one of my girls set on the eggs, have a broody BR right now. How can I tell if the eggs are fertile without candling them? Not sure the roo is getting his job done. I have only seen him attempt to cover the 2 BR, he tries that when he doesn't see us around. They act so different when we are outside with them, the girls don't want the roo around when were are outside. But when they don't know we are around, the don't pick on him, and I think I was able to catch a glimpse of a successful mating when I was watching them scratch around the back yard through the window.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

You could crack an egg or two and check for fertility before putting any under the hen. The yolk of the egg will have a small white dot. If they are fertile there will be a small white ring around the dot giving it a bullseye look.

Oh, and there is no way to tell if they are fertile by candling until they have been incubated for several days, anyway.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Link to Speckledhen's egg fertility thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[greenapple]

thank you luvmychicknkids & Farmer Kitty. I had tried searching the posts, and after going through the first 9 pages and not finding the answer, I figured if I made a new post someone would know the answer and/or link to another post.

Any way to get that link added to the FAQ's section?

 

[chickenfanatic]

i love that thread by speckledhen so informative