Fertile Eggs

[rodandbrandy]

How do you know an egg is fertile without breaking it open or incubating? Do you just use your rooster to hen ratio? Can you candle them and check for fertility prior to incubation? I welcome all ideas!!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

You can't tell by candling... you either crack a few from your layers and check for the bulleye and disc sperm or incubate them to like day 3 or 4, then stop the process and check for growth.....Rooster/hen ratio should be 1 roo to 8 or 9 hens for him to have good mating.....some just use a trio..1 roo to 2 hens to hatch a certain breed....and some or rarely you have a rooster that shoots blanks....

 

[rodandbrandy]

Thanks so much!! Do you know if chickens need to be a certain age before mating will work, my chickens are 6 months old and have been laying eggs for almost 3 months, can these be fertilized eggs or do I have a better chance of fertilized eggs this spring?

 

[arlee453]

As long as your roos is fertile, then your eggs are probably already fertile. Hens can lay fertile eggs from the first breeding assuming normal fertility.

BUT, most folks wait until their hens are about a year old or so before they start to use the eggs to incubate to ensure the egg size and quality is adequate to sustain the chick and have a good hatch rate.

Having said that, there's no harm in going ahead and incubating some of your eggs as a trial. The 1 yr old guideline would be more relevant if you were selling the eggs for hatching.

 

[rodandbrandy]

Thanks so much!!

 

[gobbles!]

Quote:
So wait, so the white, bulls-eye dot I see on my yolks is the sperm disc?

 

[MissPrissy]

gobbles! :

Quote:
So wait, so the white, bulls-eye dot I see on my yolks is the sperm disc?

If it has a bullseye ring around it that is where the embryo begins to develop. So, yes.​