Ok, so here is my dilemma. Ive had hens for about a year, and recently introduced a Salmon Favorelle Rooster to the flock. They all get along, and the roo has had his fun with almost every hen in the flock. How do I knwo they are fertile, hatching eggs, vs non fertile. Ive candled them after takign them out of the boxes, and I dont see anything. I recently bought a incubator. I have incubating what i hope are fertile eggs, but I candled them after 3 days, and i dont see anything that makes me think something is going on. So how do i really know if the eggs are fertile. I assume the roo could have his way with a hen, and still not fertilize an egg, right? Am i missing something. i would really like to know the eggs are fertilized PRIOR to puttingthem in the incubator, that way I know. any help is helpful...thx!!
Hello, I never candle until day 10, because by then, you know 100% for sure if there is a chick developing or not. (But that's just me) Now, if you crack a few open, you can see a little bullseye.....sort of a very faint circle, which is the fertilized cell.....But I don't think you can see that at first by candling. By day 10, if nothing is going on, you can disgard the egg safely, and keep the ones that look to be developing and healthy. Good luck!
here ya go some pics https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=1 but by 3 weeks they should be fertile
It's very likely if he has been in with the hens for a week or so that they are indeed fertile. In a fertile egg if you open it up there is a donut shaped spot on the egg - there are some great threads showing this in here. In an infertile egg there will be a tiny "dot" but not in the shape of a donut. Here is a link to some pictures: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=6 https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=1
When eating the eggs crack them and look for the bullseye in the middle. Otherwise wait until the 10th day of incubation and you should see the veining by candling them. When I wanted to start incubating my eggs I made french toast for the kids and counted the number of bullseyes just to make sure what my odds were at that time it was 100% fertile for 15 eggs. I had every egg I put into the incubator start. Of course by the end user error made the hatch rate not so good but each time I have incubated I have tweaked what I do and have had better results with each hatch.
