Fertilized eggs and refrigeration

[schradersl]

If you're collecting eggs every day and you have some fertilized eggs, does refrigeration stop the development process? Is the fertilized egg usable for consumption?

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

If you're collecting eggs every day and you have some fertilized eggs, does refrigeration stop the development process? Is the fertilized egg usable for consumption?

Yes, you can most definitely eat a fertile egg. A fertile egg will not develope in the fridge,so if you collect them fresh and put them right in the fridge, your eggs will be no different then an unfertile egg.
On a side note; if you are interested in ever incubating those eggs, I have been successful in hatching eggs that have been in the fridge for over a week.

 

[schradersl]

Yes, you can most definitely eat a fertile egg. A fertile egg will not develope in the fridge,so if you collect them fresh and put them right in the fridge, your eggs will be no different then an unfertile egg.
On a side note; if you are interested in ever incubating those eggs, I have been successful in hatching eggs that have been in the fridge for over a week.

Thanks!

 

[Kiki]

A fertile egg should not start developing until you bring it up to a much warmer temperature than what a normal refrigerator is.

So yes...it is safe to eat refrigerated fertilized eggs.



I too have hatched eggs that were stored in the fridge for a week.

 

[Nathalie]

No problem with eating fertilized eggs. The cold will stop the growth of the embryo. I always put mine straight in the fridge just so that I wouldn't have a nasty surprise when cracking one open. Happend to me once and learned my lesson.

 

[Fishkeeper]

A fertilized egg only has a few cells different from an unfertilized egg. You may be able to see a difference if you closely inspect a raw egg, but there's no difference as far as cooking and eating.

Since there's nothing alive in the egg, the cold can't kill it. Cold stops an animal's systems from working properly, but if a thing isn't yet an animal with organ systems to maintain, it's fine.

 

[FowlWitch]

Yes, you can most definitely eat a fertile egg. A fertile egg will not develope in the fridge,so if you collect them fresh and put them right in the fridge, your eggs will be no different then an unfertile egg.
On a side note; if you are interested in ever incubating those eggs, I have been successful in hatching eggs that have been in the fridge for over a week.

I can second this, though I didn't refrigerate mine as long as you did yours; I had the eggs in for 48 hours (and made a note on the eggs), and they hatched into healthy chicks.

 

[schradersl]

I can second this, though I didn't refrigerate mine as long as you did yours; I had the eggs in for 48 hours (and made a note on the eggs), and they hatched into healthy chicks.

The "cold storage" could be convenient if you're waiting for your incubator

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

I can second this, though I didn't refrigerate mine as long as you did yours; I had the eggs in for 48 hours (and made a note on the eggs), and they hatched into healthy chicks.

I was doing it as a little test. I had no expectations for them to hatch as they were In the fridge so long, and I keep my fridge cold. But I heard you have more females hatch when they are exposed to cold temperatures (apperenapp the male embryos are more temperature sensitive so they don't hatch as well from the fridge.)
Surprisingly all of my fresh eggs I incubated died early, my 3 fridge eggs made it to pip,and the one that hatched successfully was was a girl.(the one that hatched had been in the fridge for 2 weeks!) Not enough data to conclude anything from, but I'm incubating another batch this year out of curiosity.
On day 24, 11 out of 14 fridge eggs going strong!

 

[FowlWitch]

I was doing it as a little test. I had no expectations for them to hatch as they were In the fridge so long, and I keep my fridge cold. But I heard you have more females hatch when they are exposed to cold temperatures (apperenapp the male embryos are more temperature sensitive so they don't hatch as well from the fridge.)
Surprisingly all of my fresh eggs I incubated died early, my 3 fridge eggs made it to pip,and the one that hatched successfully was was a girl.(the one that hatched had been in the fridge for 2 weeks!) Not enough data to conclude anything from, but I'm incubating another batch this year out of curiosity.
On day 24, 11 out of 14 fridge eggs going strong!

Let us know if you try this experiment again, I'm very interested in the results!