Fertilized eggs...can you tell visually?

[briteday]

I have some egg customers who would freak out at the thought of eating a fertilized egg (i.e. "we're killing a potential baby chick!") and as luck would have it one of our juvenile egglayer pullets turned out to be a roo.

The reason I'm asking is because I made scrambled eggs tonight (from eggs layed today) and I noticed a little round white spot on the yolk of the eggs, about the size of a dot made by a pencil eraser. Now, these could have been there all along before the roo, but now that I'm tuned into the fact that he is present...

??? So, can you tell visually from the contents of an egg (without candling) if it is fertile or not???

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Yes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[briteday]

Dang! Maybe they won't notice

I think I'll just play dumb unless they ask...

 

[cmom]

As long as when you collect the eggs then refrigerate them they are ok to eat. I agree with the other post and that is a great link.

 

[gritsar]

If you look at the link Princess posted, you have to look hard to tell a fertilized from a non-fertilized egg. The white 'dot" can be there either way. It's the bullseye around the dot that signals it as fertilized.
I'm not sure if all my customers know I keep a rooster. The ones that do don't care.
Don't ask, don't tell.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I found the don't ask/don't tell policy to be easier with most customers. People who have deep vegan convictions or religious rules against ending even the life of a fertilized egg will usually ask about it before buying. Other folks aren't bothered if they don't know about it, but would be squeamish if they did. Or would be paranoid that every blood or meat spot was a baby chick.

 

[Judy]

If it comes down to it, they aren't going to avoid eating fertilized eggs by buying from WalMart. People on here have hatched chicks from grocery store eggs.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I wouldn't think any eggs from battery-caged hens would be fertile, no roosters are kept anywhere near them. But yes, I've heard of folks hatching eggs from store-bought eggs, from eggs marketed as fertile. Some people think fertile eggs are better for you.

I tell my customers to crack their eggs in a separate saucer before adding them to the pan or bowl. It's a good idea with any eggs, and especially home-grown ones. Although we're diligent to collect all the eggs daily, you cannot guarantee there isn't one that got missed for a day or two.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Quote:
I agree with the second paragraph. Once we opened an egg that had been down there in the heat a little longer than we thought....I almost stopped eating eggs altogether

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
There was a thread awhile back where someone had found information that if there is a shortage of eggs in the battery houses, they are allowed to use eggs from the hatching houses. Our neighbor, who works for Tyson, tells us that the roosters that "work" in the hatching houses are happy roosters indeed.

I check my nestboxes every evening when I lock the chickens up. If I find an egg not in my nestboxes (rarely), I don't sell it to my customers. It either gets fed back to the animals or we eat it.