Fertilized?

[Melnich]

I’m not sure If my last post worked. New to incubation process It’s cold in the Midwest it’s early for incubating but I wanted to start. Cracked an egg open to see and compare- and I’m seeing mixed pictures of fertile vs fertilized. Some pictures I see the white is really bright and then clearly tell it’s a bullseye. So I’m not sure about mine. Thoughts?

 

[50-45-1]

I would like to know your hen/rooster ratio, and the age of your flock.

 

[Melnich]

I would like to know your hen/rooster ratio, and the age of

 

[Melnich]

Copper maran hen leghorn roo. 4 to 1
Curious how this helps identify fertilized vs fertile egg

 

[tviss711]

If you had a very large amount of hens to one rooster, he may not be servicing all the hens which could affect fertility of your eggs. That is my understanding, anyway! That shouldn’t be an issue with 4 hens to one rooster. Age of the birds also affects fertility in both sexes.

With regard to your photo, I can see what could be considered a faint bullseye in there, but it isn’t super obvious to me. Could be the photo; or just my eyes! With my eggs, the bullseye is usually quite clear and obvious, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the case. Do you have another egg to spare that you could crack and see? Or do they all look that faint on the ones you’ve cracked so far?

 

[redinator]

I’m not sure If my last post worked. New to incubation process It’s cold in the Midwest it’s early for incubating but I wanted to start. Cracked an egg open to see and compare- and I’m seeing mixed pictures of fertile vs fertilized. Some pictures I see the white is really bright and then clearly tell it’s a bullseye. So I’m not sure about mine. Thoughts?

When I start seeing the bullseye I'll pop a few in the incubator and candle in 7 days to see if they're developing. If they are I hatch them, if not I try again in a week or so.

 

[Melnich]

If you had a very large amount of hens to one rooster, he may not be servicing all the hens which could affect fertility of your eggs. That is my understanding, anyway! That shouldn’t be an issue with 4 hens to one rooster. Age of the birds also affects fertility in both sexes.

With regard to your photo, I can see what could be considered a faint bullseye in there, but it isn’t super obvious to me. Could be the photo; or just my eyes! With my eggs, the bullseye is usually quite clear and obvious, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the case. Do you have another egg to spare that you could crack and see? Or do they all look that faint on the ones you’ve cracked so far?

Oh I forgot to add that-my girls are 1 and my rooster is about 7 months old. Yes I’m going to crack one open.. that was my thought. All of the other posts I’ve seen I mean it’s an obvious bullseye

 

[redinator]

Oh I forgot to add that-my girls are 1 and my rooster is about 7 months old. Yes I’m going to crack one open.. that was my thought. All of the other posts I’ve seen I mean it’s an obvious bullseye

Mine are roughly the same age 6 months to a year old. The 6 month olds are from eggs I hatched shortly after my two oldest started laying.

 

[Debbie292d]

I just cracked open two from my mottled pair. This is after just crossing my fingers and incubating about a dozen eggs across two batches, only to find out a week later they weren't fertilized.

These two weren't either. They are both only about 8 months old, so I know it's early, especially considering they are silkies.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m not sure If my last post worked. New to incubation process It’s cold in the Midwest it’s early for incubating but I wanted to start. Cracked an egg open to see and compare- and I’m seeing mixed pictures of fertile vs fertilized. Some pictures I see the white is really bright and then clearly tell it’s a bullseye. So I’m not sure about mine. Thoughts?

I can see why you are unsure. That is the classic shape of the bull's eye on a fertile egg but it is really light. The ones I've seen have been brighter.

There will only be one blastoderm on the egg yolk. That's the dot in the center. The ring around the dot is how you tell that it it fertile. Part of the problem could be that the dot can be anywhere, maybe on the underside of that yolk. If you can find a different blastoderm on that yolk without a ring then I'd say it is not fertile. If that is the only blastoderm you can find then I'd say it is.

By now that egg is probably gone. I'd open another to check since you don't have a lot of confidence in that one. When they mate the hen stores the sperm for quite a while. If one is fertile then the others should be also.

Some roosters have trouble keeping 4 hens laying fertile eggs. Some can keep a flock of 25 hens laying fertile eggs. The hen-rooster ratio doesn't tell you much about an individual egg. Too many variables.

Good luck!