Horrible fertility rate:

[BGcoop]

Sorry not sure where I should post this.

So I tossed 18 eggs into my incubator on Saturday, I knew from using my eggs that my fertility was not as good as in the past and I am kind of attributing it to a couple factors, one that the birds have not been getting out to free range and two, when they are in the run they are all hanging out under a truck topper we have in there for them to escape any rain as the run isn’t covered- this leaves not much head space for mating to happen, and also I think there is some dynamic changes happening with my two Roos. (Last year both Roos were proven fertile and my development was 100% with about 75% hatching)

ANYWAY, out of the 18 eggs I can see only 4-5 developing so I am assuming all the others just were not fertile. My question is: Can I pull these non fertile eggs, cook them up and feed them back to the birds or the dogs so they don’t go completely to waste?

Thanks for any insight offered.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can do that if the eggs aren't more than a week old.
I don't think my roosters normally mate till they are free ranging.

 

[BGcoop]

Ok, great! I feel better not wasting them. Like I said last year my fertility was perfect, and they have been out the last couple days and I witnessed some action today- in fact my hen, Pan, squatted and waited for the roo to run all they way across the yard for her. Lol. So maybe I’ll give them a few more days of action and throw a couple more eggs into the incubator. A staggered hatch should be ok since I am trying a “dry” hatch this year as the last couple years I lost a few that seemed to have too much moisture- probably because we hatch in the basement where ambient humidity is higher.