How do I tell if an egg is fertile or not?

[torinunez]

How do you tell if an egg is fertile or not? My ducks are very young (a male and female at 1 month, 2 more females born this morning!) so we won't really need to worry about this for a while, but this is something I need to know. We know we don't want to keep the ducklings they have but would like to eat or sell the unfertile duck eggs. How do we tell the difference so we don't accidentally sell or eat one with a baby inside? Since we have a male will they all be fertile? Also is there anywhere I can sell any ducklings they have?

 

[PD-Riverman]

How do you tell if an egg is fertile or not? My ducks are very young (a male and female at 1 month, 2 more females born this morning!) so we won't really need to worry about this for a while, but this is something I need to know. We know we don't want to keep the ducklings they have but would like to eat or sell the unfertile duck eggs. How do we tell the difference so we don't accidentally sell or eat one with a baby inside? Since we have a male will they all be fertile? Also is there anywhere I can sell any ducklings they have?

Collect your eggs EVERY day and you want have a problem. You can not look at a egg and tell if its fertile and if a hen has been setting on them long enough to candle and see if they are fertile----I sure hope you would not try to eat or sell those!

 

[Tenrec]

Like Riverman said, collect every day and you won't have a problem with babies forming.

If you have a drake, unless something's wrong with him, your eggs will be fertile more often than not.

To check if a fresh egg is fertile, you can crack it and look for the bullseye on the yolk. This requires breaking the egg, of course, but some breeders will use this so they know when to set eggs. It might somehow be relevant to you.

 

[torinunez]

So just to clarify, collecting them everyday won't give them a chance to become fertile?? That way they can be used for food?

 

[Tenrec]

They are fertile if a drake inseminates the hen and the sperm makes it to that particular egg. They are fertilized before she even lays the egg.

However, nobody can tell the difference between a fresh fertile egg and fresh infertile egg just by taste or texture. You can look at the shape of a small white mark (embryonic disc) on the yolk, and it will be shaped like a bullseye rather than a plain white circle. Fertile eggs can be safely eaten and sold for consumption. Just be sure to stick them in the fridge after you gather them, so they don't develop.

 

[PD-Riverman]

So just to clarify, collecting them everyday won't give them a chance to become fertile?? That way they can be used for food?

As said, if their is a drake, there is a good chance most every one she lays is fertile----fertile does not mean there will be a chick in it when you break it. A little micro chick starts forming after the eggs are incubated for many days----just collect them daily. If eating fertile eggs bothers you----put some hens in a pen by theirself---no drake-----wait/discard the eggs for 2 to 3 weeks for them to get "unfertile" then eat the rest----no fertile eggs then.