How do you select which eggs to incubate?

[WilliamH]

How do people select which’s eggs are for eating or incubating? If your flock is feeding on layer feed when will you ever know if the egg is fertile?

 

[MGG]

How do people select which’s eggs are for eating or incubating? If your flock is feeding on layer feed when will you ever know if the egg is fertile?

Do you have a rooster? Layer feed just contains extra calcium to aid the hens in laying. To tell if your eggs are fertile you have to crack one open and look for a blastoderm in the yolk. You can post a pic here.

 

[de kippendame]

For me it's whichever ones strike me, usually based on color or sometimes if it's from a certain hen. I collect for a few days before I want to set depending on how many I think I want in there. Chicken math seems to make my hands put more in than my first intentions.

It really doesn't matter at all what your chickens are eating, if there is a rooster, your eggs are most likely fertile. There's not a certain kind of feed that makes an egg any more or less fertile, to the best of my knowledge anyway.

Here, eating eggs and incubating eggs are the same thing. Meaning any egg I collect has the potential to be incubated because they are fertile.

 

[nchls school]

How do people select which’s eggs are for eating or incubating? If your flock is feeding on layer feed when will you ever know if the egg is fertile?

Layer feed does not effect fertility. If there is a healthy rooster in a flock of ten or so hens the eggs are likely to be fertile. When it comes to deciding which eggs to incubate I pick eggs from the best hens. Eggs of a good size, normal shape, and normal shell.
When eggs have been incubated for 5-6 days, candling will show if the egg is developing or infertile.

 

[Etorb1]

So if your intention was to eat the eggs, it would be fine if they were fertilized as long as you don't incubate them??

 

[MGG]

So if your intention was to eat the eggs, it would be fine if they were fertilized as long as you don't incubate them??

Yep, you can eat fertilized eggs. As long as you don't leave them out too long in the Summer they won't start to develop. I like to keep them in the fridge.