how long before roo gets tot he age of .... and you have fetrile egg ?

My boy was pretty slow to romance the ladies, he was 6 months! We eat fertilized eggs all the time. I do not taste any difference whatsoever, I too pick them up daily and put them in the frig. The only difference in the look of them is the bullseye dot in the yoke, but once you put them in the pan, no difference in taste, at least to us!!

 

My understanding is that refrigeration stops the development of an embryo completely. So, if you collect your eggs daily and refrigerate them immediately, you will never see any sign of embryo development.

I got six chicks last April, and one turned out to be a rooster. I started collecting eggs and NOT refrigerating them on Sept 20. The hens and rooster were approximately 21 to 22 weeks of age at the time. The Hens had been laying for three weeks. I collected 29 eggs. Thirteen hatched. Four had completely developed chicks with fur, but they never broke out the shell. I will pay closer attention next time.

Hope this give you a time line of what to expect.

Bill

 

Absolutely no reason to shun the fertilized eggs. My understanding is that the embryo begins to devellop when the hen starts to incubate them--which is why eggs laid over several weeks all hatch 21 days AFTER the hen starts to set.

There's no difference in the taste of the eggs. Until they're incubated, there's no chick there, just the potential for a chick. The hen *must* begin incubating before the embryos can start to form.


As for when your roo decides to get interested in the ladies, that's anyone's guess! My girls were actually more interested in my roo than he was in them for about three weeks! He'd walk over to them, they'd crouch for him, and he'd look at them like, "What in the world are you girls doing?" It was so funny!

Keep in mind that when your roo does feel inclined that way, that's when any agressive tendencies towards you begin to show up. Nip those in the bud, and you'll likely have a very well-behaved boy. There are some great posts here about how to keep your rooster in line. One in particular about a "boxing match" that left me in tears of laughter for five minutes!

Enjoy your chickens, and tell your mom to enjoy those eggs!

 

Our boy was frisky at an early age. Though the year old hens didn't coddle to him for some time after these non courting advances he still tried and succeeded much to his chagrin as they chased and pecked him back into his place.

All our eggs are fertile, no worries.

 

Was at the store yesterday & ran into a lady looking through eggs, to find a carton that did not have any broken eggs in them. I told her she needed to have hens & get her own fresh eggs, I told her how my hens shells were so firm you really had to give it a good wack to crack them. She said she did not eat fertile eggs, funny thing is, I never said I had a roo. So was she under the impression that farm chickens all laid fertile eggs?

My roo is 6 months old, been "Randy" for 2 months. Some of the hens eggs have the bullseye, some don't. I pick them up from minutes to a couple hrs after they have been laid & off to the fridge they go. I too taste no difference, I just love the bright orange yolks. Yummmm