How long will a hen lay fertile eggs?

[gimme sum eggs]

We are getting 9 ladies shipped on 3-25. More than likely, Ideal will add some roos to the box to keep the girls warm. We weren't planning on any roosters but might decide to keep 1 or 2 to have some chicks down the road.
The question is, when a roo breeds a hen, how long will she lay fertilized eggs? Is it a one-shot deal, or does she store his seed for a while and use it to keep fertilizing her eggs for a while?
I'm guessing there's no cut-and-dried answer, but we were hoping someone could say "Wait 3 months after mating date and the eggs shouldn't be fertilized.
My GF had a bad experience with a sunny side up egg as a kid (little chick forming in the egg) and now she can only eat 'em scrambled. Is there a cutoff point when one can say there's 99% chance the eggs aren't fertilized (or have the roo's "seed" in the egg?

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Generally about three weeks though I have seen fertile eggs as much as 4 weeks after the roo being gone. However, if the eggs are gathered daily there is NO danger of finding anything icky (IE a baby) in the egg. The only difference in a fresh fertile and non-fertile egg is a tiny white ring around a tiny white dot.

The non-fertile egg will have a dot, the fertile egg will have a ring around the dot making it look like a bullseye.

Good luck with the new babies!!!

 

[gimme sum eggs]

Thanks for the quick reply. Its less time than I expected so that's good news.

The option to keep a roo looks even better now.

I've been picking up pop cans at the toy factory where I work, $.10 refund per can here in MI. By the time the ship date comes, I'll be able to pay for the chicks entirely with my returnables! The coop on the other hand, will require some digging in of the pocket.

Thanks again.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Ditto : well said and right on the money.

AL

 

[twigg]

Quote:
I'm sorry that happened.

Generally the only visible evidence is a small red dot, and even that is usually not visible in a cooked egg .... we only eat fertile eggs, it's normally not an issue.

As others have said. Most hens will be reliably fertile for 2 weeks, and some may remain fertile for longer.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I'm sorry that happened.

Generally the only visible evidence is a small red dot, and even that is usually not visible in a cooked egg .... we only eat fertile eggs, it's normally not an issue.

As others have said. Most hens will be reliably fertile for 2 weeks, and some may remain fertile for longer.

Actually, a red dot has nothing to do with fertility.

That is a blood spot and they can happen in any egg. Generally they are in younger pullets eggs when their little bodies are working out the whole egg laying thing.

The dot to check for fertility really is white.

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

We have a rooster with our hens all of the time, so our eggs are alway fertile.

If you collect eggs daily and put in the refrigerator, you should never have an egg where a chick starts to develop.

You will however occasionally get an egg with blood in it like one of the other posters stated.

You will also occassionaly get what I call a "meat" egg. It's got a little chunk of tissue in it. Kinda brown, almost looks like tofu.

Some folks say these are OK to eat, but I give them to my dog.

You don't see these issues with store bought eggs, because they are candled and these are graded out.

I always open my eggs into a bowl by themselves to make sure its ok.

If you go to the search page, and enter "fertilized egg" I remember seeing a post before with a picture.