How to assure eggs WON'T hatch?

[WalnutHill]

I am sure there is an amount of time you could scald in hot water that would kill the fertility but not cook the egg. Refrigeration isn't likely to do it, I have successfully incubated and hatched turkey eggs that froze in the coop.

 

[AmericanMom]

I sell fertile eggs and I sell farm Fresh eggs... I don't list them together and put no phone number on either ad.. Once they leave my house folks can do what they want with them, mind you I have just a barnyard mix but it seems to me if your so worried about it then don't sell eggs for eating or you could talk to some of your local restaurants or your school and see if they are able to purchase your egg overage..

 

[WalnutHill]

I don't agree with the spirit of your request, but from a scientific point of view it piqued my curiosity.


From
Small-scale Poultry Production: Technical Guide

By Emmanuel Babafunso Sonaiya, S. E. J. Swan

 

[blucoondawg]

If I were worried about it which I wouldn't be because it seems by and large unreasonable, for one I would have a breeder pen with my best examples of the bird which I would have a good rooster and raise hatching eggs, the poorer examples I would not have a rooster with and have them in a general layer pen for eating eggs.

I agree with the sentiment that people looking to hatch eggs aren't going to buy any old eating egg especially if you don't make it common knowledge what breed they are or if they are fertile. I also don't see what you are worried about, so what if someone hatches a few, it is generally looked upon as a good thing for rare examples of a species to become more populated, it is good for the breed, but you want to keep a bird rare so you can sell your hatching eggs for more money, that is not right. The couple people who may hatch a few birds won't hurt your market anyways, they might not even care to sell hatching eggs, maybe just want a blue egg layer in their flock or whatever.

 

[badflash]

I don't agree with the spirit of your request, but from a scientific point of view it piqued my curiosity.


From
Small-scale Poultry Production: Technical Guide

By Emmanuel Babafunso Sonaiya, S. E. J. Swan

 

[subhanalah]

Put them in the cartons upside down and then store them in the fridge for a week before selling them? maybe the air cells will get messed up?  perhaps the combo of cold and storing them wrong will make them for the most part unhatchable.....

they've actually done a study that eggs stored little side up without turning have a better hatch rate than eggs stores little side down and turned daily.

 

[midwest]

We're all struggling to see why you are thinking the way you are.
The way i'm seeing it is that you're thinking Legbars are still extremely rare and their eggs are worth quite a bit of money. I take it as you plan to be selling the eggs as hatching eggs but at one time or another you will have some that wont sell so you'll be selling those as eating eggs and are scared that someone might end up hatching them and there for not paying the premium hatching egg price as you did.
Why not put your extras on here or ebay and just let them go to the highest bidder? Are you really that stuck on having to get that $5 per egg? Is it really that important that if others want them that they must pay what you did? Why not just eat these eggs yourself just to make sure?
To me that just sounds greedy and selfish. And to be honest paranoid.
IMO Legbars are not so rare and expensive as they were 3, 4, 5 years ago so its not like only a handful of people have them. If someone wants them theyre easy to find its not like everyone is gonna run around hatching any blue eggs they see thinking theyre gonna hit the jackpot. I still think most people would think theyre ameraucana eggs and not bother and if they did they probably wouldnt even know what they were if any hatched.
IMO youre just seeing this as a get rich dream and if everyone looked at the rarer breeds as you are then no one would be bettering these breeds and they would disappear. But again I dont think you can see that.
$5 per egg really isnt expensive if youre in it for the money why not go out and find breeds that are selling for $20 or more per egg?
Maybe Im wrong and if so maybe you could explain it so we're not so confused.
And is all this over chickens you havent even hatched yet?

 

[DeerFangRanch]

The eggs I sell for eating were gathered cold and/or dirty. Those get washed and put in the fridge and I'm not concerned about letting them sit for a week or more before I sell.

Hatching eggs are gathered warm and stored properly for the highest hatch rate. Since I do charge a bit more for hatching eggs, I want repeat customers that have had success.

 

[WalnutHill]

I would be more concerned with improving the genetics of the birds I keep, than selling eggs from the "culls". When I see a blue egg, I don't think "ooh this might be a Legbar egg, I had better hatch it!". I see a blue egg that obviously has not been handled as a hatching egg.

Also, if you scrub the cuticle off the egg you will do three things: 1. Make the egg more susceptible to bacterial entry and less likely to successfully make it through incubation. 2. Will make it glow red instead of blue under black light. 3. Dramatically shorten the shelf life for the end customer and potentially induce health risks.

If you were to offer adulterated eggs for sale, whether via pasteurization or washing, I believe you will need to label them as such. And at least in Michigan, special licensing is needed to sell adulterated products, including washed eggs.

 

[midget_farms]

Geez. I'm looking for biology, not marketing. If you open up a carton of eggs and see nice robin egg blue, you gotta talk about it. It would take no time for someone to figure out that $5 a dozen vs. $60 a dozen is a good deal.

No one has any ideas on how to sterilize fertile eggs? Keeping the rooster away is not an option.

I'm thinking a week in the fridge just above freezing may do the trick.

Age.

A hen can gather eggs for a week before setting - if you leave the eggs in the fridge for say 4 or 5 weeks before selling them - no way they will hatch. Better yet - leave them out at room temperature for 2 weeks before putting them in the fridge.

Though you should candle them to make sure none have started to develop (very unlikely)