How to Tell a Fertile vs INfertile Egg (Pictures)

[JudyMcKinn]

Heavens Yes!! you can eat a fertilized egg. They are just like any other egg. Most farm people, or people who keep chickens, have fertilized eggs. There are some health food stores who sell fertilized eggs exclusively, the thinking being that they are more healthy, but i can't imagine why they would be.
Now, if you leave your eggs in the coop about a week, and a hen sits on them all the time during that time, they will start to develop, then you sure won't want to eat them, as they will have little eyeballs and feet starting to develop in them. LOL
But, no, don't get rid of poor Rudy. And, someday next spring when one of your hens gets broody (refuses to leave the nest) you may want to put her in a crate of some sort, with her eggs at the back, and water and feed in the front, and let her hatch some babies. Can't do that without Rudy. You also can't let her just sit in the regular nest, as other hens will crowd in and lay fresh eggs with the ones she is trying to hatch, crowding the partially developed eggs out from under her so that they get cold and the embreo dies. She will need to be alone to hatch. Good Luck, and yes, eat the eggs--theyare fine.

 

[mamarosa]

Thank you Judy so much, I feel much better. I am so glad to keep Rudy he is so much fun. I love keeping chickens, who said they were dumb. they have so much personality and so easy to keep.
Thanks so much to this site for all your help.

 

[PortageGirl]

Yes mamarosa, eat them! It's only in recent years that our eggs are NOT fertile. The big egg factory barns where there are no roosters are a fairly new thing, AND very unnatural and nasty.

Even though hens lay eggs nearly every day they rarely sit on them anyway, so they would never develope. Is it better that they sit neglected in a coop then be your breakfast or add goodness to your baking?

Also, I noticed several questions about "getting the egg back in the shell" and noticed everyone was mostly avoiding the topic... at least so far. The answer is.....

No, can't put em back together, people are only checking to see if the rooster is doing his duty, once you get consistantly fertile eggs, you can start saving a batch to incubate is the only reason to crack and check them this way (before making yummy omlettes!). Also, some hen's will either not be attractive to the rooster, (rarely) and some will take such a fit at his advances he might avoid her most of the time (possible but usually not). So people will avoid using eggs from a certain hen for incubation if her eggs are rarely fertile.

If you want a good hatch, you either seperate your hens if you have lots of room, keep track of where your hens lay and what time of the day etc... mark them with a pencil when you gather them, and pay attention to fertility when you are making breakfast! (a notebook next to the frying pan?)

Once you have a good idea and know your roo is very busy, or about who's eggs are the most fertile by checking em for a while, you keep them seperate for the incubator or to put under a broody hen. Hens don't care who's eggs they hatch, if they're broody, they just hatchem!

Also, we were laughing a little, but it was a very kind sort of chuckle, not a mean ROFLMAO kind of thing, n00bs are welcome here, not picked on!!! Everyone's gotta learn somehow and this is a great place cause you won't get egg on your face!

(sorry couldn't resist that)

Any of ya'll who are more eggspert than me correct anything I've said!! I'm far from sensitive, some of this is what I learned over time myself, and some from a friend's Grandpa who kept chickens for years.

 

[lilarabookworm]

thanks speckledhen but i haver a question
what happens if you crack an egg and it is fertile or their nothing you can do

 

[speckledhen]

Well, if you crack it, guess you'd have to cook it, LOL! Cracking an egg to look at the yolk for fertility is really to see if the rooster and hen were successful at mating, so you can know if you are incubating eggs that are hatchable. Eat that egg, then with the next one laid, collect for incubating. From one successful mating, a hen will lay fertile eggs for about two weeks, sometimes more, even if the rooster never mates her again. Not sure if I've answered your question, though.
Once I was testing for fertility by incubating an egg from one of my RIR hens. I incubated it for 4 days then very carefully, opened the egg and let the yolk slip onto a plate. I could see the vein network and the tiny heart beating. It beat for a couple of hours. It was amazing.

 

[Sissy]

great pics, thanks,
Iam learning something new everyday.

 

[red star11]

great!!! Thanks

 

[chickenboy95]

great pics thanks

 

[speckledhen]

This way if there is a chick starting, we will not have the blood, we just throw that one away.

Blood has nothing to do with fertilization. Blood spots can be in INfertile eggs, too-it's just a broken blood vessel. Unless you gather an egg that a broody has been sitting on and crack it, you will not know it's fertile unless you examine the blastodisc closely.​

 

[shmooborp]

im sure this question has been asked a billon times on here but how old does a roo have to be to begin fertilizing eggs? i have a 15 week old and his legs are getting super red along the sides ( hes a buff orp) and i hear thats a sign of maturing