How to Tell a Fertile vs INfertile Egg (Pictures)

[Missouri Maiden]

Really neat! Thanks for sharing

 

[PortageGirl]

Modern hens have the broodiness bred right out of them, if they don’t, or should I say won’t set on a clutch of eggs, cause most –will never- do so, nothing more will ever happen, the egg is just an egg and will never be a chick. The cells only split and continue to develop when they’re incubated. People who make a big deal about the rooster being in the yard, and eggs being "fertile" just never seem to get that part, it’ll never be more than what it is, an egg.

The rooster hangs around the hens, does his roosterly duty as nature demands he do, guards, fusses, eats, clucks and crows around the yard with them, sometimes the flock is happier with a rooster, I was always told they lay better… I’m rather doubting that these days, but I still keep a roo around, I’m just picky about his breed, looks, attitude and nature now, more so than years ago anyway.

There ARE fertile eggs that come from the grocery store, some are labeled as such, but not always. It may not be common, but there are certain producers that keep roosters too so they can sell "fertile" eggs (which do sell for higher prices) but if they wind up with more fertile eggs than the market for them demands, they just mix em in with the others. They need only label them as such if they wish to, and if they do, some percentage of them MUST be fertile. There's nothing to say that all fertile eggs need be labeled that way if they're on the shelf.

 

[yonahdreams]

Wow. Thanks for all the info. It has been really helpful. I just checked some eggs a hen was sitting on for a couple of days now and Yes they were fertile. So now we are going to let her sit on some so we will have baby chicks. Now for my questions. How do you seperate the hen from the others with only one coop? They dont seemed to like their nesting boxes to much. We still find eggs in 2 corners of the coop and sometimes scattered on the floor of the coop. Some will use the nesting boxes but not all of them. How do we get them to use the nesting boxes? Thanks we are new at this and would appreciate any help or ideas.

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Quote:

dreams

from Kansas. This is a great site, isn't it!?

 

[yonahdreams]

Thanks for the welcome. Yes it is. I havent post much but i have been reading through quite a few of these since i signed up. I learned most of what i know from this forum.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

You can make just a small area--in your garage or basement or spare room, even, with just a box in it with the eggs for the hen to sit on, and just enough room in addition to place a feeder and waterer for her, and a couple square feet for her to stretch her legs. She will only leave the nest every 1 to 3 days for a bite to eat and drink, and to make a huge, incredibly stinky poop. Then back on the eggs. After she hatches them, you may want tokeep them under a light, (brooder type setup) and put her back with your other hens. If you put her there with the chicks, the other hens might kill them. Or cause a lot of problems for the mama as she tries to protect them.
You will need to move the hen and eggs at night, so that hopefully she will stay on the nest after the move. You might get her established in a nest box in the henhouse that you can then move box, eggs, hen and all into your sitting area. Good Luck.

 

[yonahdreams]

Thank you so much for your ideas. I will do that.

I had no idea that the other hens would go after the chicks. I will have to definitely be careful. We did the brooder thing with the chickens we have now. We just figured that if htey had the chicks themselves and raised them themselves that everything would be fine. I am glad to know now that it wouldnt be. I wouldnt have wanted to have that mistake on my shoulders. Thanks again.

 

[Jen4]

I'm hoping

this is a fertile egg?

I took more pics. but this one came out the best....

I made this one bigger...

So what do ya'll think?

 

[speckledhen]

Could be fertile, but I cant really tell. Are you seeing a ring around the white spot?

 

[Jen4]

I just looked at the egg again and yes there is a ring around it but you cant see it in the pictures, sorry the pictures are not very good.