How to tell if a egg is fertile

[OscarHasHumor]

How are you suppose to tell if a egg is fertile or not with out incubating it and how long does it take untill i can't hatch an egg from when it was layed plz help thx.

 

[SerrarGett]

You can't tell if an egg is fertile unless you crack it open or incubate it. You have less than 7 days from the time the egg was laid to incubate it.

 

[SerrarGett]

When cracking the egg open, there will be a cloudy white spot that either has nothing inside it or a small white dot. It looks like a bullseye and means that egg is fertile.

Hope this helps!

 

[MarkJr]

Or set it and wait 4-5 days then candle it. Growth is very plain to see at that stage.

If you have dark shells, you may need very bright candling light.

 

[poultryprofessor]

There is no way to determine whether an egg was fertilized without breaking it open or incubating it.

General rules of thumb for collecting eggs for hatching:

• If you want fertilized eggs, you'll want to maintain a ratio of 10 or fewer hens per rooster. This gives him the best chance of mating with all of the hens frequently enough to maintain fertile egg production.
• Has the rooster been in with the hens the whole time? If so, you probably have fertilized eggs assuming he is doing his job and is fertile himself. If your rooster is new, give him about a week to mate with all of the hens before you begin collecting eggs.
• Hens can store semen in their reproductive tract for up two weeks, but fertility will decrease over that time if she is not mated again (if we are doing artificial insemination, we inseminate once a week).
• Collect eggs as frequently as you can, especially if it is particularly hot or cold where you are right now. As you can imagine, eggs that have frozen are not good candidates for hatching.
• Before setting eggs, I usually crack open several eggs to check for the blastoderm (https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7H8ZQgDRH/).
• Discard dirty eggs. They are not good candidate for hatching.
• Discard misshapen eggs, cracked eggs, double yolk eggs, etc. They're fine for eating, but not recommended for hatching.

General rules of thumb for storing hatching eggs:

• Do not wash eggs you wish to hatch
• Store hatching eggs with the big end of the shell pointing up
• If you can, tilt the eggs a couple of times a day to prevent the yolk from
• Ideal storage conditions for hatching eggs are 55F and 75% humidity - warmer than your fridge, but probably colder than your house.
• Hatch rates decrease the longer you store eggs. I try to get all eggs in the incubator within 7 days, but I've had success with 10-day-old eggs even when stored at room temperature (70 to 75F). I would not store hatching eggs longer than that.

 

[OscarHasHumor]

When cracking the egg open, there will be a cloudy white spot that either has nothing inside it or a small white dot. It looks like a bullseye and means that egg is fertile.

Hope this helps!

View attachment 2535597i can't really see the white spot on the fertile egg

 

[SerrarGett]

Here's a better photo:

 

[CluckerFamily]

You could keep track of your fertile egg percent to help determine how well your rooster is fertilizing the eggs. Then you will have an idea as to how many eggs would hatch if you were to incubate them.

 

[OscarHasHumor]

Here's a better photo:

View attachment 2536083

THX