I think I just baked a cake with fertile eggs

[maizey]

My chicks are only 8 weeks old HOWEVER, my mom has a friend who has been giving her farm eggs and I have been inheriting the extras. She brought me a whole dozen today. Into the pound cake they go, after a nice breakfast of fried egg and toast of course. As I am cracking them, I see this little white spot in every yolk, but hey, farm eggs look different than grocery store eggs so no worries. Then I remember reading on here that the little white spot is a sign that its a fertile egg..am I right? Could I be HATCHING those eggs instead of making pound cake with them? And even if I don't-they are cool to eat right? I mean it seems a little wrong but probably most of you with roosters are eating fertile eggs, so its probably ok? I wonder could I really and truely incubate them? (assuming i have an incubator-which I don't but I can always get one!) I am oddly excited by the prospect

 

[silkiechicken]

All eggs will have a little dot on them, a fertilized one will have a larger dot. Store eggs do have dots too, but they are paler over all so the contrast to see the dot is less.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

white spot = blastodisc = simply edible
white target = blastoderm = hatchable/edible

 

[ozark hen]

Your eggs are fine to eat, either way. It does not matter in the least unless you are bound and determined to hatch them. LOL I believe most eggs have that "white spot" but that doesn't make them fertile. They have to have a bullseye in them to be fertile. I am sure if you looked it up in the "search" tab you will find a pic of a fertile egg. I don't have one readily available or I would show it to you. You can see the difference. Just look it up and happy hatching!

 

[Cowgirl71]

Here's a link with pics!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

And yes, if they are fertile, they are still perfectly fine to eat.

 

[woodmort]

There is a difference between being fertile and developing. The latter doesn't happen until a hen applies constant body heat for a few days. If they started developing when they were fertilized the first ones in a clutch would hatch a week or two before the last and then how would the hen care for her chicks/eggs. Nature is a marvelous thing in this regard. Therefore if fertile eggs are gathered regularly and stored without heat, they just have an extra cell--that "bullseye".

 

[maizey]

Oh, ok, thanks for the pic.. I think my eggs only had the dot, not the bullseye. I will check again in the morning at breakfast and look closer....darn, Im a little disappointed..thought i hit a free chicken jackpot. Glad i can eat them either way... they are so good!