You may already know this:
As you eat your eggs, you can check for fertility by just looking at the egg spot. (This being said by the woman who's currently incubating a test hatch....) Because pullet eggs are so much smaller & irregular, it's best to wait until their eggs get bigger & more uniform. You don't really have to wait until they're a full 12 months old, but at least until they're past that shell-less egg, double yolker, & random egg size phase.
Last year I wanted to test out my home-made incubator before setting the expensive shipped eggs. I threw some backyard eggs in there, but didn't have the heart to toss them when the "real" eggs arrived. I simply borrowed a 2nd incubator to use as a hatcher, so both groups could develop on their own. Bonus: After asking around, I ended up being given a free styrofoam incubator - which is what I'm testing now. It was in an attic for 2 decades, but still works. Nice to have a back up.
Also if you're a teacher, the Cook County farm bureau has an Ag Education Office with free kits for teaching. That's the incubator I borrowed for years before building my own. The kit has everything but the eggs. The lesson plans are well done and the binders are overflowing with ideas. The biggest downside is scheduling & sometimes the incubator you borrow may not be in the best shape.
I did notice that they were fertilized a couple of weeks ago, when I cracked some for breakfast for the boys. I guess what I was trying to say was, checking to see if they were old enough to have a viable egg. They will be a year old next month. Or we could just call it curiosity, thinking ahhh green eggs, not olive, but green.
And you are right, its nice to have a backup and hatcher. Probably a smart thing too, just in case the one in use breaks down during a hatch. Hope it still works well for you.
I am not a teacher, but my children were lucky enough to have a great science teacher, like you, in grammar school. She would hatch eggs every year, and after the hatch, the chicks would go to the Ag school. That was something my children will never forget, such a great experience. Then 3 of my children went to the Agricultural High School. My daughter was able to be there for one of the goats having babies. I also had a newly hatched duck over Easter break one year. We named him Elmer, and we filled the tub for him. He would follow our dog Missy everywhere. So cute! Back then, when life was so busy, I would have never thought that I would have chickens.
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