I've lost my mind, just threw in 2 eggs from fridge...

[Davaroo]

"Trader Joe's here sells eggs that are labelled "fertile." You know us Californians are a little weird. I think there is some urban myth floating around that says fertile eggs are lower in cholesterol, or something like that. So, they sell "fertile eggs." For real."

"Davaroo; from what I've seen on other threads, they are not nesc. advertising them as "FERTILE", which probably would freak people out (!silly but true!).. I think they are just organic/free range, which people DO want, and are sold for eating, not hatching..."

I gotcha - not cage laid eggs. The whole "free range" thing is a farce, from what I've seen. Even among BYC'ers, if is very often misinterpreted and misused... often with disastrous results.
What it means commercially is access to outside. In other words, floor reared with a small yard; in this case, cocks are likely present in the flock. Whether the birds actually go outside is another matter altogether. The "access" is what defines the term.

If they are being sold on a commercial scale, you can rest assured there are no happy chickens running amok in the "sun and daisies" over at Trader Joes place. And unless it gives the organic registration number/license of the producer, I wouldn't bank on that, either. Likely, there are several producers under the Trader Joe label.

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I do find the whole "fertile = reduced cholesterol," urban legend thing fascinating, though.

Being born and raised in California myself, I understand how wacky some of the folks there can be.

 

[Suellyn]

Quote:
Oh, wow... I didn't know that, just assumed they were labeled "free range" maybe with something about possible fertiliy in small print... But some eating eggs are actually ADVERTISED as "fertile"???!!! cool.

 

[walkswithdog]

Well, free range here means open the doors to the coops in the morning and let em out on 9 acres, that's what I mean.

But yes the INDUSTRY is pretty darn decietful about what qualifies as free range and cage free.

Only things in cages here are the parrot and the chicks and poults in the brooders. And even the parrot is flighted.

Actual free range and birds allowed yard or pasture forage, eggs are lower in cholesterol - when birds eat more greens and bugs and seeds than bagged feed, eggs change. In appearance, taste, cholesterol level and omega-3's.

Exercise and sun probably help too.

 

[CalicoFarm]

For an experiment I put some button quail eggs in my small mini fridge. The lowest temp that it got to was 45deg. I think the humidity was about 70%. When I got ready to set them I took them out and let them come to room temp, about 12 hours. The eggs just hatched yesterday, it was the best hatch rate I have gotten so far. I put a thermometer in my fridge in the house just to see what it was. The highest in there was about 43, that was in the top, the bottom went down to about 35. Hope this helps.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
I applaud your efforts, and you illustrate admirably the reason for producing your own food.
But there are going to be few, if any, commercial egg producers who allow their stock to run loose in the weeds.
Read the fine print, folks.

 

[Suellyn]

Quote:
Thanks, that IS helpful... maybe I'll check my fridge temp outta curiosity!! Also, I really didn't let them warm to room temp for long, so that probably won't help them much, either... It really was a "spur of the moment"/curiosity kind of thing!!!

DH made the rest of the eggs into my "Mother's Day Brunch", yummy... Then he said, "Well, that's the last of the farm eggs!!" Guess I better tell him that we still have 2 left, they are just not in the fridge anymore!!

 

[chuckzoo]

Can someone please explain the "bulleye" thing to see if eggs are fertile?

 

[pbjmaker]

Glad to see this post. Took some eggs to school to hatch and only had about 15 - so I tok a dozen out of the fridge too. I marked those with and "R" and told the kids we were going to see if eggs that had been in the fridge for 5 days would hatch.

 

[kristenm1975]

Hey NancyDZ, what's the trick to telling when those fertile grocery store eggs were laid? I just got what they had and hoped for the best.

 

[kelseygirl707]

Just wanted to shed some light on the Trader Joes Thing. I believe all Trader Joes stores sell Fertile eggs, and yes they are advertised as Fertile. Some people Prefer Fertile eggs, but that is a whole other topic in itself. There have been a few people on BYC who have hatched Chicks from the TJ eggs, but as far as I know they were able to buy them under 5 days old, I tried some that were ten days old, and none developed. I do want to try it again, but My Trader Joes store always seem to have eggs 9 days old or older, I think I just need to check more Frequently. Yes I can buy fresh fertile eggs on craigslist, but it sort of a fun challenge to hatch refrigerated store bought eggs, plus at only $2.79 a dozen, it's not a big loss if they don't hatch.