keeping roosters with hens...

[Lazys]

I have 12 hens and 2 roosters. I plan on hatching some eggs in the spring, so the roosters will be necessary. I have no way to separate them now, so they have to be in with them. I am selling my excess eggs now and worry people are going to be offended with an occasional blood spot. Do I let people know in advance or just wait til they say something? It doesnt' bother me as I grew up on a farm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A rooster has nothing to do with a blood spot. You can look through this article to see what might cause a blood spot. It’s more for commercial operations so some of the things may be a bit strange but the general principles apply. They do not mention a rooster.

Egg Quality Handbook
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/ourbooks/1/egg-quality-handbook/

As long as the egg is not allowed to incubate there is not going to be any real difference in a fertile egg that anyone will notice.

As you probably know the commercial operations candle their eggs to remove any that have anything in them that might upset the customers, blood spots, meat spots, or maybe something else. Those eggs are sold at a discount to bakeries or other places that use cracked and scrambled eggs so people won’t see those defects.

How much you want to tell your customers about that is up to you. People not used to them can get pretty upset when they crack those eggs.

 

[DaveOmak]

If you collect the eggs twice or more times a day and store them in the refer, there will be no "fertile" spots... unless they can detect the "bulls eye"... and fertile eggs are just as good if not better than commercial eggs.... Here, farm raised eggs are in demand and folks pay $4 / dozen... they know the quality is far superior...
I can see your point if you are selling to "city folk"... at times I have had to fire my customers due to their ignorance... Doesn't bother me...
If you have a limited group to sell to, you may have to make some concessions... a free egg now and then... If one customer continues to press you on the quality of your eggs, find someone to replace them... Just say, "I have customers that demand fresh country grown eggs and can no longer sell to you if you continually pressure me about the imperfections in the eggs mother nature dictates"... And last but not least, I hope you are getting ABOVE market rate for your eggs... Selling at a discount makes folks believe you eggs are not as good as store bought.....

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't know what is best to tell your customers, really. Sometimes too much information isn't good, either. Maybe explain - one time - to the new ones or ones that are clueless that sometimes there will be a blood spot in an egg, and it's not a baby chick growing in there because you don't give them a chance to incubate, etc. Suggest that if that idea bothers them, it's helpful to break your egg into a separate container before putting it in the pan, cookie dough or whatever. If that turns them off, keep advertising. A lot of people are willing to take the chance of an occasional off egg just to have fresh ones. You can always replace an egg here or there if that's what your customers would like.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have typed up an egg fact sheet to go in my egg cartons. i had to stop selling eggs for a while when production dipped, but am about ready to start selling again. My fact sheet starts out with info about the health benefits of farm raised eggs, and a bit of egg trivia. I intend to add a little tidbit of info with each carton, changing up the info each week. Blood spots and meat spots might be a topic I'll cover in a future trivia note.

 

[StephensonC]

I tell my customers to let me know if they notice anything different about an egg, especially if it's a double yolker. They know that double yolker's are pretty normal, but it also opens the door for weird stuff, without putting the weird stuff possibilities in their head. I've never had anyone complain about anything though, and I'm not sure how I might handle it if it does happen. I like the idea of the fact sheet though!!

 

[Lazys]

Thank you all so much. I learned something here.... I thought only possible fertile eggs had the blood spot...

 

[aart]

I have typed up an egg fact sheet to go in my egg cartons.

Would you care to share......maybe in an article you could link here in this thread?

Thank you all so much. I learned something here.... I thought only possible fertile eggs had the blood spot...

Here's lots of examples of how to tell and fertile from an infertile egg while making breakfast:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

..and for right now:

 

[Creekbank]

I, too, would love to see the fact sheet!

 

[lazy gardener]

This is the first note that I will include with each carton of eggs. It includes my address, farm name, and telephone #.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• We hope you enjoy our eggs. My flock are working pets. They provide outdoor companionship, and work hard at controlling insect pests, weeds, and when season allows, tilling and fertilizing the soil.
• Because they have all the advantages of living in an outdoor environment, they pack the best nutrition into each egg. Truly free ranged eggs have 30% less cholesterol, 4 x more vit. E, 2 x more vit. A, 8 x more Beta Carotene, 3 x more Omega 3's, and 30% less sat. fat than the eggs of confined birds. (Mother Earth News 2007)
  
• Fun egg fact: There are really only 2 primary colors of chicken eggs. (Blue and White) All other colors are produced by the chicken when her system applies brown pigment over the white or blue shell.

• Please help me keep egg costs down by returning your clean egg cartons.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'll include further bits of information, changing it up every week or so, and after providing a good amount of education, may even feature a chicken picture and personality profile.