May Try Hatching Store Bought Eggs

[Nathan]

I know this topic has come up before and some people have had success with

I may be willing to be an experiment for this topic because:
I'm having trouble finding local fertile eggs of known breed.
It's expensive (and cold) to get eggs shipped from far away.
I'd like to try with cheap(er) eggs given how badly my last hatch went.

Does anyone have advice on what brand/store to try and what breed/mix I am likely to get?

Since it is a mystery bag, I would probably keep only the hens and not try to breed them., but I would like hens that are fairly friendly and would produce brown eggs for eating.

Near me I have:
Safeway - they may have some "cage-free" eggs.
Winco - they have brown eggs - there may be some cage free ones.
Whole Foods - a natural food type store - I haven't been there, but they have their store branded eggs from local farms.
Trader Joes - I haven't been there at all yet.
Camas Produce.

While I've seen brown eggs, and sometimes Cage Free eggs at local stores, I don't remember them being specifically marked as fertile.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Hi Nathan,

You need to look for 'fertile' eggs. Only a few stores, generally health food stores, have them.

 

[ticks]

You can try, but Grocery stores get their eggs from Rooster free factories. Your chances are very, very slim.

 

[Felicitas]

My local Whole Foods carries locally-produced eggs, and I have cracked open some of those to find them clearly fertile even though the box isn't marked that way. It's certainly worth a shot!

 

[KellyHM]

I would try the store that buys from local farms...more likely to have a rooster in the bunch with those.

 

[annmarie]

Your best shot though would be the most local eggs possible. We have a few small health food type places, and even a tiny little corner local grocer (sort of a conveniance store) that just has stacks of local eggs on crates that you put in cartons yourself, and I've seen the farmers drop them off at the store. That would be your best situation. Or else, do you have a farmer's market in the area, or a roadside sign for "fresh eggs" anywhere in your vicinity?

 

[L*A*G*]

local farms is where to get eggs at. stores don't normaly have fertil eggs.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Why don't you go to the "local farms" and buy some eggs there?

 

[UrbanMama]

Check out your local Craigslist for "fresh eggs" or "fertile eggs" There are always folks around here selling both.

 

[glowworm]

The Safeways near me carry White Fertile eggs. - Rock Island

Trader Joes has white fertile eggs.

Whole foods has them but can't remember what color or brand.

My near-by health food, co-op store had brown fertile eggs from Rock Island.


I got a carton of the brown eggs last month to fill in my incubator. I set 11 eggs, out of those 9 were fertile, 6 hatched into healthy big yellow chicks. I think the eggs were about 8 days old before I set them.

Edited to say: It's really easy for me to find fertile eggs at the grocery store here. I tried finding local farms with fertile eggs but that was hard. I think it depends on what kind of city you live in. Sacramento has had tons of hippy/organic type people move here from the bay area in the last 10 years so there's a demand for fertile eggs. You can also try your farmers markets.