Musings of a twenty-something hobby hatcher: Whole Foods Fertile Chicken Eggs / Rock Island -- UPDAT

[MisfitMarie]

Why play slots when you can take a chance on fertile eating eggs!?

--Actual conversation from my trip to Reno--

STORE CLERK: ----- at Safeway, how can I help you?
ME: Hi! I've been looking for fertile chicken eggs for eating. It should say 'fertile' or 'fertilized across the top of the box and be with the rest of the refrigerated eggs. Do you carry them?
STORE CLERK: I'm sorry, did you say civilized chicken eggs?
ME: No, um, fertilized. As in fertile chicken eggs.
STORE CLERK: Hang on, let me check.
ME: K...
STORE CLERK: 'Mam?
ME: Yes?
STORE CLERK: I'm sorry. I looked for you, but we do not carry any civilized chicken eggs.
ME: .....


I have followed numerous threads of fellow BYC members hatching eggs that they bought from the grocery store: specifically, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. For the past two months or so, every time that I found myself at a grocery store in my area, I would look for these "fertile chicken eggs" for eating.

Living in Washington State (and minutes from Oregon), I have access to both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's (numerous locations). Unfortunately, nether store carried fertile chicken eggs for eating. In fact, I searched numerous stores: Fred Meyer, Safeway, Alberstons, Natural Grocers, Winco, Wal Mart, New Seasons, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc... I could not find these darned fertile chicken eggs anywhere!

I recently went on a vacation with my SO and his family to Reno, Nevada. It was there, at Whole foods, that fertile eating eggs were found! They actually had three different kinds! I was stunned:



As you can see, part of our gambling budget went towards the purchase of SIX DOZEN Rock Island Fertile Chicken Eggs: Jumbo, Large Grade AA, and Extra Large Grade AA. We kept them in a cooler until arriving home today, when we overfilled our Janoel 48 with these fertile eggs. They cost roughly $4.00/dozen.

According to the code on the side of the carton, below the expiration date, these eggs were packaged between one and two weeks ago. They were the freshest we could find, so they will have to do!

We bought more than our incubator could hold (I know, I know, I know...) but we plan on stacking them long enough to tell which ones are actually developing...if any.

Note: The turner is currently disabled...



So, now we wait. I suppose this would mean that Hatch Day will be April 19, 2015.

I hope to document this experiment on this thread. Wild success or epic failure? Time will tell!

To think that these 72 eggs could have possibly ended up in an omelette, but are now sitting in my incubator instead, makes me pretty excited. I've been wanting to try this for awhile now, so it would be awesome to see any development, but I am also staying realistic: these eggs have been washed, packaged, chilled, shipped, and probably tossed about at some point or another.

Note: I did break one on accident, and I noticed the shells are quite thin; however, I also clearly spotted a BULLSEYE!



Any suggestions/tips/experiences from other Whole Foods hatchers are welcome! These are jumbo brown eggs, for the most part, and I have no idea what might possibly hatch out, should any develop.

 

[Bradfordj]

The fact that these eggs have been refrigerated, shipped, and kept for more than a week concerns me. I wish you the best though!

 

[victoria7668]

I have had an egg sit in a coop (in cold march) unsat on and then in my fridge for a further 4 days, my cat knocked my incubator on its side on day 18 smashing the shell and a little yellow chick hatched half way through day 22 with some blood vessels unretracted, he ( i am certain it is a he as i would not be lucky enough to get a she) is now a three day old fluffy healthy little loud mouth. So based on that you might have a few little hardy ones that are determined to live, i wou.d say the hatch rate is going to be very poor though. Good luck with it and let us know who arrives x

 

[MisfitMarie]

EGG UPDATE: It's still early, but I went ahead and grabbed about six eggs from the incubator to candle (it's only day 4). Shockingly, half are showing signs of development!

I am amazed at these little embryos!

I will get an exact count on the survivors on Saturday or Sunday, when it will be more obvious what eggs have survived.

 

[MisfitMarie]

I have had an egg sit in a coop (in cold march) unsat on and then in my fridge for a further 4 days, my cat knocked my incubator on its side on day 18 smashing the shell and a little yellow chick hatched half way through day 22 with some blood vessels unretracted, he ( i am certain it is a he as i would not be lucky enough to get a she) is now a three day old fluffy healthy little loud mouth. So based on that you might have a few little hardy ones that are determined to live, i wou.d say the hatch rate is going to be very poor though. Good luck with it and let us know who arrives x

That's a wonderful story... these little embryos sure can be tough!

 

[Bradfordj]

That's awesome! Good luck!

 

[ChookRanger]

Wow! I was planning on doing the same thing. Well, not going to Reno, but rather checking the local Whole Foods and Trader Joes for fertilized eggs to hatch. The Trader Joe's does not actually open till next week but that is ok because I am still waiting on parts for my incubator. What are you going to do with the non developing eggs? I would like to put any duds into the compost heap but rotten eggs can smell bad. Worse than Chicken poo or anything else I put in there. Anyway, good luck! I hope you get some baby chooks in a few weeks. I can't wait to see the pictures of your civilized chicks.

 

[MisfitMarie]

Wow! I was planning on doing the same thing. Well, not going to Reno, but rather checking the local Whole Foods and Trader Joes for fertilized eggs to hatch. The Trader Joe's does not actually open till next week but that is ok because I am still waiting on parts for my incubator. What are you going to do with the non developing eggs? I would like to put any duds into the compost heap but rotten eggs can smell bad. Worse than Chicken poo or anything else I put in there. Anyway, good luck! I hope you get some baby chooks in a few weeks. I can't wait to see the pictures of your civilized chicks.

You should give it a try, you never know! I went along with my SO's family to Reno and ended up celebrating my recent birthday and college graduation there. It was a wonderful coincidence to also know that BYC members from both California and Nevada were able to find fertile chicken eggs at their local grocery stores... SO I couldn't resist calling around and checking it out for myself while I was there.

Great idea about the compost. I have a composter in my backyard, next to the coop, that I plan on throwing the old eggs into. I figured I'd crack them first, and then give the composter a few good turns... I will have to keep you updated on the smell should I end up bombing myself with bad egg. P-U!

My SO and I weren't expecting any of the eggs to develop... and certainly not as much as I think might be developing now. He really wants a jumbo brown egg layer, so he's going to keep one for himself. The rest will be gifted to our large extended farming friends and family that we both have (or local BYC members).

You will have to keep me updated if you find some eggs! Where are you located?

Have you planted any seeds in your garden yet?

 

[lazy gardener]

This is a thrill! I've considered doing the same, just for the sake of doing it. There's a Trader Joe's at the other end of my state. I'll be following your thread, for sure. What day are you on? I assume that at this point, you're not turning any of them? And that you'll be candling, and weeding out the pile at day 7? I'd suggest that you bury the duds in a nice deep hole in your yard. You can put them in intact, and then, when they're covered, you can use the shovel blade to crack the shells... if you dare.

 

[MisfitMarie]

This is a thrill! I've considered doing the same, just for the sake of doing it. There's a Trader Joe's at the other end of my state. I'll be following your thread, for sure. What day are you on? I assume that at this point, you're not turning any of them? And that you'll be candling, and weeding out the pile at day 7? I'd suggest that you bury the duds in a nice deep hole in your yard. You can put them in intact, and then, when they're covered, you can use the shovel blade to crack the shells... if you dare.

You should do it, it's risky business but also very exciting. I was shocked to see development, after thinking what these eggs have already been through.

You can check egg carton freshness by the Julian Date that is displayed as a three-digit code on the box: from 001 to 365, each for a specific day of the year. January 1st would be 001 and December 31st would be 365. That way, you can know when your eggs were actually packaged. There's an article linked here that explains it in better detail.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to call and ask ahead of time. I have found, however, that the store clerks who are on the other end of the line don't often know what exactly you're talking about...even when you're very specific. The Whole Foods that I ended up finding Rock Island Fertile eggs told me at first, over the phone, that they didn't carry any fertilized eggs. I figured I would take the chance and check anyway, since I had read posts from other BYC members in Nevada being able to find them.

I started turning them, by hand, last night... There's a lot of eggs in there! I have a small clutch of Ayam Cemani and Bantam Wyandotte eggs in my other Janoel 48 right now for lockdown (hatch day is today), so my Whole Foods eggs are looking pretty crazy all stacked around each other.

I will do major candling tomorrow and begin discarding the duds. I like your idea of digging a hole... Knowing myself, I might give in to curiosity and give the fresh soil a few taps with my shovel. I live in a tight suburban neighborhood, on the very corner. The backyard feels like a fish bowl, being within sight of all the neighbors, joggers, children. You'd think some of them have never seen a chicken before... They must think I'm crazy, when I'm out there digging through my gardens and talking to my chickens. Lol.

I came home the other day to four young neighborhood kids in my front yard. I got out of my car and asked them if they needed something. The oldest boy nodded before explaining to me that he had accidentally thrown his soccer ball, his boomerang, and his nerf toy over my fence. He then quietly commented that they had seen chickens in my backyard and wanted to know if they could see them. After getting parental permission, I opened my gate so they could collect their things and throw some corn to the chickens. Suffice it to say, I have since seen many toys being thrown over my fence... many attempts to collect the toys and see the chickens... My girls are also being fattened up with sweet treats being thrown over the fence on a nearly daily basis.