newbie looking for advice!

[bkyrdchckn]

hey everyone! just looking for advice on incubating! we always have tons of eggs and just bought an incubator just for something fun to do with all the eggs! we currently have 3 roosters living with the hens, how can we ensure that we are only putting fertilized eggs in the incubator? could we just assume or should we do a full on breeding session and then monitor the eggs layed by said hen? any advice would be awesome thanks!

 

[mortie]

Google pictures of fertile chicken eggs so you can see what one looks like. I am new too, but from what I have read, it's not difficult to tell if a chicken egg is fertile. Then crack a few open. If you see the signs, pop some in the incubator!

Here is a picture of one of mine that folks have agreed does look fertile.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Yep mortie that's a fertile one.

 

[mortie]

Yep mortie that's a fertile one.

Thanks! I'm pretty excited, I got those from a farmer who intended them as eating eggs but I am setting my first ever batch on sunday and I thought I'd throw them in with those. I have no idea what kind of chickens they were from and I should have asked. Guess we'll get a surprise if any hatch!

 

[mortie]

OP- if you look at an infertile egg, it has just a white spot, as opposed to the bullseye looking spot on my egg. I was able to tell right away and I've never really looked at an egg closely before in my life, and I don't have chickens

 

[midget_farms]

The best way is to set them & @ day 7 candle.

Then toss the blanks (probably won't have any)