Rooster+Hen= Gross eggs?

[Ivy061]

My grandma sent me this email after being told that I have young roosters I am raising and planning to keep:

"Hey, are you aware that any eggs that get laid will likely have chick embryos/blood & guts inside as long as you keep your rooster around? He will fertilize them, and they won't be good to eat, or pleasant to look at. Check w/your FFA sponsor..........
Luff, Grandmother"

Is this true at all? I was looking forward to being able to raise chicks from my own hens and enjoy fresh eggs but now I am a little concerned.
If I collect them and eat them within a week will there be anything in it? The cold in the fridge should prevent this right?

 

[BellevueOmlet]

They will be fine. Just make sure not to leave them out there very long, maybe collect 2-3 times/week. Fertilized eggs are no different than regular eggs. You will not even be able to tell.

 

[shelleyd2008]

You can collect them and keep them on the counter for weeks and they won't go bad. As long as they are kept around 70* there's no chance of them developing. I'd collect them at least once a day though, otherwise your hens might decide to hatch them for you.

 

[secuono]

If you incubate, yes, but you need to incubate to see any of that or incubate and then stop part way.

 

[gryeyes]

What BellvueOmelet said.

Y'see, in order for any embryo to develop, the egg needs to be incubated either by a hen or in an incubator. NO development starts until an egg is being incubated 24/7 at 99.5 degrees for a day or two. And even at that point, there will only be some slight veining started. No embryo.

There is no difference in taste between an unfertilized and fertilized egg, and the only difference in appearance is the white spot on the yolk will have separated into a "bulls eye" circle around a dot. No difference in nutritional content, either.

And if somebody mentions meat or blood spots, those can occur in unfertilized eggs, too. Has nothing to do with fertilization.

 

[TriciaHowe]

I eat my fertile eggs all the time. Never have I found anything in them other than normal undeveloped egg. I bet if you were to put a fertile egg and a non-fertile egg opened up next to each other your grandma wouldn't be able to tell them apart. The only difference is the germinal disk in a fertile egg has a bulls eye appearance and there is just a plain spot on a non-fertile. Not easily distinguished if you don't know what you are looking for....
Good luck, I know it can be hard to change the minds of some "Old School" people

 

[Stacykins]

You should inform your grandma that "Blood Spots" also occur in infertile eggs, and are not an embryo. Sounds like she has some old wives tales floating around her head that can be gently cleared up with some proper information

 

[MikeS(erama)]

Quote:
I second that. There are stores that sell fertilized eggs (a few trader joes etc) for eating as there's a theory that fertilized eggs are healthier for you. The only time you would ever see a difference is if you incubated them or a broody hen was sitting on them. Even then even at three days all you'd see is the beginnings of veining where the chick would develop. None of the "blood and guts"...chicks don't develop from the inside out lol

 

[zatsdeb]

you may find blood in an egg, very rarely, that is why the commercial egg people send their eggs through conveyer belts with lights under them to check for eggs with blood in them, has nothing to do with them being fertilized by a rooster. just happens sometimes. I agree with the little white spot. even with a rooster you will still get some eggs that are not fertile. we collect every morning, and noon, and night, just to make sure, some chickens lay at different times of the day. we never leave an egg in the coop overnight, unless they lay them after we lock them up for the night.

 

[Cass]

IF you are lucky your eggs will be fertilized. Just having a roo doesn't garentee that, he has to "do the job" right to fertilize them.

Some people seek out fertile eggs, claiming they are better for you then commercially produced eggs from an "egg farm". Of course fertile eggs need to be incubated for 21 days to yeild a chick. You can't even see anything growing for 3 days.

You *may* find things inside the eggs you don't want. Meat spots, blood spots, other things that don't belong there, but NO CHICK EMBROYOs unless the hen has sat on them for a few days. I have found blood spots in local farmer's eggs, with no roosters around. Commercial eggs (supermarket) are candled to cull out any egg with *anything* inside it that isn't a yoke; It doesn't mean that commerical egg layers don't have "oops" eggs, it means that they are removed before they hit the egg crate.

If it bothers you that your hens won't produced perfect "supermarket quality" eggs, crack each egg into a small bowl before adding it to what you are making and scoop out any "oops" that might be in there. It won't happen all that often, but it will happen. Oops.