SILLY QUESTION...about Fertile eggs!!!

[Layin Eggs]

I can't believe I'm asking this question because I am pretty sure the answer is NO. LOL

Is there anyway to tell if an egg is fertile without cracking it open and seeing the bullseye?

I am just wondering how you know which eggs to put in the bators.

and how does a broody hen know if the eggs are "hatchable" lol

 

[silkiechicken]

Nope, broody hen waits for one day and then leaves the nest.

 

[speckledhen]

You put whichever have the possiblity of being fertile in the bators and then candle them after incubating a few days. A hen does not know which ones are fertile. If she's the broody type, she'll sit on air. Silkiechicken is talking about at the end after chicks have hatched, the hen will leave the nest to care for them and leave unhatched eggs behind.

 

[jkcove08]

No, unfortunately there is no way. You will have to set all eggs and then just pull out non growing eggs after candling on day 10. Dont pull them out to soon since sometime shipped eggs will grow the veins funny. I have had many that the veins kinda start inside the egg and not along the shell, then suddenly you will see the embryos floating around happy as can be. The hens dont always know if they will hatch or not. They just kinda sit for so long and if nothing happens they will finally get off. Jenn

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Most people that hatch their own eggs check fertility by cracking a few of their own hens eggs prior to setting them in a bator or selling them as hatching eggs and looking for the bullseye.... ..... Under a hen the same thing unless she has set her own clutch and then I guess she knows within a week or so and leaves out the unhatchable...or eats it....my thoughts anyway....

There aren't any dumb questions we all want to learn....