So this probably is a really dumb question, but....

[GemmaGA]

Meet Fridge, short for Refrigerator chicken.

About 4 years ago I was in the same situation. A bud of mine had some chickens and a predator was slowly picking them off.

He had a barnyard mix rooster that was darn nice. Great around people and protected his hens with authority during daylight. But one night his luck ran out and the predator took him off the roost, and that was the that, as they say. (Later caught and terminated the culprit, a big tom bobcat)

Meanwhile I'd been helping my bud on a kitchen redo. During the entire process, there was a bowl of eggs that had been sitting on the counter in the kitchen. They sat on the counter for at least 2 weeks before they got put in a egg crate and stuck in the fridge. I was given a couple dozen of eggs to take home, I though I'd boil them and give them back to my chickens as food, so I put them in my fridge in the garage at home, and kinda forgot about them.

At least 2 weeks later I remembered that those eggs in the fridge were from the departed rooster, and I got to wondering the same thing. The only incubator I had at the time was a mini Brinsea, so I picked out 7 of the biggest and best looking eggs and put them on the kitchen table to warm up overnight, then into the incubator they went.

Now these eggs had been sitting on the table in a bowl for the better part of 2 weeks, before they went in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, with no turning to accommodate the air cell. So I wasn't expecting any to actually be fertile, much less make it.

Out of 7 eggs, surprisingly, 2 were viable and started showing signs of growth. Out of the 2 viable eggs, 1 made it to full term.

Hence, Fridge chicken.

Fridge started life out backwards, she pipped on the wrong end of the egg, likely due to lack of egg movement in the carton, when the air cell settled on the wrong end. I did chip the egg all the way around when it looked like she wasn't going to make it. I figured why not, it's come this far. Would be a shame to lose it in that fashion.

After I chipped away the egg shell around the circumference, she was able to push out on her own.

Fridge had to be part "production red" of some sort because she was an egg laying machine. I kept track and weighed each egg for a full year, basically from year 1 to year 2. Fridge layed 269 eggs during that year with an average egg weight of 68.6 grams/egg, for a total of 40.68 lbs of eggs. I've never had another chicken come close.

Sadly, shortly after her 2nd birthday, Fridge came down with egg peritonitis and the vet put her down.

She was a dandy of a chicken. But I never would have had the opportunity if I hadn't rolled the dice on the refrigerator eggs.

If you've got the time and aren't expecting much, give it a shot, you might get lucky.

Oh my goodness - what an awesome story! Fridge was a beautiful girl

I did put some eggs in the incubator, we will see how it goes. Can't hurt anything to try!