To keep a rooster, or to not keep a rooster?

[tennesseechickie]

I know this may be the dumbest question posted on BYC EVER, but here goes. The thought of cracking open an egg to cook, and finding a half-formed baby chick disturbs me ALOT. I know there is no chance of that happening if I dont have a rooster in my flock, butsay I do keep a roo, if I collect the eggs every day, would there still be a chance of that happening? A friend of mine will only eat grocery store eggs because when she was a child, she said she saw her grandmother crack open eggs to find half-formed baby chicks! I figure maybe they didnt collect the eggs regularly? Or if the eggs are fertilized, do the chicks start forming immediately?
Thanks, and sorry, this is my first flock. Im still learning!

 

[srpaint]

This is my first time raising chickens so I am interested in the answer too. But if I had to guess I would say you are fine if you collect everyday. I am pretty sure they have to be taken care of properly in order for the chick to form. So If you collect them that isn't going to happen. But again that is a guess.

 

[Shannon33]

If you collect everyday, that is not going to happen. All I see in my fertilized eggs is a little tiny white dot/circle, never a forming chick, I promise, lol.

 

[Nausicaa]

I've put a lot of thought into this too, as I'm thinking I might have a roo or two in my flock of chicks...

But the way I see it, I might just try to keep my roos seperate, until it becomes too much hassle. Granted... It's not like I'm currently drowning in roos... so I might have a differen't way of seeing it than others.

but I've been planning to build another outdoor enclosure...

I seriously hope that roos don't mind being seperated... otherwise there might be a problem then xD .. can this be done? xD
(I'm also learning!)

 

[galanie]

The chick doesn't start to develop unless the egg is at 99-100 degrees and it takes 21 days to hatch. So yeah, if there is a partly formed chick in there, someone isn't collecting eggs regularly. A hen would have had to be sitting on one for a week for that to happen.

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Definately ok to have a roo if you collect daily. I myself just don't like the idea of eating a fertile egg, especially after I heard the whole Trader Joe's stories on this forum about how those eggs can be incubated and hatched out even after weeks of being shipped and refridgerated, yuk! I keep a roo with my breeding hens so I can sell fertile eggs or put some under a Broody Hen, but not in my egg layer coop. It can be a hard decision and Roos are really nice to have around if they are friendly.

 

[Wisher1000]

The very simple way to solve this worry is to encourage/teach your hens to lay in nest boxes and check those once or twice a day. You can be certain that you will not have any developing eggs (even if they are fertile) because you will know that you collected them within 24 hours of being layed. Now, if you find eggs in other places, you may want to discard them or let the hens set them instead of eating them. I will feed them to other pets but that still runs the chance of cracking open one that has started to develop (although that hasn't ever happened to me.) I can't say that it can never happen because there will always be people who do not follow the above practice, but it is sure easy to avoid.

 

[ScissorChick]

Welcome to BYC!

The chick starts forming after the egg has been sat on, or incubated. It does

not start forming the moment it is laid. Collect the eggs daily, do not give the hens a

chance to set on them. Your friend is totally missing out. Eggs from your own hens

are a billion times better tasting (And looking) than the ones in the grocery store!

 

[Steph Martin]

Hi...a hen must lay her clutch first and that takes up to two weeks. At this time she doesn't sit regularly on the eggs or they'd all hatch at different times. They don't start their development until the temp. goes up to 99F - 101F. If you collect everyday, you'll have no problem. That white clump or dot is in all eggs - fertilized or not. Don't worry about this...it won't happen.

 

[ninabeast]

The idea of eating chick zygote kind of squicks me out, too, and is one of the reasons we won't be keeping the roo who snuck into our 12 sexed pullets. One of the many, many reasons...

Good news: we found him a home with a nearby farmer who needs a roo, so Ruby/Rudy won't be going to freezer camp.