Trader Joes & Other Grocery Store Egg Hatching Club - Are you a Member

[wabbit1964]

I did some searching to find out what brands of grocery store eggs might be fertile.

Rock Island (brown eggs which hatch Red Star chicks) sold at Lucky's, Safeway, Whole Foods and many other stores. These eggs are produced in Petaluma, California.

Nutrifresh (white eggs which hatch white leghorns), sold at Trader Joe's and produced in Chino Valley, California.
There's also a TJ brand that hatches California Whites, the eggs are cream colored.

Barnstar Free Roaming Fertile Eggs, produced by NuCal, (which also produces Eggland's Best.) Sold at Raley's.

There are also local fertile brands such as Marin Sun, Lazy 69, Clark Summit, Eatwell, Sinclair Farms, Alexandre Kids, and Burroughs Farm.

Some BYCers have advised buying free-range eggs that are not labeled fertile, on the off chance that there might be roosters in such an environment.
Don't bother purchasing Vital Farms eggs with this in mind; they admit that they have no roosters.

Since I could find no eggs marked 'fertile' in either Whole Foods or Trader Joe's today. I picked up a carton of TJ's cage free to throw in the incubator just for the heck of it. with my luck they are Vital Farms even though they do not say what farm they come from that I can see. I have been wanting to do this experiment of hatching TJ or Whole Foods eggs for awhile now so it is time to check it off.

 

[bauerdog]

Since I could find no eggs marked 'fertile' in either Whole Foods or Trader Joe's today.  I picked up a carton of TJ's cage free to throw in the incubator just for the heck of it. with my luck they are Vital Farms even though they do not say what farm they come from that I can see. I have been wanting to do this experiment of hatching TJ or Whole Foods eggs for awhile now so it is time to check it off.

Did you try Stop & Shop? They have fertile eggs in the organic section.

Don't forget to check the Julian date!

 

[wabbit1964]

Did you try Stop & Shop? They have fertile eggs in the organic section.
Don't forget to check the Julian date!

I did not even think of Stop and Shop THANK YOU!!

 

[bauerdog]

I did not even think of Stop and Shop THANK YOU!!

Not all of them carry them. The fancier big ones do though in New jersey

 

[SpringPeeper]

I did some searching to find out what brands of grocery store eggs might be fertile.

Rock Island (brown eggs which hatch Red Star chicks) sold at Lucky's, Safeway, Whole Foods and many other stores. These eggs are produced in Petaluma, California.

Nutrifresh (white eggs which hatch white leghorns), sold at Trader Joe's and produced in Chino Valley, California.
There's also a TJ brand that hatches California Whites, the eggs are cream colored.

Barnstar Free Roaming Fertile Eggs, produced by NuCal, (which also produces Eggland's Best.) Sold at Raley's.

There are also local fertile brands such as Marin Sun, Lazy 69, Clark Summit, Eatwell, Sinclair Farms, Alexandre Kids, and Burroughs Farm.

Some BYCers have advised buying free-range eggs that are not labeled fertile, on the off chance that there might be roosters in such an environment.
Don't bother purchasing Vital Farms eggs with this in mind; they admit that they have no roosters.

My sister hatched some Rock Island brown eggs. I don't know what breeds they use to make their red sexlink hens, but the chicks all hatched out yellow and grew up looking nearly indistinguishable from my Trader Joe's pullets, and lay a tinted egg (definitely not brown).

 

[Dubrovnik]

My sister hatched some Rock Island brown eggs. I don't know what breeds they use to make their red sexlink hens, but the chicks all hatched out yellow and grew up looking nearly indistinguishable from my Trader Joe's pullets, and lay a tinted egg (definitely not brown).

Sounds like you have access to some other kind of Rock Island birds out there. I will let everyone know what (if anything) hatches out of my latest Rock Island carton, it will probably go in the 'bator Monday so I don't have to do a staggered hatch.

 

[wabbit1964]

Even though they did not say 'fertile', I did end up putting all 12 eggs in the incubator from Trader Joes. Probably won't see anything happen but you never know. I need to knock this experiment off my bucket list. LOL

 

[Hatching]

My sister hatched some Rock Island brown eggs. I don't know what breeds they use to make their red sexlink hens, but the chicks all hatched out yellow and grew up looking nearly indistinguishable from my Trader Joe's pullets, and lay a tinted egg (definitely not brown).

Are Rock Island eggs sold as fertile or free ranged ?

 

[luckysaysgo]

Mine were labeled as fertile

 

[SpringPeeper]

Are Rock Island eggs sold as fertile or free ranged ?

They were marked fertile.


I have 24 TJ eggs in my new incubator, and so far none are developing. Grr! Someone else picked them up for me and they didn't pay attention to the Julian date, so I knew it was a long shot. I have an appointment in Chico tomorrow, if I have time afterwards I might swing by Trader Joe's and look for some fresher ones.