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

[cluck-cluck]

Hey guys! I found free range eggs at Sam's club the other day so I purchased them and through them into the incubator last night. I hadn't ever seen eggs marked free range before and I have never seen eggs marked fertile, but I thought I'd give them a go because I would love to hatch some grocery store chicks.

Has anyone been sucessful with hatching eggs simply marked "free range". They are from Great Day Farms.

Someone else told me that they have hatched Eggland's Best eggs and I just found out HyVee carries them, so I think I try them when I get the oppurtunity. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Well, you do have a chance because even so they want only females in the barn, there is likely to be a few roos that slip through the system. Hope you get some of those that did!!

Anyway, was out playing with my Leghorns and Crevies as usual this morning but this time I brought my camera How can you not love this face?


I think the girls are almost there! Any time now.... I hope to have eggs, only I've been feeding them way too much, and they're getting a bit fat... so I'm holding off on the snacks now, LOL. They're only getting grass now.


Here with one of my Crevies



and another gorgeous face (and a bit too large a belly)

 

[ellandeeranch]

Yippee! I set 22 eggs last Friday afternoon from TJ's. I had cracked two open first to look for the fertile spot. This morning, I candled for the first time, and very clearly saw veins on 10 of them! I tried a month ago with 24 eggs and had all clears. It was my first try with the hovabator. I like the TJ's eggs because you can sure see through them pretty easily.

Now, a few of the others have what looks like the bacterial ring. No smell or anything. How long do I wait to see if I'm wrong? The other 10 that appear to be clears. About them? Do I wait a little longer, or by now (five days) if they're doing nothing, is it done for them?

I have six brown eggs from my home flock that are due to go on lockdown today. My plan is to load up on the humidity (out here in the desert, I'm adding water every two days, else the humidity goes under 10%), pull a couple racks off the turner, and lockdown while still keeping the TJ's eggs in there. Is that kosher?

Richard in Neenach

 

[cluck-cluck]

I'm always throwing the clear ones out etc... and with TJ's you really can easily see, however it's really a much better habit to get into, to keep it all until day 10. The "bacterial ring" is more likely a blood ring, and it won't go bad very fast. just in case you have a strange ring like growth in the veins, it wouldn't hurt to keep it in the bator. Bacteria usually looks like really dark strangely shaped spots (unlike the head/eye of the embryo) Also, because they have to come up to temperature, they could be behind, so they still look clear, but might be like a 3 day old egg? Anyway, they're all long shots, but they're not going to explode on you (or it's highly unlikely

) I hope those 10 make it to hatching, these are such sweet chickens! Look at my pictures ^^^ How can you not love those faces!!!!

 

[chick4chix]

Well, you do have a chance because even so they want only females in the barn, there is likely to be a few roos that slip through the system. Hope you get some of those that did!!

Anyway, was out playing with my Leghorns and Crevies as usual this morning but this time I brought my camera How can you not love this face?


I think the girls are almost there! Any time now.... I hope to have eggs, only I've been feeding them way too much, and they're getting a bit fat... so I'm holding off on the snacks now, LOL. They're only getting grass now.


Here with one of my Crevies



and another gorgeous face (and a bit too large a belly)

Your girls are getting close cluck cluck! Such adorable faces! My first TJ pullet to lay was exactly 19 weeks, the other two followed suit later in the week. They are now 7 months old and laying JUMBO eggs every single day! Their crops also look very full (like yours does here) - more so than the other breeds I think because their bodies are so slim, it really shows. Hopefully, you will be getting eggs soon. It's Sooooo eggciting!!

I'm getting almost a dozen eggs a day from my flock of 13.

My only problem is, I have two EE girls who are laying their eggs in the outdoor run and not laying in the nests-

I have to go on an egg hunt every time now. I have blocked the spots they use, but they find other spots and seem to prefer to dig their own nests rather than use the nests in the coop. I have seen them lay outside when all the inside nests are available - so it's not that. 5 nest boxes for 13 pullets is more than enough, I have not been able to figure out why they are doing this. We've been having rain, and it's making me crazy getting these muddy eggs. I even put a outside nest in the run, and filled it with pineshavings to attempt to attract them to lay there, so I could get clean eggs- nothing doing- they still dug out their own hole. Anyone have any suggestions on stubborn outdoor layers?

 

[chickenfu]

All of my 9 are healthy and thriving and I have had ZERO problems with these babies! I did have to bring them in the house as they were getting adventurous and our coop is raised off the ground quite a bit. I have someone coming to pick up 8 of them today, I only get to keep one I am wondering how to best choose a pullet at not quite 2 weeks old. There are a few with larger combs than the others, I'll avoid those. But other than that is it strictly comb size? Does tail feathering enter into it? Or is it just a crap shoot at this point? I've not noticed that any of them are particularly aggressive at this point. I tried to look at a few vents, forget it!

 

[WestVermont]

How do you find these types of eggs. I am somewhat new at this and have never seen hatch-able eggs around me .... but than again was never looking.

 

[chick4chix]

All of my 9 are healthy and thriving and I have had ZERO problems with these babies! I did have to bring them in the house as they were getting adventurous and our coop is raised off the ground quite a bit. I have someone coming to pick up 8 of them today, I only get to keep one I am wondering how to best choose a pullet at not quite 2 weeks old. There are a few with larger combs than the others, I'll avoid those. But other than that is it strictly comb size? Does tail feathering enter into it? Or is it just a crap shoot at this point? I've not noticed that any of them are particularly aggressive at this point. I tried to look at a few vents, forget it!

Chicken Fu- I noticed that the boys in my TJ hatch had much more developed combs than the girls. There was absolutely no question who were the boys by 4 weeks of age, but they were the ones whose combs were bigger as babies- so I agree- stay away from those. The tail and wing feathering didn't seem to matter- it was all about the combs- haha! They were all sweet (as you say) until that 3-4 week old period when the boys really started asserting themselves and did a lot of chest bumping- then started pecking my hand when I would go to pick them up- the girls were mellow and have continued to be so. Good luck picking a sweet girl.

West Vermont- WELCOME to BYC!
This thread is about hatching Trader Joe's Fertile eggs (which will hatch a white leghorn or white leghorn hybrid)- but there are other grocery/health food stores that also sell "Fertile" eggs, and there are mixed results with regards to hatchability (if you read back on this thread you will see others with good results from other stores- I just can't remember the brand of eggs-( they are a brown egg that hatches a hybrid brown egg layer) - you just have to call around in your area and ask. Also, all the Trader Joe's stores don't carry them- only some, and the carton looks exactly like their other cage-free eggs - only with the word FERTILE in red on the front of the carton- but it's easy to miss if you're not looking for it. Good Luck!

 

[oldrooster]

Please be patient with me folks for asking some stupid questions.... 1 egg incubate rs I have seen little table top models in the back of some magazines looks like a version of a hot air popcorn popper (the bowl kind not the tower kind of popper) do these work well on chicken eggs? 2 if you buy eggs from the store to hatch should you put them straight into the incubator or allow them to reach room temperature first? I don't have a trader Joe's in my local area but I drive by an Amish ran store occasionally and they have fresh farm eggs and I have no guarantee they are fertile (I guess by the way it looks Joe's eggs aren't guaranteed either for that....). I have an idea if I buy an incubator and some eggs I can talk my brother and sister in law into the chicken ownership....

 

[chick4chix]

Please be patient with me folks for asking some stupid questions.... 1 egg incubate rs I have seen little table top models in the back of some magazines looks like a version of a hot air popcorn popper (the bowl kind not the tower kind of popper) do these work well on chicken eggs? 2 if you buy eggs from the store to hatch should you put them straight into the incubator or allow them to reach room temperature first? I don't have a trader Joe's in my local area but I drive by an Amish ran store occasionally and they have fresh farm eggs and I have no guarantee they are fertile (I guess by the way it looks Joe's eggs aren't guaranteed either for that....). I have an idea if I buy an incubator and some eggs I can talk my brother and sister in law into the chicken ownership....

Old rooster- First of all- No such thing as a stupid question.

I think I know what type of incubator you are referring too, (although I have never seen a model that only holds one egg, the smallest I've seen holds 3 chicken eggs) and yes, they will work for chicken eggs.
2.) Let the eggs "rest" at room temperature for a day before setting.
3.) Wherever you end up buying your potentially fertile eggs, you can crack open one or two of them and check for fertilization- assuming if one or two are fertile out of the dozen, you will have a good chance on the eggs you set.
I hope this helps- good luck!

 

[oldrooster]

we would hatch 3-12 eggs whatever the thing will hold. What does one look for to see if they are fertile? I know the blood spot has nothing to do with it....