Viability of a round egg?

[mandelyn]

How much does egg shape matter when hatching? Would a round egg be just as good as a regular shaped egg, or would the shape affect the chick's growth?

 

[alicefelldown]

I'd say it shouldn't matter a great deal but there are a lot of people who say that hatching round eggs will give you hen and pointed eggs hatch out to be roosters.

I know large eggs are better than small ones - more room to grow.

Might be interested in reading this: 'Hatching performance of Japanese quails' Department of Poultry Science, NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd16/1/khur161.htm

 

[Akane]

We've argued and disproven the pointy eggs = roosters thing several times. Pointed eggs aren't as good to set though because the chick won't fit as well in the narrower part of the egg so they won't have as much room to position for hatching. One reason pullet eggs are less likely to hatch. Round eggs would probably be better but I would think really big really round eggs could actually cause a problem since chicks need to push against the egg to hatch and it would be harder for them to know where to pip at in a very round egg.

 

[mandelyn]

Well I was curious because it was REALLY round, so round there was blood on it, didn't look like a comfy lay! You could still see where the smaller end would be, so it wasn't bouncing-ball round, but close.

It had me confused, so I ate it. I also ate the first pullet egg that I got yesterday, it was so little! I'm sorting my eggs though, keeping the nice looking bigger ones to go in the incubator-bound storage box, the rest in the fridge or frying pan.