What eggs to incubate or not!?

[Fields]

Ok, as some of you might have seen already in other posts, I am 100000% new to all of this so please excuse my ignorance!

I do not have my chicks yet, but I will soon have 23 hens and 2 roos. All Bielefelders, I cannot wait! Once they get to mating age, how do I know what eggs to incubate? Like, when I pick up the eggs daily, how do I know if they are fertile or not? This whole thing is just confusing to me.

Thanks!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If the males are mating, just about every egg should be fertile. You want ones that are normal shaped (Not spheres or torpedoes) and with no poop or cracks

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If the males are mating, just about every egg should be fertile. You want ones that are normal shaped (Not spheres or torpedoes) and with no poop or cracks

Give me a moment, I'll get some pictures of yes and no eggs

 

[Fields]

Thank you, @JacinLarkwell - so all the ones that I don't incubate I can just keep to eat, even if they were initially fertile? No problem with that?

 

[HappyClucker7]

Thank you, @JacinLarkwell - so all the ones that I don't incubate I can just keep to eat, even if they were initially fertile? No problem with that?

Yes, you can eat fertile eggs. They're no different from non-fertile eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Okay.

(On the off change you get into quail)
1 double yolker
2 normal
3 faerie egg

Chicken eggs:
Top 3 are good eggs. One is a brown pullet egg (some people incubate them and some won't. It's a personal preference), one is a white bantams egg, and one is a EE egg from a hen who has been laying for a while.

Then there are 3 faerie eggs, 1 triple sized egg, and 3 malformed eggs. These are not suitable to incubate

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you, @JacinLarkwell - so all the ones that I don't incubate I can just keep to eat, even if they were initially fertile? No problem with that?

Yep. Unless you start incubating or leave them somewhere really warm for a few days, you'd not know they were fertile

 

[Fields]

Yep. Unless you start incubating or leave them somewhere really warm for a few days, you'd not know they were fertile

Awesome, thanks for all of the info! Can you eat the malformed eggs with no problem?

Off the original topic, but the Bielefelders lay XL brown eggs, and I've seen several incubators say that XL eggs won't fit. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Awesome, thanks for all of the info! Can you eat the malformed eggs with no problem?

Off the original topic, but the Bielefelders lay XL brown eggs, and I've seen several incubators say that XL eggs won't fit. Do you have any suggestions?

I've noticed my normal eggs are larger than the XL store eggs. I have no issue with my large eggs fitting.

And malformed are still safe to eat so long as they aren't cracked

 

[Lizzy733]

On another note for knowing if your eggs are fertile, you may notice when you crack open an egg to eat, there is a white spot on the yolk. If this spot also has a white ring around it - like a bullseye, it was fertilized.

You can track your rooster's fertility this way as you eat your eggs. Also, if you incubate, you should always crack open early quitters and 'clears' - with the latter, you may find they were never fertile to begin with. If you're getting too many clears, your rooster may have too many hens, or be experiencing fertility issues.

If you are hatching into your flock, be mindful of your flock genetics. Ideally, you want a roo from a different source, or have sourced your birds from someone who has put in a fresh roo that season.

Chickens can safely be inbred for one generation without worrying about too many negative health effects. (Brother sister, mother son, or father daughter). After doing this for one generation though, it's time to get a new roo in to ensure your flock remains healthy and robust in the long run.