What Happens to Fertilized Eggs?

[KWestVA]

My pullet recently started laying eggs. With two cockerels, there's a good chance some of them are fertilized. However, she doesn't sit on her clutch - she takes care of business and then leaves the "nest". Will this behavior halt any progression of . . . chick formation (for lack of a better term)?

This probably sounds really weird: I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and I was really looking forward to having fresh chicken eggs, but now I'm a little creeped out by the thought of eating my "feather baby's" eggs. Intellectually, I know that immediately after fertilization, there is minimal visual evidence, and the eggs are perfectly safe to eat. But thanks to the illogical part of my brain, I know I will be off eggs for a long time if I crack open an egg and see something other than a yolk.

 

[kattabelly]

Embryos need to reach a certain temperature to develop. If your room temperature is very warm or you're really worried, just store the eggs in the fridge.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My pullet recently started laying eggs. With two cockerels, there's a good chance some of them are fertilized. However, she doesn't sit on her clutch - she takes care of business and then leaves the "nest". Will this behavior halt any progression of . . . chick formation (for lack of a better term)?

This probably sounds really weird: I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and I was really looking forward to having fresh chicken eggs, but now I'm a little creeped out by the thought of eating my "feather baby's" eggs. Intellectually, I know that immediately after fertilization, there is minimal visual evidence, and the eggs are perfectly safe to eat. But thanks to the illogical part of my brain, I know I will be off eggs for a long time if I crack open an egg and see something other than a yolk.

Collect daily and put them straight into the fridge. If an egg is fertilized, the cells (that’s all they are at this point) won’t have started developing.