When to pull eggs

[porkchop48]

We recently purchased a 7 acre farm ( yesterday) and plan on having chickens.

The farm currently has a chicken cook which needs a little work. After the work is done, we want to have some where between 12-15 chickens.

Our question is - when do you pull the eggs? And if we have a rooster are all the eggs going to be fertile? I want to be able to pull some eggs for egg eating and then some eggs for hatching and raising up. How do we tell which is which? The eggs you buy in the store are they fertile eggs or non fertile?

 

[Roooisin]

if you keep the rooster with the hens in the same pen, chances are nearly all of your eggs will be fertile. you can eat both fertile and infertile eggs even though the eggs you buy in the store are non fertile. there are some pictures on BYC to show the difference between fertile and non fertile eggs. i hope this helps.

 

[lynnemabry]

Congrats on the farm,

You should collect eggs every day at least, I get mine about twice a day. If you have a rooster and a flock of 10-15 hens, most of the eggs will be fertile. That's OK. You can eat them just the same. They will not hatch without having a hen sit and stay on them (broody) or incubating eggs yourself (in a incubator). You cannot tell the difference from the outside of the egg. Regular eggs at the store are not fertile unless they say so. Farmers market eggs may be fertile if the rooster has access to the hens.

You should also plan on how you are going to use the eggs. Is there a market for them? Are you just going to supply all of your friends and family? A dozen eggs a day is a lot for one family. Especially now that feed prices are rising. I have 6 laying right now and get enough eggs for 2 people and still an share with friends.

Just keep haunting this site and you will find out more than you ever needed to know about chickens.

Oh, and start small so that you have a reason to get more chicks next year.

 

[porkchop48]

Thank you both...

After the eggs are laid being that they might be fertile, does refridgerating stop the development? And how long do they normally stay good for?

We like to share. So we will be sharing with friends and family

I can see me spending hours on this site

 

[schellie69]

The won't start to develop until a hen sits on them. I just gather mine everyday and put in fridge. Some people put them on the counter, with chicken eggs to develop the eggs need the right temp and humidity to develop. I have a rooster and most of my eggs are fertile but I can't taste any difference.