I'm not a farmer and I know nothing about chickens. I have 4 chickens and a rooster, does this mean that all eggs will be fertilized?

-- Sandy Alves (salves@adobe.com), August 24, 2003

Answers

Yes, all your eggs will be fertile. Now let's talk about what that means. Old timey people used to believe if there was a blood spot on an egg it meant that it was fertile. This is unture. Oftentimes when any hen lays a tiny drop of blood will get into the yolk on it's way out. This can simply be removed with a spoon. It does NOT change the quality of the egg. A fertile egg, unless it has been set upon by a broody hen does not look or taste any different that an infertile egg. The only difference is that the white germ of the egg(the little white spot on any egg)looks a little more round and organized on a fertile egg. When a rooster mates a hen, he fertilizes all the eggs inside of her, at that time. Most all the eggs of a hen will be fertile within two weeks of being put together with a rooster. The eggs being fertile is the least of your concern. When you bring your eggs in, they sometimes will be dirty. Place them all in a carton. If you must wash them, wash them right before use, drying them well(if you don't dry the eggs the water will spread the germs into the eggs when you crack it). However, washing an egg destroys the protective coating that keeps germs out of the egg. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you keep plenty of straw in your nest boxes. You will have to replace this daily, as they WILL kick it out. I find my hens also lay much better when the straw is regularly replaced. My eggs are also clean.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), August 24, 2003.

Touche!

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), August 25, 2003.

that is ASSUMEING, the rooster IS fertile, and IS mating with the hens

-- stan (sopal@net-pert.com), August 24, 2003.

I was explaining to my 2 year old granddaughter the other day as the watched a chick hatching that *some* eggs are for eating and *some* eggs make baby chicks, and MoMo knows the difference. :)

I wash any dirty eggs in warm water with a bit of Chlorox. Warm is the key word here. Cold water will force the bacteria into the shell.

-- Tabletop Homestead (tabletophomestead@earthlink.net), August 29, 2003.

I am a vegetarian, and i was wondering if im still a vegetarian even if i eat eggs. i was also wanted to know a little more about telling which eggs are fertile from the ones that arent. Are all the eggs from a grocery store guaranteed to be unfertilized?

-- Jessica D. (jess_01@sbcglobal.net), October 05, 2003.