Farmers seem to instinctively know whether a chicken egg has been fertilized or not, the rest of us, unfortunately, do not. One thing you may be worried about when eating a chicken egg is if there are the beginnings of a chicken inside.
Learning whether a chicken egg has been fertilized can help ease your worries. So, how do farmers know if a chicken egg is fertilized? This article looks into it
Farmers know whether a chicken egg is fertilized by candling. Candling allows you to somewhat see into the egg, the presence of a mass indicates that the egg has been fertilized. Farmers also assume eggs are fertile if there is a fertile and active rooster in the coop. They may also use kitchen journals to track the rate of fertility in eggs
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How do farmers know if a chicken egg is fertilized? 3 ways that farmers tell
Is it a sixth sense or a gift? How do farmers know if a chicken egg is fertilized? For a long time, poultry farmers appeared to be genius egg whispers, who were able to tell very accurately which eggs were going to hatch or not.
Well, non-farmers have cracked the case and now we know how it’s done:
Candling:
One way that egg farmers use to figure out if a chicken egg is fertilized is by candling the egg. This involves shining a bright light against the egg’s shell to reflect the inner workings of the egg. You can also use a candle to do this
If there is a mass in the egg, surrounded by a vein network, then that egg is fertilized and developing. The closer the egg gets to hatching the more visible the outline of the chicken inside the egg will be.
Unfertilized eggs will never grow veins and a chick, the presence of a mass indicates that the egg has been fertilized.
Assuming:
This may not be the most accurate way to know if eggs are fertilized, but it can be pretty accurate if you know your flock, farmers also use this method to figure out if bird eggs are fertilized.
Eggs will only be fertilized if there is a rooster in the coop, roosters can be quite active and are more than happy to go around mating with the hens, after this, hens will lay fertilized eggs.
However, even if the rooster mates with a hen and she produces eggs every time after mating, the eggs may not be fertilized. Not all roosters have fertile sperm, so, if your infertile rooster mates with a hen, she will not lay any fertile eggs.
In this case, if the hens are only mating with one infertile rooster, you can assume that none of the eggs will be fertilized.
Kitchen journal:
You can also keep a log of fertilized eggs and base your assumption on that. This will help you figure out the egg’s fertilization rate.
When you crack some eggs to eat, keep a record of how many eggs are fertile when you crack them.
Cracked unfertilized eggs have a blastodisc (a small white solid spot on the egg yolk) fertilized eggs have a blastoderm (a white spot on the egg yolk with a ring around it, this will look like a bullseye).
You can keep the results of your findings in a kitchen journal. You can base your assumptions on how many eggs will be fertilized by these records.
If you crack and cook eggs, and 80% of the eggs you crack are fertilized, you can assume that 80% of all the eggs in the coop are fertilized
How to tell if a chicken egg is fertilized with water?
The above methods are not the only tricks farmers have up their sleeve, another way to tell if a chicken egg is fertilized is to use warm water. The trick is to place an egg in a container of warm water, a fertilized egg will float and an unfertilized egg will sink.
The weight and air composition difference between fertilized and unfertilized eggs are what make the difference.
Can you eat a fertilized chicken egg?
It’s perfectly safe to eat a fertilized chicken egg. In fact, many people do so without knowing.
Some people prefer fertilized eggs because of the popular idea that they taste better and are healthier than unfertilized eggs, other people cannot taste the difference so it’s truly up to individual preference.
There is the idea that fertilized eggs do in fact taste different and are healthier because of the growth potential of the egg. Scientists’ assessments and tests show otherwise. Many scientists agree that all eggs, fertilized or not, have the same nutritional value and taste.
Are supermarket eggs fertilized?
No, the shelves of your local supermarket don’t stock fertilized eggs.
The fact is, most of the eggs sold in supermarkets are produced by chickens bred and enhanced to act as ongoing layers without the need for roosters in the mix. The process of roosters mating with hens that would go on to lay fertilized eggs did not happen.
There are some places that do advertise and sell fertilized eggs, but these eggs won’t hatch as they are not kept in incubator-type conditions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, farmers can check whether an egg has been fertilized or not by candling the egg.
This involves taking the egg into a dark room and shining a light on it to see if there is a mass on the inside and a network of veins in the egg. The mass and the network of veins indicate that a chick is developing and thus fertilization has occurred.
This mass and vein network will never develop in an unfertilized egg.
Farmers can also perform the float test to figure out if an egg has been fertilized.
In addition to this, using a kitchen journal to track and work out the percentage of fertilized eggs is also helpful. The average number of fertilized eggs that you record when you crack eggs to cook is likely the percentage of eggs that have been fertilized in the coop
If a rooster is very active in the coop, and mates with the hens quite often, farmers usually assume that all the eggs in the coop are fertilized. That is, if the rooster is not infertile itself
You can eat a fertilized egg but supermarket eggs are generally not fertilized.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Cracked corn vs whole corn for chickens, which is best? Where do chickens live in the wild? Do chickens eat maggots? Frozen corn for chickens, beneficial or not?