I was talking about eggs with a friend the other day. Eggs from the ladies that live in the coop in our side yard, to be specific.
This friend said to me, “Now, that you have a rooster in with your girls—the eggs are all fertile, right?”
To which another friend said, “Ewwwww…how can you tell? What if you crack open an egg and there’s a half-developed chick peering up at you from the frying pan?”
And yet another friend said, “I thought you had to have a rooster to have eggs.”
To which I said, “You, my dears, need a lesson in Egg 101.”
First of all, unlike wild birds, female domestic poultry lay eggs with or without a rooster. Hens begin laying eggs at around 6 months of age and with good care will lay an egg every 1 to 2 days. If eggs –for eating, baking, giving to friends, selling at market–are what you are interested in, then you don’t need a rooster in your flock.
If, however, you are interested in having chicks in your flock– you need a rooster to fertilize the eggs. Generally, one rooster per ten hens is about the right balance.
So, to answer my friends’ questions and concerns:
Yes, I do have a rooster in with the hens. I have 20 hens and a lame rooster, so maybe the eggs are fertile…and maybe not.
“Rooney” lurking by the water cooler. |
I’m not interested in hatching chicks, so I gather eggs at least once a day. No little chicks begin to develop. (Remember, when a mother hen is getting ready to raise a brood, she may lay a couple weeks worth of eggs in the nest before beginning to incubate them.) Chicks from fertile eggs won’t begin to develop until they are incubated.
There is a way to tell if eggs are fertile—by cracking them open and looking at the little white spot in the yolk of the egg –this spot is called a “blastodisc”. If there is a ring around the white spot (so that it looks like a bull’s eye)—the egg has been fertilized.
Blood spots found when cracking open farm fresh eggs are not indicators of fertilization. These spots (also called “meat spots”) are caused by broken blood vessels on the yolk. Depending on how the egg is to be used, the spots can be stirred in or removed.
Fresh, infertile egg. Note the tiny white blastodisc on the yolk, and the stringy chalezea |
There’s also a white, stringy material found in an egg (the “chalazae”), which anchors the yolk, on each end, in the shell. Chalazae also does not indicate fertilization. The fresher the egg, the more prominent this material. Again, depending on how the egg is to be used, it can be stirred right in or removed.
There are people who prefer to eat fertile eggs, thinking they are more nutritious. There are those who prefer to eat non-fertile eggs. Me? I don’t really care. I just prefer the eggs that are provided by my hens.
3 Comments
Some of my fresh eggs have a very thin watery white and runs all over the pan when I break them.. what would cause this?
Jane,
This is more common with fresh eggs. The albumen in fresh eggs is thinner because it is more hydrated than older eggs that have lost some of their moisture.
Do you know why I occasionally get a farm fresh egg that tastes terrible? I buy my eggs from a friend who collects eggs daily and the eggs she brings me are all less than a week old. This occasional nasty tasting egg does not smell bad at all. It’s making me want to cancel my weekly egg order and go back to the bland store bought eggs. I never thought I would say such a thing but there it is. Also do eggs have to be refrigerated or can they be left out on the counter in a basket? She asked me once if I had a preference. I chose the cold storage option. Thanks for your help.