How do you recognize a fertilized chicken egg?

Answer 1

Well, firstly you need a cockerel if you see him mate with the hen separate that hen and put it in a separate area any eggs that that that chicken layers in 1 week (5-8 days) after having mated should be fertile. when an egg is fertile it is not guaranteed to hatch from experience with 6 fertile eggs you usually get 4-6 hatch but there is no certain way of telling if chick is present in a egg before it hatches. all you can do is put the eggs under the hen (more chance of hatching) or put them in a incubater for 3 weeks and hope for the best

p.s: if you want to hatch, buy eggs of ebay or enternet as they have a higher chance of being fertile.

Happy hatching ;)

Answer 2

There are multiple ways to tell, depending on why you want to know.

If you are just curious about whether your rooster is doing his "job," you can crack the egg gently into a bowl and observe whether there is a white ring around the small white dot in the yolk. The small white dot is the small bit of cells that would develop (in specific circumstances) into a chick. If there is a well-defined white ring around the tiny white dot, the egg was fertilized and your rooster is doing his "roosterly duty," so to speak (although roosters also have the job of keeping his hens safe, among other things). Once you can see the circle, known as the "bullseye," you can confidently try to incubate eggs from the flock.

A "blood spot," which is just a little "hiccup" in a hen's reproductive system, is only a tiny bit of tissue shed where it is incorporated into the egg, and does not indicate fertilization. Eggs from large factory farms are checked (candled) by machinery, and any with blood spots are discarded, so that is likely why many believe blood spots are related to fertility. Blood spots are no more or less common in either fertile or infertile eggs.

An egg will not, however, ever become fertilized without a rooster. Nearly all eggs bought in stores will be infertile, because there are no roosters with access to them. Only eggs labeled as free-range even have a possibility of it, and nearly all of those companies will inspect each egg sold to insure they are not fertilized. Egg cartons will be clearly labeled if there is a rooster with access to the laying hens, and a rooster is required for fertilization. Whether an egg is fertilized or not does not affect its taste, however. An egg's taste will only vary depending on the hen's diet.

If you want to incubate an egg, the only way to tell if it has successfully been fertilized is to incubate it (either under a setting hen or in an incubator). In about 10 days, you should be able to candle the egg with a bright light (like a bright flashlight) and see blood vessels and a tiny forming chick, which will look like a reddish "spider," for lack of a better description. An internet search on "candling"* (I recommend the ecosia search engine over the Google one) should bring up many helpful how-to links, and several should show pictures that will allow you to learn what you should be looking for at each stage of the chick's development.

Fertilized eggs that you want to incubate should not be refrigerated, and should be stored in a way that they can be tilted a different angle a few times a day, as in an egg carton. Raise one end of the carton and leave it that way for several hours, then reverse and raise the other end. This increases the chances of a viable hatch. Fertilized eggs waiting to be incubated that are older than 7 days begin to lose their viability, and by day 10, are much less apt to develop and hatch.

*The procedure is called "Candling" based on the historical use of a candle in a dark room to see what is inside an egg. Now we use powerful lights in a darkened room.

If you do not have a candling light you can make a reasonably good one with a good quality flashlight (100 lumens or more) and a piece of PVC tubing. Tape the tubing to the top of the flashlight with black electrical tape. The tubing is not necessary, but makes the process easier. Hold the egg to the other end of the tube and turn on the flashlight. If you are in a dark room and look in a fertilized egg, you should see blood veins (10 days or so into incubation), a partially formed chick (at about 14 days), or a chick taking up nearly all of the egg and preparing to hatch (at about day 18, when eggs are put in what is called "lockdown"). Other species (quail, guinea, etc) develop at different rates.

Answer 3

If your hens have been in the coop or yard with a rooster more than a week then you can almost be sure they are. You can "candle" the egg after incubating it for several days looking for changes inside the egg. Candling is just a term for shining a very bright light into the egg and looking at the inside.

Answer 4

It is called "candling", a term taken from when farmers used to hold the egg up to the light of a candle to see inside the egg. Now they have strong lights that show blood spots and embryo's inside the egg. You can buy a candling light from any feed store or make one with a small light and a 3" piece of tubing.

Answer 5

well you see u can tell by seeing if it will hatch by putting it in a box at a 95 degree lamp facing the egg then 18 days later (maybe) u will here chirping and tapping if u don't keep waiting but after a week after 21 days it is not fertilized. so there u go, oh and p.s. there is a chance that an egg from the store can be fertilized! ;)

Answer 6

You can shine a bright light through it. If there is an embryo it'll show up.

Answer 7

it is white i think