# Fertilized& and non-fertilized eggs



## lilychicken (Dec 29, 2012)

Ok, so I have a question. Is there any way to tell the difference between fertilized eggs and non fertilized eggs? I'm thinking about getting a rooster, but my only worries are that I won't be able to tell which go in the fridge and which go in the incubator. Any ideas?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

If you get a rosster you'll see him doing the deed quit often. You'll know the eggs are fertile then  . You dont have to incubate every egg thats fertile, just incubate what you need or want and eat the rest. Fertile eggs taste no different than unfertile.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

If you are not adverse to cracking one open it's easy to tell fertile from infertile. You'll find a white dot on the yolk of the egg (you might need to rotate it with a spoon to locate it.) If the white dot looks like a dot it is not fertilized, if it looks like a doughnut or a target it is fertile (and the others likely are too.)


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## lilychicken (Dec 29, 2012)

This seems like a kind of stupid question, but after you crack an egg and find out if its fertile, can you still make it hatch in some way?


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

If you have a highly sophisticated lab... (Many biologists study embryo development by cutting a window into an egg... but they have many sterilization procedures and fancy equipment and even so a lot of these will not continue to develop after such a procedure.)


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## mstricer (Oct 18, 2012)

lilychicken said:


> This seems like a kind of stupid question, but after you crack an egg and find out if its fertile, can you still make it hatch in some way?


Not really, you can always just throw them in the incubator and see if they start to grow, that way you don't waste an egg.


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## Sundancers (Jun 20, 2012)

lilychicken said:


> This seems like a kind of stupid question, but after you crack an egg and find out if its fertile, can you still make it hatch in some way?


For the backyard chicken keeper or the homestead ... (Sorry) but no.


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