| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| podsandpetals |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 06:02:41 AM
I have one beautiful speckled sussex rooster in with my hens. My husband is having fits because I'm selling fertalized eggs- He says this is gross and the rooster has to go! Does this gross anyone else out??? Yes they do have blood specks or that white spot sometimes- but you pick this out if it bothers you. I was brought up eating fertalized eggs and don't think twice about it. My rooster is so sweet and takes good care of his girls but my husband thinks he should become a roaster- hehehe! Anyways- let me know how you feel about eating fert. eggs. Is it icky? ( or is this a weird "guy thing"?) Thanks -Cindy
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| stefffic |
Posted - Apr 16 2010 : 2:08:03 PM
Does it seem like it's mainly men having an issue here? ;)
We get eggs from the boarding barn we keep the horses at; she has chickens and turkeys for pest control and has several roosters with her hens and one tom turkey with her female turkey. Charlotte has the best eggs ever, hands down. Our other eggs come from a local farmer, but her eggs just aren't as good as Charlotte's.
I just got me some turkey eggs last night to use for cooking; heard they taste the same in recipes. They're HUGE! (sorry for the minor hijack!)
"A quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself."
"One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries." A A Milne |
| podsandpetals |
Posted - Apr 15 2010 : 06:34:04 AM
Hi everyone- Thankyou for the information! I did not know you could still hatch fertilized eggs which have been refridgerated- Wow. Anyways- the rooster stays! He takes such good care of his girls- lets them eat first when I give the something really yummy, walking arround clucking and cooing to them. "Come eat girls." -Cindy
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| Celticheart |
Posted - Apr 13 2010 : 10:54:28 PM
I also had someone from the other side of town call one day because she heard we had roosters---this is a REALLY small town, not much goes on---and she had a broody hen. She bought a dozen of my eggs and put them under her hen that night. We had 8 babies! I don't know who was more excited her or me.
"Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other art follows. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization."
Daniel Webster
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| msdoolittle |
Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 8:24:55 PM
Honestly, I do not tell my customers that the eggs could be fertilized. Why? Because it does not matter! The only difference between fertilized eggs/unfertilized eggs is a 'dot' and a 'donut'. If the white spot on the yolk looks like a donut, it's fertile. If it looks like a dot, it isn't. Big whoop, right? I just wrote a blog on this titled "I Love Eggs", if you'd like to see a photo of a fertile egg. (link's in my siggy)
My belief, Cindy, is that the reason people freak when they find a blood spot, it reminds them that it is actually from a real, live chicken. We tend to forget, with our super squeaky clean fake farm supermarkets, where our food REALLY comes from. Spots are typically one of 2 things. One is a small hemmorhage that occured when your hen was passing the egg (pretty typical in new laying hens), the other is a little piece of tissue that got caught up in the egg laying process...also called a 'meat spot'. This is more typical of your older laying hens. I tell my customers this up front. I tell them to crack each egg individually into a bowl before adding to a recipe if they are freaky about spots, so that they can pick them out.
I'd keep the roo in there, myself. Roos take good care of the ladies, and are great 'watchdogs' and protectors for the flock. I'd tell the menfolk that, too. As long as you collect eggs daily, you are not going to have a problem :0)
a
P.S. The only reason that you do not find spots in grocery eggs is that they have equipment to 'see' the spots and discard the eggs. It isn't because it doesn't happen!!!
Adventures in Homesteading!
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| OregonGal |
Posted - Apr 11 2010 : 5:04:38 PM
You can hatch eggs in a cardboard box with a light bulb and a thermometer - you don't have to have an incubator to
do it in. use some sponges for moisture. It can work. |
| Annab |
Posted - Apr 06 2010 : 03:42:02 AM
Found out by way of taking an egg incubation course ,that an embryo will start to develop due to heat from the hens body. This takes roughly 3 days to be stimulated. So even if eggs are plucked the same day, nothing has had a chance to develop yet.
This is why you can refirgerate fertile eggs for up to a week, place them under a hen and still get a good hatch rate.
Refirgeration puts it all under a kind of suspended animation
NOt sure why this would bother some people. Maybe it's the whole killing thing??
Same for meat spots in the eggs too. It's nothing, but I won't use these, and hubby won't eat them either. It just looks gross, but in no way affects egg quality really.
Other day I watched a hen lay an "egg" on the ground. What came out was egg shell fragments, or more like the inner membrane and something that looked like a ball of hamburger. It took a while to figure out what it was. And of course, the other chickens were all over this, eating pieces off as fast as they could. That was kind of gross |
| Ms.Lilly |
Posted - Apr 05 2010 : 07:15:06 AM
Marcia- I too have a customer 85+ that will only buy my eggs if I keep the rooster running with them.
As far as the embryo developing in an egg- The hen needs to sit on the egg for 24 hours and the egg has to be "up to tempature" before the embryo will start to develop.
Lillian |
| podsandpetals |
Posted - Apr 04 2010 : 4:46:15 PM
Brenda- yes you can have some eggs! They would be Comet and speckled sussex crosses. I was thinking of incubating some but don't have an incubator. I see them for sale at Agway. I'm not sure if they are fertalized thought- Mr. rooster doesn't seem to busy. My daughter said she saw him kissing some of the hens though- he he he! She is six.
Thanks everyone for the feed back! My neighbor stopped by- he's a retired crop farmer- to talk to my hubby and when he saw the rooster in with the hens couldn't believe that I had him in with them. So it's not just my hubby with the problem I guess. I collect eggs twice a day and put them right in the fridge- it's not like there's a formed embryo in there.
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| LakeOntarioFarmgirl |
Posted - Apr 04 2010 : 4:26:09 PM
Did you know that if an egg is fertile, the "white spot" that you see is actually a bullseye spot if looked at under a maginifying glass? I found that fascinating, especially since I am planning on hatching eggs a year from now....
I wish you could somehow send me some of those eggs Cindy, my 5 year old grand daughter is right now fascinated because we are getting our chicks this week, and she knows they come from "eggs and toast", in her words, lol!!!
Wait!!! You are in Genoa?!!! I could come get some from you?!!! If only I had an incubator! :(
Brenda
FarmGirl # 711
Nothing we achieve in this world is achieved alone. It is always achieved with others teaching us along the way. Lee J. Colan
http://theviewfromhere-brenda.blogspot.com/ |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 7:29:33 PM
I prefer when the eggs are fertilized because I too have heard they are better for you. It doesn't bug me at all because I know my egg lady takes good care of her chickens and eggs.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
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| OregonGal |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 7:03:05 PM
A blood spot doesn't always mean an egg is fertile unless it has begun to incubate and then it would be in the yolk part of the egg. But a blood spot in the egg doesn't neccessarily mean it is fertile. The germinal disk is in the yolk, and every egg should have one, and if the hen has mated and the egg fertilized, then a chick starts growing. But like Willowtreecreek said, if you get the eggs refrigerated the chick will not start growing. Hobby Farms has a chicken edition magazine out this month and they explain the chick growing in the egg from start to end - its a good read, I bought the magazine just for that one article. They talk about taking care of egg-bound hens, too. I'd recommend it. Personally, with my chickens, the fertilized eggs taste just like unfertilized - I can't tell the difference in taste or looks. I know for sure my eggs are better than anything that comes from the store. |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 5:05:50 PM
I have ALWAYS had roosters in with my hens, the hens are more content, and I love the sound of a crowing rooster.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 4:49:07 PM
I have heard that fertilized eggs are better for you too. Can't remember where I heard that. I just got 13 eggs today. They laid all winter really good now are slowing down a bit. I think I have 1 hen that's setting on a nest somewhere, darn it.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 3:39:12 PM
I actually had a customer that was after only fertilized eggs. She swore they are better for you. She wouldn't buy them after I got rid of the rooster. She's also 90+ years old. Maybe she's right.
"Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other art follows. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization."
Daniel Webster
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| willowtreecreek |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 08:58:06 AM
The white spot is in ALL eggs including non fertilized eggs. However if you are getting blood spots it is likely because you are not collecting the eggs often enough or are not refridgerating them properly. When a fertilized egg in not refridgerated it will eventually start to develop into the chick - hence the red spot. If you collect your eggs 2 -3 times daily and refrigerate them right away you should not see this.
Fertilized eggs do not bother me but some people it does.
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.eggsandherbs.com
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| Candy C. |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 08:07:48 AM
I agree with Kris, no problem here!!
Candy C.
Farmgirl Sister #977
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 07:43:46 AM
Nope. Does not bother me at all. Or my egg customers. I do have a friend that can't eat them. If she sees that red spot she freaks out. But not me. I guess I just don't have a weak tummy, thank goodness. I have 2 roos with 19 hens.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| sherrye |
Posted - Apr 03 2010 : 06:44:06 AM
cindy, wanted to mention that if you look it up the spot is not a chick. even eggs that are not fertilized will have that. some breeds of chicken have more of those than others. it is a flaw. it is not a chick. if you are making whipped egg whites you must pick it out or it may not whip. 1 rooster is good for the flock. he will care for them and protect them. how many do you have? sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm
farmgirl #1014
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