Given the right nutrients, hens will lay eggs with or without having been in the presence of a rooster. For an egg to become fertilized, a hen and rooster must mate prior to the formation and laying of the egg.
While the MSU Extension science team encourages youth to ask questions and discover answers, this is one experiment we suggest you only read about instead. Because, unfortunately, the only thing that would emerge from an egg under your pillow would be an unpleasant smell. For more information about 4-H learning opportunities and other 4-H programs , contact your local MSU Extension office. This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. If an egg is fertilised and incubation has started to work you should be able to see the development of veins or even a beating heart.
Fertilised eggs are perfectly safe to eat and unless an egg is incubated, either by putting it in an incubator or from a hen sitting on it, an embryo will not begin to develop. In fact, before the days of mass egg production almost all eggs would have been fertilised as hens and cockerels were allowed to mix freely.
Once you have cracked open an egg you can tell whether it was fertilised by the size of the nucleus. In an unfertilised egg the nucleus is a tiny white spot on the yolk, whereas in a fertilised egg it will have formed a ring. And despite a prevalent myth, blood spots are no indication of whether an egg is fertilised or not.
When i was at school one of our teachers brought in eggs that we put under a light. I rememember some of them hatched and we had some baby ducks in class. This was in the 80s.
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You can also obtain fertile eggs from a local egg farmer or farmers' market. So you can obtain fertilized eggs but are they really capable of hatching? One problem is that store-bought eggs are not raised specifically for hatching and that there is no guarantee that any of the eggs are fertilized. The most obvious issue is probably that store-bought eggs are usually refrigerated , which you would think might kill any chances of hatching a chick. So, is there any chance that is is possible?
A discussion thread on the blog BackYard Chickens about this very topic has recently gained in popularity. Numerous forum participants claim to have successfully incubated and hatched eggs purchased at Trader Joe's!
Why would anyone do this? First, you need to figure out if any of your eggs are fertilized. Start with eggs labeled "fertile" or "fertilized. You need to look for a white mark on the yolk. This white mark will be perfectly round if the egg is fertile called a blastoderm. If the egg is not fertile the white mark will not be perfectly round and may be smaller called a blastodisc.
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