My blog readers are in serious trouble. You’ve asked ME about eggs/setting/baby chicks. I will share what I know but honestly, I don’t know much. I feel like I’m writing a fiction story . . making stuff up as I go. Please don’t tell anyone anything I’m about to tell you because it’s probably at least 90% wrong. 🙂
Chickens lay eggs. There does not have to be a rooster on the scene.
Whether or not there’s a rooster, the chicken still lays the egg just the same.
If there’s no rooster, the eggs are not fertile. If there’s a rooster, the eggs probably are fertile because roosters . . well, they’re men chickens and . . well, if you’re explaining this to your kids, you’re on your own with the further explanation but roosters do what roosters do and then the eggs are fertile.
So if a hen has been with a rooster, she lays a fertile egg. If not, she lays a non-fertile egg.
From the outside, the eggs all look the same. I’m not sure if you can see it on a store bought egg but if you look at the yolk, somewhere you’ll see a tiny little white-ish, opaque circle. If the egg is fertile, the circle will be solid. If the circle is hollow looking in the center, kinda like a donut, the egg is not fertile. Here’s a good example with pictures.
If a hen lays a fertile egg and I get it, it’s just like any other egg. I don’t see any difference. We eat fertile and non-fertile eggs and can’t tell the difference but I gather them within an hour or two of them being layed and never let the hens set on the eggs we’re eating.
If the hen begins to “set” on the egg, or if I place the egg in an incubator, after a few days, the baby chicken will begin to form. If I’m not sure if there’s a baby chick, I can “candle” the egg. This is a process of holding a lit candle or a bright flashlight to the egg and looking for a baby chick.
My chicks are 6 months old and I wasn’t expecting them to get “broody” and start setting this early. I’m not sure how many eggs are under Louise. It doesn’t matter so I don’t mess with aggravating her to see how many are under her.
Here’s a funny story: Louise and Tiffany each lay an egg almost every day. I get 4 or 5 eggs from them each week. While Louise is setting, I don’t think she’s laying but I haven’t gotten any eggs from Tiffany since last Friday. I wasn’t sure if she was laying eggs and Louise was somehow getting them into her nest, or if out of respect or sympathy for Louise, Tiffany had just stopped laying. This morning I opened the egg door to check on Louise and Tiffany was in the nesting box with her but I scared Tiffany and she jumped down but . . she left an egg behind. I figured I’d just leave it there and see if Louise moved it under herself. An hour or so I went back out and sure enough . . the egg was missing. Louise had added it to her little family of eggs. I’m glad I saw that. Tiffany is brown. Louise is snow white. Thelma, the father of both eggs/potential chicks is snow white.
Two weeks from tomorrow and if all goes well, we should have baby Silkies!
vickie van dyken says
I do enjoy reading your posts!! They always bring a smile to my face…but in this case….what no cabbage patch??? ROFLOL…Thanks for the lesson. You have a great day !!!
Regina says
ROTF… I was about to start reading this out loud to the 7 year old, but I don’t think interrupting him while he is building LEGO to give him a biology lesson is a good idea. Heck, I had to figure out how to explain to him that his beetles in science class at school were NOT giving eachother piggy-back rides!
Alma says
Sounds good to me! LOL
Amy @ Heritage Homemaker says
There’s nothing more precious than having baby biddies hatch at your own place <3
Sally H says
The only problem with Louise tucking Tiffany’s egg under her is that it won’t hatch with the rest. Hens can lay only one egg per day, so usually they pick a spot, lay a clutch of (exact number up to that particular chicken) eggs, and then start to sit. The eggs won’t start developing until they have been constantly worm for 24 hrs. That way, all the eggs in the clutch hatch at the same time. Having eggs added to the nest constantly means that the eggs are at different stages of incubation, which means only the oldest ones will hatch. Louise’s instinct to gather all the nearby eggs under her is, in this case, not such a great idea. You might consider marking the eggs that are under her now, (use a pencil to draw a line all the way around) so that you can remove the eggs that Tiffany lays every day. If you put your hand under Louise`’s breast, fingers between her legs, you can lift her strait up. Messing with her might earn you a peck on the hand, but she won’t give up sitting at this point.
Kathy Wilson says
This city girl enjoyed your eggcelent lesson!
Helen Koenig1 says
I agree with Sally. I was always taught that you figure the hatch date from the LAST egg to join the group. And yes, there may be some that will hatch a day or 2 later – but not really much later than that. Regarding any added after Louise has gone broody may not hatch.
Used to be that if you had a broody hen you would have her in her own special “cage” with the other chickens – where she could see, converse with them at will – but where other hens couldn’t add eggs to her batch and where she would be less inclined to leave the batch she was sitting on – at least until they all hatched.
Ruth Anne shorter says
That is fascinating. I use to own a cockatiel and the first time she laid an egg I thought she was dying. She got down into the bottom of her cage and acted like she was very sick. Then after that it was easy for her but until then I did not know this!
Trina says
How did I miss Thelma being a he?
I was laughing so hard at your explanation of the eggs.
ROFLOL
Trina
Evelyn says
One of my little nephews this summer was very amazed to learn that “chickens poop eggs out of their butts!”. We all stayed for a week at a cousin’s who has chickens. Anyway – he went around telling everyone this amazing news! It was too funny. Cheers! Evelyn
Jo says
Oh I’m so excited for you!!! You’re expecting!!! LOL
I have chicken news this week – Last Sat. I had to do foot surgery on my Cochin, Emily. She wasn’t walking and had VERY tender feet from big black scabby sores on 2 of her toes. Was thinking it was Bumblefoot and proceeded to make a nice soft hospital cage for her to recoup in ….she didn’t make a sound while under the knife (X acto…to be exact) I kept clean bandages on her long birdie toes and she was well enough to go back with the girls on Weds. She can walk and scratch like the other…back to normal. Whoopee!!
Doreen says
Whew!!! An “R” rated post…..really!!!!!! LOL!