how to hatch super market chicken eggs:

[sunrise001]

how to hatch super market chicken eggs: yes its possible all you need is free range chicken eggs (do not put in fridge) u c free range eggs are fertilised wen u buy them to hatch them u need to keep them at a constant temp of 37 degrees for 21 days not all of them may hatch but if u want chickens this is the cheap way to get them any questions?

[N1CK]

even free range most likely won't work, the only actual way to get them is if they're fertilised. and afaik most large scale producers of eggs won't have roosters in with the hens that are laying they eggs

The eggs also need to be turned multiple times daily to stop the growing chicken from sticking to the egg shell, once every 6 hours at a minimum. Humidity needs to be slightly higher as well

If you wanted chickens best bet would be to either buy some chicks off a breeder and grow them out. or get fertilised eggs off a breeder and hatch them yourself

HTH

[maoripho3nix]

Ive worked at many distribution centres for supermarkets, here and in Australia, they may be free range eggs and do say so on packaging, but they are kept cool at the DC and in transport, same as caged eggs.

For those who dont know the difference, free range = allowing the chicken to freely walk in an area to feed, a more natural setting, resulting in better quality of eggs.

Caged = the obvious, caged in with other chickens and fed in the cage, very prone to stress etc and unnatural environment resulting in eggs with less nutritonal value.

If you buy a caged egg, and a free range egg, crack it open and look at the colour difference in the yolk.

Not all eggs from the supermarket are fertilised eggs, infact most of them wont be. Im not sure if anyone has bought them and successfully hatched any, but to be mostly successful it would be better to source the egg direct from the chicken on a farm or someone who has a couple in town, and not long after laying.

So in order to hatch eggs you need to:

Find someone who has hens AND a rooster....this is important, hens lay eggs most of the time, but in order for an egg to fully cycle and hatch it needs to be fertilised, this is where the rooster comes in, the rooster does its part before the hen lays the egg which will then be a fertilised egg.

You can usually tell when the eggs are fertilised as the hen will lay a "clutch" of eggs, then stop laying, and will sit on the eggs, whilst guarding and turning the eggs (incubate).

So first source a free range fertilised egg or eggs. And when you do get the eggs make sure its from healthy stock.

Healthy stock = better quality eggs = better quality chicks and less chance of them not hatching or having illness or deformities.

Second: You will need an artificial incubator, and a home for the new chicks.

If you search on google there are lots of guides etc to building incubators.

Here is one on youtube which I have used as a guide to make one but never used it in the end.

You do need a constant temp, and it is around 21 days that the egg will hatch but there is a lot in between.

There are temps, humidity, and turning eggs, and candlelighting to see if there is a chick developing, along with keeping a good record, just the list of things to do.

For anyone trying this, DO YOUR HOMEWORK, its not as simple as just keeping eggs warm. :roll:

After hatching you will still need to setup somewhere for the lil chicks to live, a box/container with hay or blanket and a warming light to keep them warm.

As for after they have hatched, are you keeping the chick/chicken when it grows?? If its for educational/fun sake, find a home for them to go to afterwards. Otherwise consider building a chicken coop to keep the chickens. Google will be your best friend for this project, "A" frame coop/hutches are probably the easiest to make (or buy), and make sure the area where the chicks lay eggs is rodent proof, otherwise you will wait an eternity for your egg to come :lol:

I would suggest also buying chick wire and setting up a perimeter for your chickens to free range, that way there will be no chances of escape even from a fenced property. Lastly clip the wings of your chickens to stop it from jumping/flying/gliding over barriers.

Good luck for anyone attempting this, remember winter is coming in, and also check council laws for keeping poultry/foul in your town.

HTH

:bounce:

[Olly]

it is illegal in NZ to sell fertilized eggs for human consumption. Any eggs from the supermarket will be infertile.

If you want to hatch some chicks, buy fertile eggs from trademe.

On another note, a fertilized egg will survive a couple of weeks in the fridge before beginning incubation. This is because when a hen builds a nest, she will lay one egg per day, and only start to sit on the eggs once she has a full nest of eggs. this means that even though the eggs are laid over a couple of weeks, they all start developing at the same time, and as a result they hatch at the same time.

[HaNs]

I lol'd

[A-town...]

I lol'd

maybe it was a joke

but I highly doubt it :lol:

[alanmin4304]

My bird egg incubator turns the eggs about every 20-30 minutes and I can't imagine a free range egg producer running roosters as well because they would be feeding them for nothing. I came accross a guy years ago who produced duck eggs that had been incubated for 10 days. Big demand from people from Asia--Taiwan if I recall. Not for me thanks.

[sunrise001]

free range eggs are fertilised before they get to the super market you no wen you crack open an egg 4 breakfast and theres a whithe blob in the yolk that means it was fertilised trust me

[sunrise001]

also this has been reveiwed on target my aunty is conducting this expiriment and ill let u no if they hatch

[Carlos & Siran]

[repto]

not quite try there sunrise,the white blob as you put it is called the blastodisc?(from memory) and all eggs will have it.If the free range farmer has a rooster with his hens then they may have a better chance of being fertilised but this would depend how many hens are in the flock.Also as someelse mentioned it is ilegal to sell fertilised eggs?I don`nt know if this is true or not but if it is?

[sunrise001]

go to tvnz and watch the target episode about this

[BikBok]

free range eggs are fertilised before they get to the super market you no wen you crack open an egg 4 breakfast and theres a whithe blob in the yolk that means it was fertilised trust me

nahh.. both eggs have a white spot .. in a fertlised egg the spot is more round in shape..

[Carlos & Siran]

That's just the membrane, if an egg remains unfertilized it won't become a fetus....... in a fertilized egg that white spot will become a blood sack that is the fetus.

[repto]

do eggs from birds/reptiles have phoetuses or embryos?

[Jennifer]

Yes, and that 3mm blastodisc is there the sperm enters the egg. The blastodisc is present in all eggs if you look closely enough. It will be solid white if unfertile but when fertilised it will have a white dot in the middle with a transparent ring around it (kind of like a mini bullseye). Once they undergo incubation they quickly transform so that blastodisc turns into blastoderm, a larger circular area that has many blood vessels and that will form the embryo.

At any rate, you can try candling the egg to see if veins have formed (cover a torch with a piece of foil and pierce the foil with a pin, then turn the torch on and hold the egg up to it. In very basic terms, no veins = not fertile.

[Jennifer]

do eggs from birds/reptiles have phoetuses or embryos?

The term embryo refers to an early stage of development compared to foetus which refers to a later stage of development.

[repto]

thats good,at least you can spell it correctly?

[N1CK]

you ninja'd me jen :evil: now i need to think of something else to write

would you happen to have a link to so called episode of target?

and by white blob do you mean the litte squiggly thing beside the egg?

[BikBok]

and by white blob do you mean the litte squiggly thing beside the egg?

that little squiggly thing is different again.. it's not the white spot .. it's just holds the yolk in place and gets twisted when the yolk moves inside the shell.... and the fresher the egg , the more visible it is. It degrades over time.

[spoon]

i think i would be horrified to crack open an egg and find an half formed embyro inside it

[Ira]

i think i would be horrified to crack open an egg and find an half formed embyro inside it

Mmmm, Balut, Nom nom nom.

[diver21]

My bird egg incubator turns the eggs about every 20-30 minutes and I can't imagine a free range egg producer running roosters as well because they would be feeding them for nothing. I came accross a guy years ago who produced duck eggs that had been incubated for 10 days. Big demand from people from Asia--Taiwan if I recall. Not for me thanks.

i did a bit of work in a battery farm and noticed that occasionally one of the hens would take on more rooster characteristics, not shure if they can fully change sex or just have a bigger comb, colour up a bit and end up a bit bigger.

[Jennifer]

you ninja'd me jen :evil: now i need to think of something else to write

would you happen to have a link to so called episode of target?

:oops: Sorry Nick. No I don't have a link, but it is really distinctive. Crack open an egg and you will see the tiny white disc on the surface of the yolk. It is about 2-3mm in diameter and it is opaque. When it is fertile, the inside of the disc goes translucent except for the very centre which contains white dot. You can't miss it.

[Scottie841]

also this has been reveiwed on target my aunty is conducting this expiriment and ill let u no if they hatch

Please do let us know when they do not hatch