I can't believe I'm even asking this but.....

[Hashette]

Next weekend I'm getting my first chooks, four ex-bats thanks to North London Hen Rescue as was. I'm stupidly excited, and as part of that I e-mailed everyone on the work general mailing list asking people to lend me pet carriers.

I suspect this is a big wind-up, but someone very plausible who doesn't normally take the mick told me that her dad used to keep chickens, and that if you incubate any egg properly, regardless of whether or not there's a male around, it will hatch.

Having done A level biology, albeit 30 years ago, I'm pretty sure this is total cobblers but she stormed off in a huge huff when I laughed at her, and several other people chimed in in support of what she was saying, so I finally left work not knowing what to think

Erm..... as I said in the title, I can't believe I'm even asking but

Do I work with a shameless bunch of wind up merchants and am I the most gullible woman on the planet, or is it humble pie with cream for me on Monday?

[digthatchick]

So ... what's it like being the most gullible girl on the planet??

[Snadger]

Us males do have our uses now and again...........and if you'll excuse a pun without a cock,................ you'll not get eggs hatching!

[digthatchick]

It needs to be fertile and if the hen has not been with a cockeral then there is no chance of eggs hatching. If however the eggs are fertile then incubating them within a week or so will give you chicks

[di]

I'd say you need to find a bit of time in your busy w/e to make some humble pie.....just make sure it's your workmate that aets it & not you!!!
That said I'm terribly sorry but you'll need to fight me for the title of most gullible girl in town!!Don't you just hate it when peeps make you doubt your own knowledge!

[BrideXIII]

well i must admit, i thought only fertalised eggs could hatch, now they are easy to tell apart if you cook with fresh chook eggs, they have a bloody bit in them, the others don't.
So i would think the answer is no.

certainly My late father always kept a cockerel, even though it was a vicious 'B' so that he could breed his chooks, I can assure you he wouldn't have if he could have done without.The daily battle of getting into feed them and then being chased out defending himself with the empty buckets from a rabid but very handsome sussex cockerel was not something he enjoyed ( although we all loved watching him run)

[MaureenHall]

Yes, course it's a wind up. Think about it, it's basic biology, the egg has to be fertilised to grow into a chick, so unless the hen has got both sets of "bits" then there's no way (even then I think it'd need to be a contortionist!). The person who said it and went off in a huff is the gullible one, not you

[di]

well i must admit, i thought only fertalised eggs could hatch, now they are easy to tell apart if you cook with fresh chook eggs, they have a bloody bit in them, the others don't.
So i would think the answer is no.

certainly My late father always kept a cockerel, even though it was a vicious 'B' so that he could breed his chooks, I can assure you he wouldn't have if he could have done without.The daily battle of getting into feed them and then being chased out defending himself with the empty buckets from a rabid but very handsome sussex cockerel was not something he enjoyed ( although we all loved watching him run)

Unfortunately tho...once cracked & you know a tad bit late to hatch!!!

[BrideXIII]

Unfortunately tho...once cracked & you know a tad bit late to hatch!!!

well yeah, frankly I dont cook with them either to be honest, I know they are ok, but i am a bit squeamish that way

I was just pointing out that there is a physical difference, so not just any egg can hatch.

[tony warner]

that made me laugh bridgetx111

[Hashette]

Thanks everyone. I mean I knew but it's hard to believe they kept it going until 5pm and beyond. The main wind up merchant was still doing a very good impression of nose-in-the-air-not-speaking when she left the office for the weekend

Unless she's *whispers* not very bright and/or even more gullible than me, which is a possibility I hadn't considered

I was going to circulate a link to this thread just to shut the lot of them up, but perhaps best not to on reflection!

[Stacey Steve]

Wonder if your work mate has a mulberry bush?

[Flummery]

Dim workmate? Good story! If it were true there'd be no need for cockerals.

[BrideXIII]

Dim workmate? Good story! If it were true there'd be no need for cockerals.

or men !

[Flummery]

Well, I was just talking eggs really. I quite like blokes, bless 'em!