Eggs

[bridget mc laughlin]

How do you know if eggs are fertilised and can you buy fertilized eggs on the net

[lynda66]

you can only tell once incubation starts, basically if a cock is with hens theres a fairly good chance ....... type hatching eggs into google, lots of people do them mail order, or theres usually a good selection of eggs on ebay

[Birdie Wife]

You can only tell for sure after about 7 days - it's fairly easy to tell by candling (holding a bright light up to the egg - like a torch - to see what's inside) at that stage. Fertility often drops off at the back end of the year so it's best now to wait until spring. Sending eggs in the post can affect hatchability even if the eggs are fertile so if possible, find someone local to you with hatching eggs and go and collect them. That said, if there's a particular breed you're after that isn't available locally than you'd have to get some eggs sent. There are often people on the poultry forums selling hatching eggs - some forums even have a dedicated section for hatching egg sales.

[Polly Fouracre]

Obviously when you buy hatching eggs you are buying a pig in a poke. They may be fertile or not, no-one, not even the seller can guarantee that.
Buy your eggs, wait and see and if it comes to naught, buy some more from somewhere else.
My son can test eggs with a pendulum and tell not only if the eggs are fertile but which sex they contain!!

[MaureenHall]

My son can test eggs with a pendulum and tell not only if the eggs are fertile but which sex they contain!!

I can do that as well. Used to breed and show exotic tropical fish years ago and it was sometimes the only way to tell if I'd got a male and a female to start a breeding programme

[Bephlam]

well when I get my eggs next spring you can do that pendulum thing with all of mine - any that you sense are male, I'll give to someone else - so I never ever have to do the dreaded deed!!!