Fertilizing Eggs Timeline?

[Jan336]

I have recently got 2 new black sex link hens that are laying. My rooster is now a happy man.

When I got the hens, they were already laying. The eggs are not fertilized. I want chicks. My question is how will I know if the eggs they are producing are fertile chick eggs? Is there a timeline? Also, this new hen is not sitting on her eggs. I think she is used to them being collected. If my rooster and her mate (I think so already) how long does it take for a fertile egg to be produced? Will she sit on those? And finally, my hen laid 2 eggs today. I left them. How often should they be collected? How will I know not to collect a possible fertile egg? Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Assuming that the rooster is mating the hens (a given) the eggs should be fertile in 3 days. Not all hens go broody. If your hens are sex links they are less likely to go broody than many other breeds because they have been selected and bred for egg production-not broodiness. There is no reason to not collect fertile eggs. They are as good to eat as non-fertile eggs. You can place some golf balls in the nest so that the hens think eggs are present, and that may help inspire them to go broody. Just be aware that the hens that you have may never go broody and enjoy them for what they are. Time to get a small incubator?

 

[TinyBirds]

If you're currently eating the eggs, you'll know they're fertile once you see the little white spot appear on the yellow yolk part of the egg inside. There are pictures on-line somewhere to show what it looks like, but once you see it you'll know what to look for. We have over 50 roosters, so it's been awhile since I've seen what a non-fertilized egg looks like! Don't worry for our hens though, 33 of the roosters are in a separate part of the property in "rooster-ville" so they don't bother the girls - otherwise the hens would ALL need aprons and mini-stun-guns. If the hens are getting overloaded by the boys, they give me this "please help me" look and I know it's time to move more roosters to rooster-ville.

 

[Judy]

How to tell if an egg is fertile, from a sticky in the beginning of the incubating eggs section:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

And all about broodies:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

I'm afraid if you want to hatch under a broody, you'll most likely have to get another breed of hen, or get an incubator.