Is there anyway I can tell if eggs are fertile when buying them?

[Davaroo]

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This is an interesting point. I have myself have never bothered, although I have muddled about with sex-links in the past.
I would be curious to hear some long term results from such marking.

 

[SophieLain127]

Since I will be getting a few free eggs and paying for some from another person (three breeds in all) since two of them are the same color eggs I was thinking of marking them so I know which ones actually hatch and who they came from.

 

[Teach97]

i don't even mark when I put them in the 'bator!

pigeon folks claim to be able to tell fertile or not by looking at the shell...I can't

 

[Davaroo]

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In the old days it was common to nip out a bit of skin from between the toes, to produce a hatch "code." Right toe for this batch, left toe for that one, and so on.
As the birds grew, it was then easy to tell which hatch a given bird came from within a mixed flock. One could then determine the number of females/males, and figure backward to determine sex hatch rates, etc.

Its all rather arcane and out of fashion today, in the age of the hobbyist chickeneer, but it is interesting.

 

[Kittymomma]

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Thats interesting.
Personally, I wouldn't put too much stock in this, across the board. People have been trying to solve the fertile egg conundrum since the first chicken and egg question arose. If it were that simple, I reckon we'd have heard by now. But hey, you never know.

I suggest you study this further and keep us posted.

I read it on a website (will have to search again and see if I can find it). She even had pictures of the shiny egg vs the dull powdery looking egg.

So, far it's been acurate, but hey who knows. I'll keep testing the theory.

I have some hens that tend to lay more of the powdery eggs and others that never do. I'd guess that her roos favorite(s) are the powdery egg layers. I currently have seven (too many!!) roos with twenty hens and I haven't cracked anything open in months that hasn't been fertile--regardless of shell type.