# Why fertile chicken eggs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638 "2014-03-13T20:14:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/21 "2014-03-14T14:05:41Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Hens do not lay more regularly with a rooster. In fact they might be more stressed and lay less. Roosters are horndogs that never leave the hens alone, by and large. Right now I have a (borrowed) rooster because I am hoping one or more of my hens will set a clutch and raise some chicks for me. So far no one appears interested, even the ones who set last year. > > There is no other use for a rooster except soup, and a wake up call in the morning if you like getting up before dawn. > > The blood you sometimes see in an egg has nothing to do with fertilization, it’s a teeny burst blood vessel in the egg development process. > > Fertilized eggs, what a crockobaloney. > > edited to add: actually roosters are pretty and you can use their hackle feathers for fly tying. So I lied. How do you tell the difference between a fertilized and a non-fertilized egg? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/22 "2014-03-14T15:24:45Z")
Sit on it ? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/23 "2014-03-14T15:32:17Z")
Candle it. (I don’t think anyone uses candles anymore, but that’s still what it’s called when you shine a bright light behind an egg.) [Fertilized eggs look opaque.](http://www.localharvest.org/blog/26992/entry/facts_about_fertilized_chicken_eggs) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/24 "2014-03-14T15:43:59Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, I mean, it comes out of a chicken’s arse. Ewww. Edith Bunker: I asked Archie if he wanted me to make him a tongue sandwich for lunch. He said he didn’t want to eat anything that had been in a cow’s mouth. So I gave him hard-boiled eggs instead. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/25 "2014-03-14T17:33:02Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > but hen period is okay?:eek: Gotta draw the line somewhere! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/26 "2014-03-14T18:46:28Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Personally, I like my eggs sans rooster jizz. Ewww. I don’t think there’s anything egg-related that doesn’t evoke an “Ewww.” Back in the 50s, when some of us bought eggs directly from a farmer, my aunt cracked open an egg and a partially-formed chick plopped out, right into her frying pan. She was totally panicked, and ran outside and down the street, screaming in her underwear. Of course she neglected to turn off the burner, so returned to a smoky house and a charred chick to contend with. Everyone teased her about this, to her dying day. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/27 "2014-03-14T20:47:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Candle it. (I don’t think anyone uses candles anymore, but that’s still what it’s called when you shine a bright light behind an egg.) [Fertilized eggs look opaque.](http://www.localharvest.org/blog/26992/entry/facts_about_fertilized_chicken_eggs) Years ago a restaurant in downtown Chicago had 2-yolk eggs. I do not know if that restaurant is still there and if it does, if it still offers 2-yolk eggs. But the only way they can tell if they candle it. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638/28 "2014-03-15T07:17:31Z")
You really don’t want to eat an egg that’s got a developing chick in it. The farmers in this thread all know what’s inside a developing egg. The city greenhorns might not, unless you did that project in your high school biology class. We incubated a bunch of fertilized eggs, opening a few every day to see what was inside. The inside of a developing egg is gross and disgusting. As the chick develops from the albumen, it eats the yolk for its food. And it produces waste products, which have nowhere to go but to accumulate inside the egg. So as the chick develops, the inside of the egg also accumulates chicken shit. Crack open such an egg and pour the contents out, and you get a slimy mixture of the chick, the remaining albumen, the remaining yolk, and the accumulating chicken shit. Bon appetit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-fertile-chicken-eggs/683638.md?page=1)