Chicken is a domesticated bird that belongs to the poultry family. It is mainly kept at home for its production of eggs and meat. It has unique features that can be used to differentiate it from other birds, for instance, it contains a comb and two wattles. The comb is always red at the top of its head, and the wattle is usually under the chin. These properties can only be found in male chickens. Male chickens (cocks) can produce unfertilized eggs, but not more than two.
When your chicken lays many eggs, you can identify all fertilized eggs by simply having a closer look at them. If there is a small white spot around the top of the yolk with a size of about 5 mm in width, the egg is fertilized. That spot is known as the germinal disc, which is how you tell if a chicken egg is fertilized.
How to Tell If a Chicken Egg Is Fertilized Without Cracking
You examine the egg for the germinal disc, a white spot floating above the surface; when you see any of this, the egg is fertilized, but when you don’t, the egg is unfertilized.
The process of determining whether an egg is fertilized is known as “candling of eggs.” It’s done by holding the egg to a light source to see the inside while ensuring you don’t warm it. When you don’t want to use a lit candle since it may warm your egg, you are allowed to use a small, bright flashlight. When you discover the white spot, it is probably a fertilized egg.
How to Tell the Difference Between a Fertilized Egg and an Unfertilized Egg
The only easy way to tell if an egg is fertilized is by observing it through a small flashlight or even on a lit candle, but you should refrain from warming it. When you see a white spot on the egg, that egg is fertilized, this process is called candling of eggs.
When the eggs are infertile, you will see the yellow yolk inside the egg without any signs of an embryo or a vein. Remember, the candling must be done almost three times. You can know if your egg is fertilized as early as 6–14 days after fertilization.
What Does a Fertilized Egg Look Like on Day 1?
You will see it clearly when you observe from an air cell, which you will see at the fat end of an egg, but as the days go by, like from days 2-3, the only thing you can see from a fertilized egg is a pale circle with another small circle in the middle, which is the yolk of an egg.
Note that the incubator can fertilize around 45-60 percent on a day of 5 eggs. Day 5 is when the eggs become a blastocyst. This is the number of fertilized eggs on day 5.
Does a Fertilized Egg Float or Sink?
Many people wonder whether a fertilized egg will float or sink. Well, a fertilized egg will float because a large portion of it is filled with air, and water has a higher density than air, causing the egg to lose weight and begin to float.
This method is known as the “egg float” test. This is how you can also tell if a chicken egg is fertile by using water.
How to Tell If a Chicken Egg Is Fertilized With a Flashlight
When you hold an egg up to a flashlight beam and see a dark spot in the middle with veins, it means the egg has been fertilized. This method helps people know how to tell if a chicken egg is fertilized without breaking it. If you are a farmer, then this is how to know if a chicken egg is fertilized.
If you can eat fertilized eggs, you can eat them while they are still fresh. There is no nutritional difference between fertilized and infertile eggs, so you can use them in your diet.
How to Tell If a Chicken Egg is Fertile Before Incubation
You can tell if a chicken egg is fertile before incubation by cracking and opening the egg and identifying when you see a tiny circle there on the yolk, then it means that the egg is fertile, but when you see that the germinal disc looks like a bright white spot, then probably, the eggs are infertile.
All unfertilized eggs will never be hatched, even if the eggs are incubated, because they are unable to develop a chick. Still, the fertilized ones will produce a chick under any circumstances. The only reason chickens lay infertile eggs is because the majority of the eggs have already developed, and chickens cannot know whether the eggs are fertile or infertile.
How Do You Know If an Egg Has Been Fertilized After Ovulation?
You can know if an egg has been fertilized after ovulation through a home pregnancy test. Some pregnancy tests can detect HCG from day 5 to day 7. HCG is a pregnancy hormone found in the blood after implantation. Within 24 hours of ovulation, the sperm fertilizes the eggs, allowing conception.
