Chook Me!

Can an egg you buy from a grocery store hatch into a chick if you put it in an incubator even after being cold

Even if the egg has been fertilized, but it's been refrigerated. is there any chance of the egg hatching if you put it in an incubator and treat it as a normal egg? A FERTILIZED egg that is put in the fridge?

Public Comments

1. A fertilized egg is pretty finicky when it comes to temperature. If it's been in the fridge, a chick will not be hatching. I remember as a kid in school, we had an incubator to hatch chicks but there was a power outage over a weekend and no chicks hatched. Besides, most of the eggs that you find at your local grocery store have NOT been fertilized.
2. No. They are harvested without being fertilized. A fertilized egg, such as one you might buy fresh from a farm, will contain blood in the yolk from the embryo. Stores don't want to risk grossing out their customers.
3. The eggs you buy are "candled" to be sure they are sterile. A hen will lay eggs regularly even w/o the presence of a rooster. You can get fertilized eggs from your friendly farm bureau.
4. It will rarely hatch because most of the eggs bought from a grocery store are not fertilized eggs. Chickens can lay eggs even though they are not fertilized. BUT if the eggs is fertilzied by any chance, the cold temperature of the refrigerator will destroy the embroyo very quickly.
5. no, but rarley you can get an egg with a fetus in it. it dosent happen alot but it can
6. No, You need to have a rooster to fertilize the eggs to begin with. Chickens dont need roosters however to lay the eggs. Besides eggs you buy at the store are cold and that will prevent any embryo from forming even if you put it in an incubater after you get it home.
7. From my time working on a farm i would say its a big NO. once the egg has been taken away and is then refrigerated it will definatrely not hatch, please dont waste your time with it. However if a broody sulking hen will not sit on an egg, you can remove this gently and put under another hen i have actually done this with the desired result............................................................ Then i had it for breakfast......sorry but i did...!!! Good question.
8. If the egg is taken out of the nest after being fertilized the temperature will have a profound effect on the development of cells. Just like if you were to freeze a human you would not be able to thaw them out and get them to their original state because the colder temperatures screw up cell processes. Having said I sincerely doubt it would be capable of growth after such a harsh transition.