How to Tell If Your Hens Are Laying Fertile Eggs

If you keep chickens and are intending to breed chicks, it's important to know whether or not your rooster is doing his job properly. It can take seven to 10 days for a cock's sperm to travel to the ovary where a hen's eggs are fertilized after mating and a further week for her to produce fertile eggs. Once this process is complete, you can check your hen's eggs for signs of fertilization.

Things You'll Need

  • Bowl
  • Spoon
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Allow your chickens time to mate. If you have only just introduced a rooster to your brood, allow at least 20 days until you check your hen's eggs.

    • 2

      Collect a selection of eggs from your hen's coop and take them inside to check.

    • 3

      Break an egg into a bowl making sure that you keep the yolk intact.

    • 4

      Move the yolk carefully with a spoon and look for a germ spot, which is a white spot on the yolk. If the germ spot is solid, the egg has not been fertilized. If there is a clear area in the center of the germ spot, the egg is fertile.