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Bad Eggs

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Bad Eggs

Postby badegg on Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:37 pm

I understand that chickens lay eggs. Fertilization occurs if a rooster impregnates a hen. The hen lays eggs regardless of whether the egg is fertilised or not. Eggs which have been fertilised hatch to become chicks and those that haven't are generally eaten.

Three questions keeping me awake at night:

1. Do chickens know which eggs are fertilised and which ones aren't?

2. Do farmers know which eggs are fertilised and which ones aren't?

3. If a chicken broods on an unfertilised egg it apparently eventually gets bored and then leaves it. If no person removes the egg what happens to it? Does it decompose?
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Postby MrMistery on Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:56 pm

1. No, where would they know from?
2. From what i know, no. They try to increase the chances that the eggs will be fertilized. for example, my grandmother used to put one hen and one rooster alone in a cage and only collect those eggs for hatching.
3. after a long time, i suppose it will.
"I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I want to understand the universe and answer the big questions, that is what keeps me going" - Stephen Hawking
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Postby badegg on Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:18 am

Thank you mister cheese.

Any idea what a decomposing egg looks like and how long it takes to rot or do I have to perform my own experiment?
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