All About Eggs
Our breeding season is from Jan to May each year but inventory is always dependent on the whim of the hens and what they lay. We also sell eggs for eating and hatching (CA Egg Handler Permit #9967). Keep in mind, at this time, we only ship eggs and day-old chicks within the state of California. We prefer local pickup in Fresno, California. For more information about the breeds we carry, see the "Our Breeds" page. To see which breeds we currently have available, see "Chick Availability".
Fertile Eggs for Hatching:
Prices vary depending on breed. We do separate the flocks by breed at certain times of the year for pure bred chicks or specific cross-bred pairings (like olive eggers). Our most popular hatching eggs are Olive Eggers and Black Copper Marans. Please allow a few days for collection of eggs once you've put in an order. We want you to get the freshest eggs possible. We can not guarantee that every egg is fertilized or that every egg will hatch a live chick. We do check fertility and test hatch continuously throughout the year from these same eggs and have excellent hatch rates. You can see our Facebook page for videos about how we do this. However, we can not control how the post office handles eggs, the weather, your incubation techniques, nor incubators. Your hatch rates can be anywhere from 0% to 100% whether the eggs are picked up locally or shipped. Shipped eggs will almost always have a lower hatching rate than eggs that were picked up locally, usually in the 50% or lower range. We do not offer refunds for hatching eggs once they've left our property. Eggs are shipped in custom made foam shippers and sent via USPS Priority Mail with $100 of insurance. All packages will be marked "Hold for Pickup" with your phone number. Please be available to pick up your eggs from the post office 1-2 days after they are shipped. If eggs arrive broken or get lost in the mail, you are responsible for filing a claim with USPS to recover your losses with them. If you do not accept these terms, do NOT purchase eggs from us. For more information on incubation techniques and recommended equipment, see the FAQ section below.
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Hatching eggs for all of our breeds (see Our Breeds) are usually available starting in January of each year and ending in May. We do not recommend shipping or hatching during the summer as it routinely gets to 100-110 degrees or higher here where we are in Fresno. The heat means a reduction in egg supply as well as lowered fertilization rates due to less activity from the roosters.
Eggs For Eating:
Did you know that the average age of eggs at the supermarket is 8 weeks old???!!
We have both Washed/Refrigerated and Unwashed/Unrefrigerated eggs available. Eating eggs are $6 a dozen for mixed color eggs. No choice of breed or color for eating eggs. Most of these eggs are not fertile. All prices are subject to change at anytime.
In most parts of the world, eggs are not refrigerated. When a hen lays an egg, the egg is coated with a very thin covering called the "bloom" or the "cuticle". The bloom seals the pores in the shell of the egg where bacteria may enter. As long as this layer stays intact, the egg remains bacteria free. The bloom is lost if you wash the egg or scrape away the outer layer. Unwashed eggs are good out on the counter at room temperature for up to three months! They make lots of beautiful egg baskets and egg skelters which can display your beautiful eggs on the counter. Just wash the eggs before use.
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In the United States, government laws have forced many egg producers to wash their eggs for "esthetics" or to reduce salmonella. We believe this is done so that the big commercial egg producers can make more money because washed eggs spoil faster. Most people are use to the clean, washed look of eggs found in the supermarket. ONCE AN EGG IS WASHED, IT MUST BE REFRIGERATED. The loss of the bloom means bacteria can now penetrate the shell. Refrigeration keeps bacteria at bay. Remember that ONCE AN EGG HAS BEEN REFRIGERATED, IT MUST REMAIN REFRIDGERATED. Taking eggs out of the refrigerator and leaving them out on the counter, whether washed or unwashed, will cause condensation to form on the outside of the egg, which removes the bloom. This means the egg can no longer be stored on the countertop. Refrigerated eggs that are left out will start to go bad quickly.
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Note: We are a small family farm, not a big commercial egg producer. Our chickens are a hobby. We work regular jobs. Our 2 children, ages 8 and 12, do a lot of the egg collection and help in the hatching, raising, and care of our flocks. Therefore, eggs are not always perfect. Hens dust bathe in the dirt, stand in water puddles, and nap in the grass. They don't wipe their feet when getting into the nesting boxes. Some might decide just to lay an egg in the dirt. You may find eggs that have some dirt or are shaped differently. Some may even have a blood spot inside. Blood spots occur when small blood vessels rupture during the egg formation process. These things are completely normal and the eggs are safe to eat. We remove all eggs that are too stained or too misshapen. But, occasionally, a few may get past us. Remember our chickens are raised humanely and allowed to spend time out in the sunshine. For perfectly clean eggs, the commercial factories have their hens living in small, cramped cages stacked in a warehouse above the ground. The eggs are clean because the hens have no access to dirt, grass, sand, or even fresh air and are then washed to remove the naturally protective bloom. Consider this when you see some dirt on your eggs.
Frequently Asked Questions: Eggs
Do different colored eggs taste different?​
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No. You can not tell the difference between eggs of different shell colors when eating. At least, we don't, but many of our customers swear they can! Our customers also tell us that they notice a difference between fresh homegrown eggs and store-bought eggs. Store bought eggs are often 8 weeks old or more! You can also tell the difference in egg texture, color, and nutrition based upon the diet the hens are on. We do notice that the whites of our eggs are much less runny than those of the store-bought. The yolks are also a much deeper yellowish-orange. All of our chickens are on a diet that changes throughout the year based on their nutritional needs and the current weather. Are they laying heavily? Is it hot? Is it cold? Are they molting? We feed a 21% medicated chick starter called "Superc Chick" by Kruse Perfection Brand until 12-16 weeks old and then switch to a 20% all flock mini pellet called "Super Flock" also by Kruse Perfection. In the winter, their feed is supplemented with a whole-grain feed containing corn, black oil sunflower seeds, milo, wheat, oats, peas, safflower seeds, lentils, soybeans, and pellets. We also supplement with fresh vegetables from our garden, fruit, mealworms, oyster shell, yogurt, vitamins, electrolytes, and probiotics. They also have free range time to eat grass and bugs in the yard.
But what is the difference between the eating eggs and the hatching eggs?
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Hatching eggs are the best of the bunch. They are always taken from the freshest eggs, usually the ones laid within the past few days. If a person wants specific breeds of chickens, we will choose eggs from just those pens and label which is which. We will also candle all hatching eggs to make sure there are no cracks and the shells are strong. We will choose eggs that are not too dirty, not too large or small, and are from more mature hens for the best odds of a successful hatch. Hatching eggs are never washed or refrigerated. Eating eggs are a mix. Some eggs may be larger or smaller. Some may be shaped a little differently. Some may be double yolkers. Some will come from our pens that do not have a rooster so they are not fertile. Although still a beautiful mix of colors, most eating eggs will be from laying hens that do not meet the standard for egg color in our breeding pens. They are always a random mix match and we cannot tell you which pen they came from.
But what if I don't want to eat an egg with a baby chick developing inside?
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Actually, balut is a delicacy in some countries... JOKE! Eggs must be incubated to 100 degrees fahrenheit consistently for at least 3 days before you will see any sign of chick development. This only happens if a hen is sitting on the eggs or the eggs are placed in an incubator at 100 degrees continuously for at least 3-4 days. We collect eggs every day, sometimes multiple times per day, and all broody hens are removed from the nesting boxes so there is no chance of hens sitting on eggs. Fertile and infertile eggs will look and taste the same. Most will not be able to tell the difference.
Do you guarantee hatch rates with your hatching eggs?
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We guarantee that we will provide the freshest eggs with the best chance for hatching a live chick. We can not however, guarantee that all eggs are fertile or that you will hatch chicks from them. The only way to check fertility of an egg before incubation is to crack open each egg to verify insemination and then you'd just have scrambled eggs. Even fertile eggs can not be guaranteed to hatch a live chick. Hatch rate is dependent on the skill of the person doing the incubation, the incubator, temperature, humidity, sterility of the environment, etc... All things that are beyond our control once the eggs have left our property. For this reason, we do not offer refunds on hatching eggs once they have left our property. If you do not agree to this risk, then do NOT buy eggs from us.
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We do, however, routinely crack open eggs from each pen to make sure they are fertilized. We also do test hatches of all our pens regularly to verify that not only are eggs fertilized, but will hatch healthy chicks of the breed and conformation we expect from each of our pens. Our hatch rates here on the homestead are usually 85-95% depending on the breed, time of year, and age of the specific flock. We will not sell hatching eggs from pens that have less than 85% fertility. We will always work with our customers to replace hatching eggs if fertility is the issue. We are also always available for help and questions with hatching. We want our customers to be successful.
Which incubators or equipment do you recommend?
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We use the GQF Sportsman 1502 cabinet incubator for incubation and then hatch in the GQF 1550 Hatcher. We love these incubators. They hold temperature and humidity well and we can hatch up to 288 eggs at a time. For beginners, we recommend the Brinsea or GQF brand tabletop incubators. Both are good brands and have great reviews. We are not big fans of foam incubators as the temperature control is poor. But, they are affordable and would work fine for beginners who just want to have some fun. The MatiCoopX incubator from Amazon is also a good incubator for beginners. We have one of our own to hatch small batches and it has served us well. The important part is to have circulated air and the automatic turner so that you are not forced to turn eggs by hand. Hatching really is a science that is different depending on your eggs, the humidity in the air, and the altitude of where you live. We also use a GQF and Producer's Pride Battery Brooder to brood our chicks.
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How do you incubate eggs?
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First, you will need a good incubator. Hens will lay eggs with or without a rooster. However, you will need a rooster if you want to hatch eggs. The eggs need to be fertilized. You can also purchase eggs from local breeders (best option) or online and have them shipped. Hatching rates on shipped eggs usually run at about 50% or less and is highly dependent on how the post office handles the eggs. Be careful if buying eggs online using websites like ebay. There are many unscrupulous sellers. We've learned this many times over the years with sellers who knowingly send eggs that are not fertile, old or the wrong breed.
First, collect your eggs. Choose the eggs that have the best chance of hatching. Do not choose eggs that are too small (for the breed) or too large (like double yolkers). Even if they are fertile and develop, these are unlikely to hatch. Do not use eggs that have wrinkled shells or are lopsided. These are usually signs of disease or defects in the hen's shell gland which will mean her offspring may also lay lopsided eggs. White eggs and light brown or blue eggs are usually the easiest to see inside while candling. Dark eggs, like Marans, are often too dark to see inside, even with a strong candler.
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Set the eggs pointy end down in an egg carton or incubator egg tray on the counter. The pointy end is down because the air cell develops on the round end of the egg and you want the air to remain at the top of the egg. This air cell will hold the air that the chick will first breathe as it gets ready to break out of the egg. Make sure the temperature is not too hot or too cold. Room temperature (70-75 degrees has worked well for us). Allow the eggs to sit out for a few days before incubating. Fresh eggs do not hatch as well as eggs that are a few days old. This is because, in nature, the hen lays eggs for multiple days before sitting on them. Allowing the eggs to sit a few days mimics nature. If you have shipped eggs, you must allow them to sit out for at least 24 hours after receipt (pointy end down) and let the air cells stabilize before incubating. Some people choose to tilt the eggs from side to side by putting a book under one side of the egg carton and then switching every day or every 12 hours. We've found that this is not necessary. We just allow them to sit on the counter pointy end down. Make sure the eggs are not older than 10 days because this is when hatchability starts to decline. Most people recommend not washing the eggs before incubation. For small amounts of dirt, we do not bother to clean them. However, we've found that cleaning extremely dirty eggs with hydrogen peroxide has helped to increase the hatch rate drastically. If the eggs are very dirty, clean off the shell using a damp paper towel and then spritz with diluted hydrogen peroxide (1:1 ratio) or Oxine (dilute according to directions) if you have it. Let the eggs thoroughly dry. Candle all eggs in the dark to make sure they do not have any cracks before setting them in the incubator. Cracked eggs will rot in the incubator and will stink in a few days time.
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If your incubator has an automatic turner, turn it on and your job is 90% done. If you do not have a turner in your incubator, you will have to turn your eggs by hand. Turning the eggs makes sure that the embryo doesn't get stuck to one side of the egg and can move around as it develops. This is important at hatch because the chick will need to turn around to zip themselves out of the egg. To hand turn eggs, mark one side with an X and one side with an O. Turn them every 4 hours from one side to the other until lock down (day 18) or for at least the first two weeks.
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The incubator should be kept at a temperature of about 99.5-100 degrees Fahrenheit. We "dry hatch" which means that we do not add any water to the incubator. Even with no water, our incubators will have an ambient humidity of about 22%. If you live in an area that is very dry or at high elevation, you may need to add water to your incubator. "Lockdown" is done on day 18. You would take the eggs out of their incubating trays/turner and set them in hatching trays or in the flat bottom of the incubator with the trays removed, to prepare for hatching. It is called "lockdown" because you should not open up the incubator again until all chicks have hatched. When the eggs go on lockdown, we crank the humidity up to 65-70% and keep it that way throughout the hatching process. Most incubators will recommend keeping the humidity at 40-50% during incubation and then 65-70% during hatch. The actual humidity is not as important as what is happening to the egg. At lockdown on day 18, the air cell in the egg should take up about 1/3 of the top of the egg as seen using a candler or strong flashlight. When a chick is ready to hatch, nature will cause the chick to stop absorbing nutrients from the egg and instead, switch to breathing from the lungs, similar to humans. When respiration via lungs starts, this triggers the chicks to break out of egg. The aircell in the egg holds the initial air that the chick will breath when it switches to respiration via the lungs. If the air runs out (aircell too small) before the chick breaks through the shell, the chick will suffocate and die. If the aircell is too large, it will take up too much room in the egg and the chick will not be able to grow fully, or, it will not have the room to move around and zip itself out of the shell. This will cause the chick to get stuck in the egg and then, when the air runs out, it will also die. Aircell issues are one of the major reasons why chicks develop but do not hatch. The size of the air cell is controlled by humidity. Too much humidity and evaporation inside the egg is too slow. Too little, and the evaporation is too fast, meaning the air cell gets too large too fast. Monitor the size of your air cells at the top (round end) of the egg and make sure it is developing at a good rate so that it is 1/3 the size of the egg on day 18. If the air cell is getting too large too quickly, increase humidity. If it is too small, decrease humidity. If, at day 18, the aircells are still too small, even with a dry hatch, put the eggs in the hatching trays as you normally would, but do not add water yet. This happens if you have very large eggs or very dark eggs with thick membranes (Marans). Let the eggs continue to develop with no water until day 20 then add water and increase humidity in the middle of day 20 or as soon as you see the first signs of pipping. Doing this allows the aircell to maximize its size even while the chick is getting into hatching position.
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You should candle your eggs with a candler or a strong flashlight at different days during incubation. You will most likely not see any development in the egg during the first 3 days. By the end of day 4, you should see some veining in the eggs that are fertile. We recommend candling and doing your first round of removing eggs on day 4. Any eggs that have zero veining are not fertile and should be removed from the incubator and thrown away. We call these "yolkers". Any eggs that have developed but have "blood ringed" out should also be removed. These are called "quitters". A blood ring is very obvious and looks like a ring of blood around the egg with the rest of the veining missing or fading. You can repeat this process at day 7 or 10 to remove bad eggs. Leaving bad eggs in the incubator means you have a higher possibility of these eggs exploding. However, we have never personally experienced this.
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On day 18, you are ready to put the eggs on "lockdown". Candle the eggs and remove any bad eggs again. Take the eggs out of their incubation trays and set them sideways into the hatching trays. If you're hatching shipped eggs, it's better to hatch them upright in egg cartons. If the air cell of an egg is partially on the side of the egg, set the egg down with the air cell facing up. Then you close the incubator, increase the humidity to between 65% and 70% by adding water, and then do not open the incubator again until all chicks have hatched. If you are doing staggered hatches and setting eggs at different times in the same incubator, I recommend using a separate hatcher so that you can increase humidity in the hatcher without affecting the humidity for the rest of the eggs that are still incubating. A hatcher is simply another incubator that doesn't have the automatic turner. Make sure the floor of your hatching tray is not slippery (do not line your tray with newspaper). The floor of the tray must have traction. If there is no traction, the chicks will slip and develop splayed legs where their legs are outstretched. Fight the urge to open the incubator and pull chicks out that have hatched. Opening the incubator will cause a fast drop in humidity and may cause the egg membrane to shrink over chicks that have not yet hatched. Shrink wrapped chicks can not move and are unable to pip and zip themselves out of their egg. This will lead to a lot of chicks getting stuck and dying in the hatching process. On day 21 (give or take), your chicks will start to hatch. First, you will see little cracks (pip) in the egg and then the chick will slowly "zip" around the egg using its egg tooth to break through the shell in a circle around the egg. Once the first chick hatches, its peeping will stimulate other chicks to hatch. You will find that smaller eggs will hatch earlier while larger eggs hatch later. Nevertheless, all chicks should have hatched within 36 hours after the first chick hatches. If a chick does not hatch during that time frame, there is usually a reason: either the chick is unhealthy, is shrink wrapped, or has a genetic defect like crossbeak, curled toes, or malformed legs. Even if you help these chicks out of their eggs, they will mostly likely die or fail to thrive. If the chick is not almost completely out of the egg on their own after 36 hours, we cull the chicks here on the homestead. Our reasoning is that we hatch many, many chicks and it is nearly impossible to devote the amount of time and energy needed to care for one or two unhealthy chicks when we have to care for a hundred others. We also do not want to breed genetic defects or lack of vigor into our flocks. In our experience, these chicks have a difficult time surviving without 24/7 care because they will be picked on by other chicks or struggle to thrive and will most likely end up dying or need to be culled anyway. It's often a difficult decision to make but it's for the benefit of our flocks to keep the healthiest chicks and to not sell poor chicks to our customers. Things like curled toes or splayed legs though, are usually an easy fix if addressed right after hatch. All that is needed is some bandages to tape the toes straight or keep the legs together for a few days to allow calcification to occur in the correct position. Then, the bandages are removed and the chicks do just fine. If you find that the bulk of your chicks are hatching early or late, you may need to adjust the temperature of your incubator. Too high of temp and the chicks will hatch early and may be underdeveloped. Too low of a temp and it will take the chicks longer to hatch, in which case, they may be too large and do not have the room to zip around and peck themselves out of the egg. Always shoot for 21 days and titrate your temperature to hit that mark. Remember that even if your incubator says 100 degrees, it may not be exactly that since the outside temperature also affects what is going on in the incubator. Different areas of your incubator may also be off by a few degrees from where the temperature is being measured. Most incubators have hot areas and cooler areas and eggs will develop accordingly. If you move your incubator to a different location (i.e. dinning room to a garage), you may need to recalibrate your incubator.
Chicks need time to dry off and start to stretch their legs and walk around before being put into the brooder. If you do not allow them time in the incubator to do this, they may develop crooked toes, or have the remnants of the egg stick to their down. It will then be hard for you to remove it. Once all the chicks that will hatch have hatched, you can pull them out of the incubator, vaccinate and band them if wanted, and put them into your brooder. See our chickens and chicks FAQs for more info on the brooding process. We usually wait until the end of day 22 or a minimum of 36 hours after the first chick hatches to call the end to hatching. Any eggs that have not hatched yet are discarded. If you keep late-hatching chicks, their offspring will also most likely hatch late. Soon, you will have a flock with eggs that hatch over a 2-3 day period or longer, which is not ideal. The goal is to have all chicks hatch within a 24 hour period so that the process is not too daunting. Chicks only have enough food from absorption of their yolk to sustain them for 72 hours. If your hatching period goes beyond this, the first chicks that hatched will be starving and dehydrated. We sex, vaccinate, and band chicks right out of the incubator. They are immediately placed into an already warm brooder set at 95 degrees with chick starter and electrolyte water. We use a 21% chick starter called Super Chick by Kruse Perfection and mix a water-soluble electrolyte into the water (like Sav-a-chick Electrolyte or Rooster Booster Vitamins and Electrolytes). We then clean and sanitize the entire incubator and hatcher and the process will start all over again.