Boiling eggs & torpedo butt??

[chinchilla.nikki]

Ok...this newbie has a couple more questions. Why do you boil eggs & what do you do with them after? What the heck is torpedo butt? How do you know if an egg is fertile? :confused:

[linda040899]

If you want to prevent an egg from developing, you can take and hard boil that egg for 2 min. and then return it to the hen. It can take up to a week before you can begin to see an embryo forming inside the shell. Hard boiling the egg doesn't destroy anything. It's simply prevention.

The term "torpedo butt" refers to the lump under the tail of a hen when she's in laying condition. The area behind the vent will swell and you can actually see the outline of an egg a couple of days before it's laid.

I use a Mini Mag flashlight to candle eggs in my nest boxes. If one is fertile, you will see red veining running through the center when you shine a light to illuminate the inside. In the early stages of development, you can actually see the little heart beating.