Hello!
This is Ito from the livestock department.

Customers often ask us if chicks can hatch from old eggs.
In fact, ``old eggs'' are fertilized eggs, which are produced when a rooster and a hen are left to roam together.
Unlike unfertilized eggs laid by chickens kept individually in general cages, these eggs are full of life energy and have a high chance of hatching into chicks.
This time, we will explain how to hatch fertile eggs.

First, it must be kept warm for three weeks at a temperature of around 38 degrees.
In that case, the chicks will not hatch unless there is a certain level of humidity.
It is also important to roll the egg from time to time. This prevents the embryo from sticking to the eggshell.
Since it is difficult to hatch chicks manually like this, there is also a method of hatching them using a machine called an incubator.

The chicks born this way are very cute.

This is what it will look like when it gets a little bigger.

``Old eggs'' are delicious to eat, but if you keep warming them, you might end up with chicks like this.
If your family can keep chickens, why not give it a try?

Livestock Department Hiroki Ito