can a store bought egg hatch?

[animad]

i am wondering if a store bought egg can hatch because i remember my dad telling me a story about a five year old who hatched a chick from a store bought egg i am just wondering if this is actually possible or just a myth.

[ChuckFickens]

Most eggs intended for human consumption are unfertilised so no not normally and if you do get a fertilised egg then normally any refrigeration will stop an embryo developing anyhow.

So I guess if you did buy a fertilised egg and were to keep it in a warm place it would be possible, but very unlikely to happen

[wildwood]

When I was a youngster I worked on a chicken farm and yes, it is sometimes possible to get fertile eggs but it all depend what type of chicken farm the eggs come from, specially with the 'mixed sizes' cartons.

Ofcourse, any eggs from battery hens are not fertile but there is a proportion of general chicken farms who also produce fertile eggs for the chicken production. These eggs have to conform to a certain standard to maximise hatchability so a fair amount are rejected for the incubators. These are sold to egg distributors and may be mixed with other eggs from battery farms so you never know which ones are good.

Chicken eggs can be stored in a fridge for up to one week without losing their viability but at room temperature they last two weeks before the zygote starts to deteriorate.

[Illyria54]

Absolutely possible, a vast number of eggs for sale now are free-range and most free-range egg farmers run cockerels, so yes it is possible, if however as someone else has said, the eggs are kept refrigerated then this lessens the chance of any hatching

[blanx]

Have a look at this link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/664 3407.stm