Are You Being Scammed by People Claiming to Hatch Eggs From the Grocery Store? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

My grocery trips have become notably more frustrating this year. The 15-minute walk to my supermarket of choice (Wegmans’ Brooklyn outpost) remains the same, and I still love picking out my weekly produce haul. But there’s a sense of dread as I approach the glass doors that shield the refrigerated cartons of eggs. Will they even have eggs? And if they do, will a dozen clean out my bank account? 

As someone who doesn’t eat much meat, loves the taste of eggs, and sticks to a budget, the soaring prices and empty aisles are disappointing, to say the least. I’m hardly alone in this struggle — many Americans face the same dilemma, and while I’ll personally be turning to beans as an affordable protein alternative, some content creators are offering more creative solutions — like hatching chickens from grocery store eggs.

Just two weeks ago, a TikTok user went viral for hatching fertilized chicken eggs that she purchased from Trader Joe’s. And she’s not the first to post a video claiming to hatch chicks from the very same kind of cartons. 

As someone who grew up not on a farm but next to one — and based on my own experience trying to incubate duck eggs as a child — this seemed far-fetched at best. But I’m not an expert, so I decided to consult one, and reached out to Dr. Mary Fosnaught. Fosnaught has a B.S. in poultry science and an M.S. and Ph.D. in poultry nutrition and serves as the extension associate for Poultry 4-H and Youth Development in the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at NC State University. Simply put, it’s her job to teach people how to hatch and raise poultry.

So, can you hatch eggs from the grocery store? The short answer is: Probably not. “Is it possible a free-range store egg could be fertile (if they have a rooster) and also hatch? Chances are remote, but possible,” Fosnaught explains. “Is it recommended to incubate grocery store eggs? No. Why go through the process of 21 days of incubation with eggs that most likely are infertile?”

Even in the case of Trader Joe’s fertilized eggs, which are labeled as such, Fosnaught still doesn’t recommend incubating them. “Eggs being processed for human food consumption are not being stored or handled in ways that optimize hatchability,” she says. This is because hatching eggs is more complicated than you may think: There’s a lot more to it than simply keeping them warm.

Here’s why you probably can’t hatch grocery store eggs, and what you need to know if you’re still tempted to try.

Most grocery store eggs are not fertilized

Hens do not need a rooster present to lay eggs. Consequently, Fosnaught emphasizes that the “majority of eggs grown for egg consumption are not fertile (no roosters kept with hens).” The poultry expert was even surprised to hear that some grocery store eggs were advertising fertile eggs at all. If you see anyone online claiming to have hatched regular grocery store eggs, with no label on the carton indicating that they were fertilized, it’s almost certainly not true.

Does that mean you can still hatch Trader Joe’s fertilized eggs?

This is where it gets more complicated. Trader Joe’s defines its fertilized eggs as “laid by hens in contact with roosters.” It is possible that these eggs will be fertile, but it’s not guaranteed that a rooster will fertilize every single egg. 

If you’re curious whether the eggs you’re eating are fertilized, all you have to do is look at the yolk. “You are able to get an idea of the fertility of the eggs you eat by finding the small white circle on the yolk,” Fosnaught said. Just crack an egg open, then look for a white dot on the yolk. If the white dot (called a blastodisc) is solid, the egg is unfertilized. If the white dot has an additional white ring (making it a blastoderm) around it, then it is fertile.

If Trader Joe’s fertilized eggs are actually fertile, then can you hatch them? Yes, you can try to, but there are a few other mitigating factors that make it unlikely they’ll successfully yield cute, fluffy chicks. It’s important to note that while these eggs are labeled as fertilized, they are not labeled as “fertile hatching” eggs. They are still meant for people to eat, and Fosnaught points out that “Eggs being processed for human food consumption are not being stored or handled in ways that optimize hatchability.”  

More specifically, these eggs are stored at too low of a temperature to be hatched, and it’s also likely that they’re too old to be incubated. If you want to find fertile eggs that make good candidates for hatching, Fosnaught recommends seeking out “Fertile hatching eggs from a breeder flock (hens and roosters kept for the purpose of producing hatching eggs), that are less than 10 days of age (hatchability rates decline as eggs pass the 10-day mark), that have been stored in ideal conditions (about 50–70℉) for hatching eggs (not in a refrigerator), and ideally from a breeder that is certified in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP).” 

According to Farmers’ Almanac, grocery store eggs could be up to 30 days old. Farmers have 30 days to get eggs into a carton, and from there, they have to be sold within 30 days of being packaged. Don’t worry, they will still be completely fine to eat (and if you’re concerned, just use the float test to check), but they are past Fosnaught’s suggested 10-day mark.

Then how are people hatching these eggs online?

It’s not impossible to hatch fertilized eggs from Trader Joe’s — it’s just very unlikely, even with a proper incubator. People who have posted videos of themselves hatching eggs from the grocery store may be the rare success story, or they could be faking it.

You can still try it out, and it could hypothetically work, but there’s a very high chance that it won’t — and considering the price of eggs these days, why waste them? Instead, Fosnaught says “Fertile hatching eggs can be purchased from hatcheries online and shipped.” If you’re incubating eggs for the very first time, you’ll need a bevy of information on how to do so correctly, and how to care for your chickens properly once they’ve hatched. 

“There are great resources for youth regarding 4-H Embryology; contact local county 4-H Agents for these materials. [NC State’s Poultry Extension] has a great deal of resources,” Fosnaught advises. “Also, hatcheries, feed companies, and incubator manufacturers have online resources.”