Backyard Poultry Forum

Hello,
This is most likely a silly question but I have a junior who has showed a few times. He has entered birds that are laying but we have never got any eggs at unpenning. Is there some place you have to go and collect them from generally? I had not really thought of it until the last show I looked around the shed and could not see any eggs anywhere and they just had a portable table at the entry no office or anything. As the show season starts this year I just was wondering what happens to the eggs.

I would hope people aren't taking them home and hatching them.

I know sometimes they may not lay but some have been left in a show for 5 days and they were laying in the portable cages the night before.

Good question.
Theoretically the eggs are the property of the bird owner. In practice, there are some people who will steal them. At most shows (and auctions) the eggs will be broken by the stewards to protect the genetics. Sometimes at auction, eggs will be cracked and left in the pen to prove that the hens are laying (however don't always trust this - I have seen vendors placing eggs in pens).
Serious showers will have had their hens kept separate from the males for weeks prior to showing to prevent feather damage - so any eggs laid are unlikely to be fertile.

The general practice is for stewards to collect and crack all eggs laid during a show.
These may be used for a BBQ during the show, distributed to volunteers or given to a local age care facility etc.
This is so no genetic material can be stolen and as has been pointed out many times the eggs are infertile anyway.
Any person caught stealing eggs or reported for doing so would be harshly dealt with by the club with severe penalties imposed.
It would not be uncommon to never be allowed to show again or even attend a show hosted by that organisation.
If it were a club member then likely they would be barred from the club membership for life.

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Malay Game specialist Std & bantam. Breeding since 1968, interested in breed since 1950's

you know those burgers/bacon sandwiches with eggs you get to buy at the show..........................

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Anconas, Silkies and Pekins Caladenia Cottage
Silkies
Wonderful Silkies

Thanks for that. I'm glad they are used for something good then. I hadn't thought about the infertile bit as my junior didn't separate his last year but something he will be looking at in the future when we build more pens. but that was waterfowl his roosters are much more violent with the hens.

Thanks again for curing my curiosity.

Good to know they go somewhere good

Thanks for that all makes sense now.

Thanks heaps

I think people worry too much about eggs are shows. People are not hovering in order to swipe eggs, and if anybody picked one up on the spur of the moment and thought hey I wonder if it would hatch it's hardly the end of the world. To be honest if somebody wanted fertile eggs from my birds and they were passionate about hatching them and I happened to have any there, I'd be glad to give them to them. I really don't understand any other approach.

I can tell you from experience what happens to the eggs laid at the Royal Queensland Show. As they are a nuisance in the pens when they break, they get put in a bucket on the egg competition table for display until too many accumulate. Everybody likes looking at eggs. Then when there are too many they go to the office until the day when the stewards auction takes place and a box of eggs gets sold for eating purposes and the proceeds are donated to charity. Usually someone wholly unconnected with the poultry competition takes them home for the kitchen.

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Backyard Poultry Forum

I have shown pekins years ago and their eggs were fertile as I was AIing some people do this to with certain breeds. Having said that I knew who was due to lay and who wasn't so I could keep an eye on them

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Breeder of Faverolles bantams, Dorking & dutch bantams.