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Trader Joe’s Customer Buys Fertilized Eggs and Shows How to Hatch Baby Chicks From Them
One TikTok user documented her decision to incubate the fertilized eggs, later showing off the eight chicks that hatched
By Charna Flam
Published on February 14, 2025 12:39AM EST

The California Home Wednesday, Feb. 12 TikTok. Photo:@thecaliforniahome/Tiktok
One Trader Joe’s customer has done the unexpected with her carton of eggs.
Rather than consuming them, she incubated the fertilized eggs. And a few weeks later, they hatched eight baby chicks. She documented the entire journey on the TikTok account called @thecaliforniahome.
The video opened with a shot of the fertile, cage-free eggs still in their cardboard Trader Joes carton and the caption “24 days ago, we bought these eggs.”
She explained that her family placed the eggs in an incubator for 21 days, posting video of her son and daughter looking at the incubator.
It followed with a shot of the hatched eggs and one of the chicks walking in the incubator. The video was captioned: “Almost all of them hatched…”
“And now we have 8 chicks,” she added in the next clip of her son playing with all eight of the chicks in their grassy lawn.
She concluded the video with a snippet of all of the chicks together in a makeshift coop. “No egg shortage here
“Thank you #TraderJoes
Although the user was eager to share the story, several TikTok users commented on the post saying they were grossed out by her actions.
“Now I can’t eat eggs,” one person wrote. Another added: “Stop, I’m literally never going to eat eggs again
“WHY are they selling fertilized eggs
“Hey so this is crazy,” added another user.

Despite some unfavorable responses, the grocery store and Backyard Chicken Coops confirm that consuming fertile eggs is safe. Fertile eggs are laid by hens in contact with roosters, the grocery store’s site says.

“There are no adverse effects from eating a fertilized egg, nor is there any taste difference. You can prepare and serve fertilized eggs just as you would unfertilized ones,” Backyard Chicken Coops’ site reads.
A representative for Trader Joe’s did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Thursday.