Incubating Eggs for Balut?

Hello everyone, no store near me sells fertilized duck eggs near me so I am doing Chicken Balut just for nostalgia sake, I use to eat them when I was a kid in the Philippines. I was wondering when to stop the incubation process because I have some 60 eggs in my DIY incubator, DAY 7 now, very healthy growth but I want to eat a couple. I have a very special type of balut which is there is barely any chick development but still a good balut. I do not know when to stop incubating if anyone can help it will be nice, THANK YOU

For a typical balut the duck eggs are incubated up to 17 -21 days. I don't know how much earlier the balut was that you're thinking of...
But chicken eggs develop faster than duck eggs. If you can remember what it looked like when you ate it you could look at a candling chart to see if you could figure out how many days to incubate to.

Isadora said:

For a typical balut the duck eggs are incubated up to 17 -21 days. I don't know how much earlier the balut was that you're thinking of...
But chicken eggs develop faster than duck eggs. If you can remember what it looked like when you ate it you could look at a candling chart to see if you could figure out how many days to incubate to.
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The chick didn't have any feather or bones, The guy selling it to me said 15 day old egg but I can do a couple of experiments of 15 days to 17 days I do not want to be that close to the hatching date I'd rather hatch it than eat it. Thanks for the reply. I will do a couple and see what they taste like if they don't taste like Philippine balut then I have to go and see if anyone in New Hampshire sells fertilized duck egg.

Chikenux said:

I can do a couple of experiments of 15 days to 17 days I do not want to be that close to the hatching

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Chicken eggs hatch at day 21.. if they're incubated at the correct temperature.



ETA: I used to not understand (and judge quite harshly) delicacies (as well as commonly eaten stuff) of other countries.. but now I understand that an animal is an animal in all it's forms.. while I may not find one preparation or another version appealing I do recognize it has a lot to do with familiarity and what I've grow accustomed to from the time I was very young. I hope you enjoy them and it sparks very fond memories for you!

Can't believe someone would do that.

But for helpfulness's sake...I believe it's 12-17 days, depending on how you like your boiled babies.

EggSighted4Life said:

Chicken eggs hatch at day 21.. if they're incubated at the correct temperature.

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ETA: I used to not understand (and judge quite harshly) delicacies (as well as commonly eaten stuff) of other countries.. but now I understand that an animal is an animal in all it's forms.. while I may not find one preparation or another version appealing I do recognize it has a lot to do with familiarity and what I've grow accustomed to from the time I was very young. I hope you enjoy them and it sparks very fond memories for you!

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Thanks for the chart, it looks like Im going to be stopping at Day 11 or 12 according to this chart. Much appreciated!

MottsHomestead said:

Can't believe someone would do that.

But for helpfulness's sake...I believe it's 12-17 days, depending on how you like your boiled babies.

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Yeah, I know how you feel I've seen people eat bats and other animals like monkeys. Thanks for the advice probably 12 days. also I've tasted Dog too and it was horrible, a group of drunk men in the street offered me one when I was 8 and threw up 2 hours later lol, fun times. btw dog almost taste like bear but bear is tastier than dog.

Chikenux said:

Hello everyone, no store near me sells fertilized duck eggs near me so I am doing Chicken Balut just for nostalgia sake, I use to eat them when I was a kid in the Philippines. I was wondering when to stop the incubation process because I have some 60 eggs in my DIY incubator, DAY 7 now, very healthy growth but I want to eat a couple. I have a very special type of balut which is there is barely any chick development but still a good balut. I do not know when to stop incubating if anyone can help it will be nice, THANK YOU

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I have a question. Do you boil them and eat them from the shell? I'm really just curious

Chikenux said:

Yeah, I know how you feel I've seen people eat bats and other animals like monkeys. Thanks for the advice probably 12 days. also I've tasted Dog too and it was horrible, a group of drunk men in the street offered me one when I was 8 and threw up 2 hours later lol, fun times. btw dog almost taste like bear but bear is tastier than dog.

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I haven’t eaten those but have eaten iguana and caiman.

Personally I think it is natural to eat herbivores and other omnivores below us on the food chain. It feels weird eating other apex predators but sometimes it is done if you live in the wilds of Alaska or something

I think balut is gross personally but I can understand why it is desirable to other people, part of their history and culture and one can’t really cry about ethics when we regularly dispatch newly hatched chicks either because they’re unwanted males or feeder animals etc. it’s probably more human to boil the embryo that’s less ‘aware’.

I imagine it is very nutritious. I feed my ferrets late quitters/accidental balut and they love it. It would feel wasteful to just throw them in the trash.

Chikenux said:

Yeah, I know how you feel I've seen people eat bats and other animals like monkeys. Thanks for the advice probably 12 days. also I've tasted Dog too and it was horrible, a group of drunk men in the street offered me one when I was 8 and threw up 2 hours later lol, fun times. btw dog almost taste like bear but bear is tastier than dog.

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My dad tried dog while stationed in Korea..I think he said it was called Kaogi.. probably spelling it wrong..balut is the one thing my dad wouldn't eat. But the kind he saw was developed further than day 12..... It's bad if my dad won't eat it. He was in the army 20 years and he will eat anything. I get that side of my eat anything personality from him.lol. You never know till you try it.