Lifestyle Food 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 Charna Flam Charna Flam is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has previously appeared on Variety, The New York Post, and The Wrap. People Editorial Guidelines Published on February 14, 2025 12:39AM EST 2 Comments 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…” Cardi B Nearly Vomits While Trying Balut, a Fertilized Duck Egg: 'Not for Me' “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 🐣!” she quipped. “Thank you #TraderJoes 🐣 How cute are these baby chicks?!” she concluded. 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 😭,” one wrote in the comments. “I’ve been eating these all week. “Hey so this is crazy,” added another user. Chicks emerge from incubated fertile Trader Joe's eggs. @thecaliforniahome/Tiktok Egg Prices Soaring at Your Grocery Store? It’s Because of Bird Flu Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 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. The chicks that hatched from fertile Trader Joe's eggs. @thecaliforniahome/Tiktok “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. Close Leave a Comment