My Home Ec/FCCLA/culinary arts teaching wife shudders when the idea of eating fertilized eggs is discussed. She prefers her eggs graded and candled.

You may like to read “Creativity in the Classroom” Liahona, Apr 1978. An excerpt:
“”Take the case of Brother Arvin, for instance. He was young, scarcely out of college. He was a mild-mannered and happy-go-lucky sort of fellow and was never known to have been very serious about anything before; in fact, he was considered to be the community jokester. It is little wonder that the Sunday School superintendency was a bit nervous about his first teaching assignment. Would he use his classroom to act like a stand-up comic and waste the precious and valuable time of his students? Would he study his lesson manual and be prepared to teach the precepts contained therein?

The fears of the superintendency seemed to be well-founded when Brother Arvin appeared for his first lesson with two large suitcases in tow. From past experience, they knew these leather-covered boxes could have contained anything from crumpled newspapers to a live snake.”"

I like unusual teaching aids and methods that bring doctrine and principles alive and interesting. Yet, in this day of flues, allergies, etc, we do need some restraint. I probably wouldn’t bring chickens into class; chicks, maybe.

God made animals for the use of man for food, clothing, etc. but He is displeased if we waste. See Animals in Encyclopedia of Mormonism with scripture ref’s ; Spencer W Kimball, Ensign, Nov 1978 {highly recommend reading this}

This scripture is supportive:
18 And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;
19 For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

At any rate, I would probably not eat the fertilized eggs, the thought of it just grosses me out too much, logical or not…

“Chickens: The only animal we eat before it’s born and after it’s dead.”

That one definitely made me think! But I don’t think it enticed me to stop in and pick up a diamond necklace from them.

I’m in the ‘I don’t need any more living things to care for’ boat.

I had a recent experience like this only with a stray cat in the neighborhood. I had no sympathy whatsoever for the creature, shooing it away mercilessly. My 8-year-old looked at me with her big, blue eyes and told me she felt uncomfortable when I did that, because she loves animals.

My neighbor had much more charitable thoughts in her mind when she called animal control. She actually cared about its well-being, where I was more about just getting it out of the way.

That said, with the eggs, I can’t say I wouldn’t have been tempted to let them try to incubate with the agreement that they would go directly to the pet store (provided the pet store would take them), or to the friends who already have chickens. (The chance that they would have died before hatching is probably pretty high anyway, right?)