Candling...good or bad? (Button Quail)

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I noticed a lot of them have cracks in them... Most people would suggest to dump those (I've never incubated eggs before, but I have candled my quails' eggs). The room has to also be pitch black. In the fourth picture there seems to be some veins, but it might be a blood ring. It's hard to tell... I also noticed you are candling them at different angles. On the larger end you should see a bit of a glow, or an air pouch. When chicks are fully developed, the rest of the egg will be dark and no light will shine through. You could try the float test, and get rid of the ones that sink all the way or float really really high. But then the water might get into the cracked eggs... I'm not sure if cracked eggs can hatch, you'd have to ask someone else for that answer. I hope you do have some alive eggs, as it is a great experience to watch them hatch! Good luck!
 
Shellybean02 said:
I noticed a lot of them have cracks in them... Most people would suggest to dump those (I've never incubated eggs before, but I have candled my quails' eggs). The room has to also be pitch black. In the fourth picture there seems to be some veins, but it might be a blood ring. It's hard to tell... I also noticed you are candling them at different angles. On the larger end you should see a bit of a glow, or an air pouch. When chicks are fully developed, the rest of the egg will be dark and no light will shine through. You could try the float test, and get rid of the ones that sink all the way or float really really high. But then the water might get into the cracked eggs... I'm not sure if cracked eggs can hatch, you'd have to ask someone else for that answer. I hope you do have some alive eggs, as it is a great experience to watch them hatch! Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you!
hugs.gif

I am pretty optimistic about the cracked ones, the cracks can be hardly seen when I am not candling them, and when I turn them I try to keep my fingers away from the cracks to try and avoid them dying.
 
I do know that button quail eggs have layers. There is the shell, then a layer of skin, and the chick inside. Therefore the chick might be alive. The only problem is that the layers are likely for temperature management and/or prevention from bacterial infections, so the chick might be more vulnerable to suffering from temperature fluctuations and bacteria. I will still have my fingers crossed for you and the eggs. Let us know how it goes in two to three weeks. And speaking of which... do you know how old the eggs are? It would seem as if they are at different points in development.
 
Shellybean02 said:
I noticed a lot of them have cracks in them... Most people would suggest to dump those (I've never incubated eggs before, but I have candled my quails' eggs). The room has to also be pitch black. In the fourth picture there seems to be some veins, but it might be a blood ring. It's hard to tell... I also noticed you are candling them at different angles. On the larger end you should see a bit of a glow, or an air pouch. When chicks are fully developed, the rest of the egg will be dark and no light will shine through. You could try the float test, and get rid of the ones that sink all the way or float really really high. But then the water might get into the cracked eggs... I'm not sure if cracked eggs can hatch, you'd have to ask someone else for that answer. I hope you do have some alive eggs, as it is a great experience to watch them hatch! Good luck!
Click to expand...

Update: One was cracked and I could tell by the second candling so I discarded it, one cracked one (A small crack) might be growing though! (50 to 50 chance) I am surprised and happy if it does continue and hatch. I wish I got pictures. Sorry for no response for a while!
I also can't really tell what stage they are at, the eggs are not pitch black, but to a point where they are so dark a embryo could not be clearly seen!
 
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As long as the darkness in the egg is accompanied by a small air pocket on the large end of the egg, they are very likely viable. Keep updating so we know how everything goes! My button chicks are getting their feathers already ^.^
 
Dark is good in my limited experience. The ones that glow are infertile, and the ones with cracks will start smelling bad and possibly explode before hatching. I don't think you can see veins in button quail eggs, but if they are dark they might be good; later on they develop a light cap on the big end that gets bigger and bigger if they are developing. Most of your eggs look bad to me.
 
TheNeonPanther said:
Thank you!
hugs.gif

I am pretty optimistic about the cracked ones, the cracks can be hardly seen when I am not candling them, and when I turn them I try to keep my fingers away from the cracks to try and avoid them dying.
Click to expand...

Cracked eggs will develop but the problem is they dehydrate way to fast and end up dieing towards the end... that's why people toss them because their just wasting time, you may get one or two to hatch from the cracked ones but it's unlikely
 
No hatch this time, I did get some chicks and a young adult though from another breeder. The young adult appears to be a darth vader hen while the one I already have looks like a male tuxedo. (Crowing, red feathers near vent.) If the introduction goes well, which I have a feeling it will, there should be another hatch, this time with better eggs and a better incubator. For now I have them so they can see eachother, the young adult freaks out when it can't see mine and mine does the same.
Thank you for all your help though, everyone! I think my incubator may killed them off sadly.​
 

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