Float Testing, Checking Egg Viability For Late Or Overdue Hatching

I must unless one of my females is really a male...

Invision said:

I must unless one of my females is really a male...

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are these quail or chickens?

Invision said:

I must unless one of my females is really a male...

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All joking aside, I have ran into the same surprise with hard to sex varieties of quail and chukar. Sometimes it's very hard to be 100% sure on sex in a community pen. To add to the problem, the lesser males will rarely crow or attempt to mate in the presence of the top roo. But once the top bird is out of the picture, "number two" will step up and answer natures call if you will... While a few Coturnix eggs will be viable after 10-14 days, odds are against it. As a egg sits, it degrades at a very predictable pace. After 10 days or so, it may develope and even hatch. But this is where you start seeing chicks that fail to thive and just die after a short week or so..... Many posts are made about folks that seem to be doing it right and still chicks "just die"..... Old or poorly held eggs are often the root cause... Have a good weekend... Bill

Yeah I've got to decide tonight what eggs I want to try to hatch and which I'm going to use. I got about 40 eggs(mostly yard chickens, 7 duck eggs) two nights ago but my mail order chicks came in today and I put the more lethargic ones in my brooder so I could keep close watch. My first batch eggs I started in a still air reptibator instead of brooder and after 2 days(when I bought auto turner) I ended up moving them to the brooder with turner because I couldnt get temps to stay above 93-95 in reptibator.

Some of these eggs are marked 9/23-9/24, I decided to use a few of those, check fertility...Out of 4 it looked like 1 dud, 1 with blood spot, and 2 fertile. And the same lady nearby says she has 18 more duck eggs for me, the first 7 had been in fridge overnight because she said no one asked to buy them but I read some would still hatch. <.< Hubby wants some ducks so...decisions, decisions. I've had them at room temps turning them for 2 days now.

Time to set up my avi-quarium lid(its like a heat panel top for 10 gallons, I've used it for parrots) as a "hospital" brooder maybe, I'm keeping it a few degrees warmer in there than the tub brooder the remaining chicks are in but it has a more stable temp since its enclosed which I felt a lethargic chick would need.

what if they sink and stand at the bottom of the container with the narrow end downwards and the wide end upwards?

Jededia said:

what if they sink and stand at the bottom of the container with the narrow end downwards and the wide end upwards?

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Means they are very fresh eggs. The longer an egg sits the larger the air cell becomes causing it to float.

but its been somewhere around 20-25 days......... what happened is that the ducks were removed from their cage where the eggs were kept , due to one one them getting ill.

and three of them are black from the inside which makes it really hard to candle them

I just tried this test. Unfortunately 15 out of 16 eggs went straight to the bottom of the bowl.

Beshort2 said:

I just tried this test. Unfortunately 15 out of 16 eggs went straight to the bottom of the bowl.

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um just a thought. if they have internally pipped the air pocket is gone and the eggs would sink. I really do not understand the float test. candling them is so much more telling.