Float Testing, Checking Egg Viability For Late Or Overdue Hatching

[nadrojsack]

day 24 of Courtinix quail hatch, i have eggs left that float like viable eggs. any suggestions? should i assume dead and start my next batch. thanks

 

[dc3085]

At day 24 I would throw out all eggs. Anything that might hatch will not be properly developed. If you keep track over a year of all the birds that dont hatch easy and on time, you'll find a lot them were culls.

Honestly float testing like this is something best done as a learning experiment, or done to expensive or rare eggs that are overdo.

Hatching is a chicks first encounter with Darwin, the strong ones make it. What I would do in your situation is open each egg and find out what state of development the eggs made it to or stopped at. If you want to you can PM me pictures of what you find in the eggs and maybe and I can be a little more helpful.

Check your incubator thermometer with at least two others every time your run it, to ensure your temperature is set at the right temp and not based on an inaccurate thermometer. Open the door as few times as possible until you are removing dry chicks.

 

[ChickenD7]

We have eggs that should have hatched yesterday (day 21 by our calculations). We are anxious to have chicks, but realize that we may have none or just a few hatch. Our eggs are NOT in an incubator, but instead are being cared for by our broody hen. I'm a bit nervous about disturbing her to check the eggs because we don't want her to abandon them. I'm fairly certain there are some stinkers in her clutch, though, because when she moves around to adjust the eggs we are able to smell the stench. We live in Tennessee and are currently experiencing freezing weather/winter storms with temperatures in single digits and negatives. We've considered moving her inside to one of our bathrooms, but again we're are scared she'll neglect the eggs. What would you suggest? If we try to do the float test, do you think she would abandon the eggs after we've disturbed them this late in the game? Will she put them in the correct position for the chicks to hatch/pip after we return them to the nest? Should we move her inside to help keep her and the eggs/chicks warm? Should we even try to remove the rotten eggs at this point in incubation (day 22) and take a chance on disturbing mama hen and damaging potential chicks by moving eggs? Or should we just leave well enough alone and let nature take its course? This is our first hatch and we're hoping for lots of chicks!!

Thanks for you help.

Chicken D7

 

[Invision]

I tried this float test with an egg that was 2 days prior to hatching, (just as a test) and I ended up killing the baby... it sunk to the bottom in nothing flat... but the other 3 eggs were wiggling like crazy. I opened up the sinker and sure enough there was a baby moving around... From then on I will not be doing float tests....

 

[dc3085]

If she's sitting on coturnix eggs and she's on day 21 i'd only give her another day or two then toss them all. It is possible that temps were low or due to her feeding and the eggs cooling, that they'll take a little longer than 17-19 days. When they hatch you will need to remove them immediately to a 95* brooder. Even bantams easily squish baby quail to death getting on and off the nest.

In the future you should try to limit any contact between quail and chickens. Chickens have a very strong immune system and are very resistant to many poultry diseases. You have no way of knowing whether or not your chickens are infected with any of several commonly transmitted diseases (most can't be accurately tested for, have no cures, or vaccines). Quail have none of those resistances and something that may cause few or no problems in chickens can cause complete mortality of a quail flock. Pigeons and doves are a safer choice if you don't want to use a bator. Also they won't squish the chicks when they hatch like even bantams will.

Regarding broodies usually the hardest thing is STOPPING them from sitting eggs. You don't have to be too concerned with disturbing her. The "don't touch the eggs or chicks or the mother will abandon them" thing isn't true for a lot of birds. If you're careful most domestic birds couldn't care less if you disturb their nests.

 

[gaiamethod]

I did this float test this evening with hens eggs and according to the test my two remaining 40 day old eggs are viable! Now this is possible as one of those chicks, which we put under the Muscovy hen, hatched only yesterday!!! How, I have no idea! We did have to help it but now it is running around the brooder with its siblings which were put under the Muscovy duck on the 4th and 6th of Feb!!! They all hatched today, the 3rd of March! Three Pekin duck eggs, which were put in on the 4th and 6th of Feb too, are now hatching although one of them hatched on the 1st march, 3 days early!! She too is fine and running around and stuffing her little face!!!
But one, which showed in the test as viable rattled! So now I'm not sure. What if they only died in the egg, in the last couple of days and there is air in the air bag, making them float as though they were viable but which were actually not! I'll let you know in a few days if they hatch or not! It will be interesting to see. Nothing is normal in this hatch, although it is my first time hatching with a Muscovy and we do live in Egypt!

 

[Fat Daddy]

I did this float test this evening with hens eggs and according to the test my two remaining 40 day old eggs are viable! Now this is possible as one of those chicks, which we put under the Muscovy hen, hatched only yesterday!!! How, I have no idea! We did have to help it but now it is running around the brooder with its siblings which were put under the Muscovy duck on the 4th and 6th of Feb!!! They all hatched today, the 3rd of March! Three Pekin duck eggs, which were put in on the 4th and 6th of Feb too, are now hatching although one of them hatched on the 1st march, 3 days early!! She too is fine and running around and stuffing her little face!!!
But one, which showed in the test as viable rattled! So now I'm not sure. What if they only died in the egg, in the last couple of days and there is air in the air bag, making them float as though they were viable but which were actually not! I'll let you know in a few days if they hatch or not! It will be interesting to see. Nothing is normal in this hatch, although it is my first time hatching with a Muscovy and we do live in Egypt!

Excuse me, Please dont take this wrong, but feb. 4th to today march 3rd is 27 days....floating eggs can give you an idea how fresh the egg is, or a easy way to detect movement inside. The egg floating only means there is air in the eggs, not that this is to taken for signs of life..... the only thing the float test can show you is if the egg wiggles while floating in the water. A chick inside has to move before the egg will wiggle.... check out this video from Moby...... only the egg that is moving are we sure has a living chick.....

 

[Dessy]

Ok, I'm on day 25, 2 of my eggs have hatched one has not, so on this advice I did a float test on the egg. when I candled it this is how it looks:

however on doing the float test it sunk straight to the bottom of the tub:

 

[Fat Daddy]

Hi Dessy, IMHO your egg wont hatch. It looks like from the pic that the egg is dark, indicating a developed chick. The fact that it sinks says there is not enough air in the shell to float it. This could happen for many reasons. A crack, ruptured air cell, too much humidity during incubation, malformed egg to begin with, ect.... If you feel you must open the egg. Be careful how and where you do it..... If the chick inside died earlier than I think, it could have spoiled and built a bit of pressure by now. Sometimes they "pop" and make a mess,.I would put it in the trash, call this hatch over with your two chicks, and start planing what you will hatch now! Good luck, Bill

 

[Dessy]

Hi Bill, thanks for the advice , will proceed with caution x