➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[Crazydoglady99]

This is very good to know. That's the thing with bought eggs - who knows what the parent relation was?

I am equally fascinated seeing how everyone raises their quailies. Not because there is right or wrong, just different! Good different!

On an seperate note.. as each day passes I like my chickens less and less..
And my quailies more and more -they're just so darn easy! And really very sweet!

 

[RUNuts]

6 eggs in obvious drawdown. 4 I couldn't see the air cell. I didn't muck with them a lot. Just a little Kiki peek. Didn't see movement. Didn't feel movement. But I didn't hover either.

Forgot to add the water. Adding a bit more water to keep the humidity above 50%.

Popcorn tonight? Probably not, I'll cook turkey.

 

[Kiki]

6 eggs in obvious drawdown. 4 I couldn't see the air cell. I didn't muck with them a lot. Just a little Kiki peek. Didn't see movement. Didn't feel movement. But I didn't hover either.

Forgot to add the water. Adding a bit more water to keep the humidity above 50%.

Popcorn tonight? Probably not, I'll cook turkey.

They will hatch tomorrow.

 

[Kiki]

The eggs I ordered have just arrived

It's going to be quail central over here!!! (Assuming they hatch)
That would give me 3 unrelated bloodlines. edit - are y'all worried about inbreeding, or am I just being neurotic?

I haven't gotten that far yet.
I'll let you know what I decide when I do.

 

[RUNuts]

The eggs I ordered have just arrived

It's going to be quail central over here!!! (Assuming they hatch)
That would give me 3 unrelated bloodlines. edit - are y'all worried about inbreeding, or am I just being neurotic?

Nothing wrong with being neurotic. You'll fit right in.

Yay, more babies!

I don't think you're being neurotic. Coturnix in the U.S. at least are pretty inbred on average. Beak deformities pop up pretty quickly. Good to have a wide gene pool. My birds are from five different sources and I plan to buy from at least three more before I go closed flock and try to get NPIP. Although I kind of have partial crazy prepper motivations for keeping quail too so my plan is to be as close to indefinitely self sustaining gene-wise as possible.

For a guideline, how many generations before deformities and decrease of viable eggs? These are 3rd generations from breeder. Potentially more, but let's assume 3rd for my covey. @007Sean or @R2elk ? Care to give us a quick answer while we research or a quick rule of thumb? And attempt to understand.

I haven't gotten that far yet.
I'll let you know what I decide when I do.

Good news is yours are looking good and no issues are apparent. Keep the remaining 6 hens and Lucky the rooster. We may need fresh blood sooner than others. But until then, practice hatching & sharing recipes.

 

[RUNuts]

Inbreeding is real! I only allow a father to mate his daughters. Never his granddaughters. Brothers and sisters aren’t allowed.

Kiki is breeding brother to sisters - probable.
I'll have brother and sisters - confirmed from Lucky line. Following your statement, I need fresh blood sooner for replacement breeders.

Understand genetics, we don't want to reinforce negatives. Where did you get this guideline from?

 

[BullChick]

Kiki is breeding brother to sisters - probable.
I'll have brother and sisters - confirmed from Lucky line. Following your statement, I need fresh blood sooner for replacement breeders.

Understand genetics, we don't want to reinforce negatives. Where did you get this guideline from?

The voices.
I suppose brother and sister are better than father-daughter. My thinking had been that if the daughters look good, I am less likely to have issues if I keep the father, whom has been flawless for years, than a brother. I don’t think that I am unique in that my roosters do not typically stay around unless they are breeders. Therefore, any sons are likely to be gone before they hit one, let alone two. Before two, anything can come up that I didn’t realize was wrong with the son. After mating his sisters a few months, I can find he is a jerk to girls or humans. He might finish growing at two, and be stunted.

 

[R2elk]

Kiki is breeding brother to sisters - probable.
I'll have brother and sisters - confirmed from Lucky line. Following your statement, I need fresh blood sooner for replacement breeders.

Understand genetics, we don't want to reinforce negatives. Where did you get this guideline from?

Inbreeding and Linebreeding

 

[007Sean]

Your 3rd generation won't be throwing bad genes, at least not until their very old, then it's possible due to mutations to their DNA as the birds age.

Breeding brother and sister is not an acceptable practice. Father to daughter, Mother to son is done routinely. Then that offspring can be bred back to the original parent stock. In theory, there shouldn't be any genetic abnormalities but at the same time they can potentially show up at anytime.
With Coturnix quail, there's so many people raising them and those who have raised them, that even if you get birds from two different parts of the country, they may still be related.
There are quite a few threads on here about genetics and breeding. Just do a search, awhile back... I think on the Peafowl thread, there was a chart that showed what pairings should be done and which shouldn't. Doesn't matter that it was on the peafowl thread because it was basic concepts of breeding of genetic bloodlines.

 

[RUNuts]

Understood and thank everyone. I will ponder further and discuss with my egg supplier.

I don't see me keeping 5 pens. But between the breeder and I, we will get close. To our mutual benefit.