➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

Quail hatched on 13th (1 day early) and 14th of July.
Set 56 eggs, on 26 June. Determined by 6th July that 21 were definitely infertile and removed them. That left 35 eggs incubating. Of these, 23 hatched by end of the day, 14th of July. 2 pipped but didn't zip, and died in their shell (eggcropsy showed that both were fully developed, but one had a lot of green watery goop in bottom of its shell, other did not have this watery stuff). Of the ten remaining eggs, I did an eggcropsy at the end of the day, 15th of July, and discovered that these eggs appeared to have started development, but quit very early in the incubation process. The contents of the egg was predominantly albumen and broken egg yolk looking stuff. None of these final ten eggs contained any tissue that resembled a developing embryo, but because these ten all had what seemed to be broken egg yolks and I've never seen an eggcropsy with that result before, I'm assuming that they started to develop and for whatever reason, quit.
Would appreciate insight as I'm still learning.

In other news, I set 32 eggs today. My quail have been off-lay since I did a deep clean of their homes and have only started laying again these past couple days. Strange, I gave them some minced lettuce a few days ago... I'm guessing that they accepted my peace offering and are now laying again :D
 
Quail hatched on 13th (1 day early) and 14th drivesdk

Set 56 eggs, on 26 June. Determined by 6th July that 21 were definitely infertile and removed them. That left 35 eggs incubating. Of these, 23 hatched by end of the day, 14th of July. 2 pipped but didn't zip, and died in their shell (eggcropsy showed that both were fully developed, but one had a lot of green watery goop in bottom of its shell, other did not have this watery stuff). Of the ten remaining eggs, I did an eggcropsy at the end of the day, 15th of July, and discovered that these eggs appeared to have started development, but quit very early in the incubation process. The contents of the egg was predominantly albumen and broken egg yolk looking stuff. None of these final ten eggs contained any tissue that resembled a developing embryo, but because these ten all had what seemed to be broken egg yolks and I've never seen an eggcropsy with that result before, I'm assuming that they started to develop and for whatever reason, quit.
Would appreciate insight as I'm still learning.

In other news, I set 32 eggs today. My quail have been off-lay since I did a deep clean of their homes and have only started laying again these past couple days. Strange, I gave them some minced lettuce a few days ago... I'm guessing that they accepted my peace offering and are now laying again :D

You didn't see any reddish specks in the cracked open eggs?

If you didn't see anything then they were probably not fertile.
I think they get yucky like/broken yolk just from sitting in the incubator so warm for so long.


The green crap...was it like mine green thing? (I'm looking for the pic now)
Or was it a really earlier pooper. First poops are green.


Screenshot_20190715-180344.png

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Df8GUiOrG0TPBfTrzp0JqpZnIaw/edit?usp=drivesdk
 
You didn't see any reddish specks in the cracked open eggs?

If you didn't see anything then they were probably not fertile.
I think they get yucky like/broken yolk just from sitting in the incubator so warm for so long.


The green crap...was it like mine green thing? (I'm looking for the pic now)
Or was it a really earlier pooper. First poops are green.


View attachment 1846113
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Df8GUiOrG0TPBfTrzp0JqpZnIaw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Absolutely nothing pink or red in the cracked open eggs, so probably also infertile. The green gunk was very watery and vivid green... like the day after the lawn is mowed and everyone gets a mound of clippings tossed into their cage type of green. Poor little thing was pretty much swimming in it, but he didn't drown in it, his chest & head were dry, but his butt was soaking in the stuff. Thanks again for insight, I've so much to learn.
 
From everything I've read, I should be keeping the babies with a warm spot between 95-100 degrees for the first week with cooler areas in the brooder. Is it unusual for this to be too warm for the chicks? Mine seem to get too hot (a couple lying flat on their sides with legs extended, the rest scattered to other areas) at those temps. I lower the hot spot to 90 and they perk right up and go eat, drink, try to fly, etc. I accidentally let it get down to 83 for about 45 minutes, and they were huddled together (but not shivering or looking really cold), but scattered and resumed normal activity after bringing the temp back up to 90.

The cooler areas of the brooder are 10-15 degrees cooler than the hot spot.

Edit: Just let me know if I ask too many silly questions.
 
From everything I've read, I should be keeping the babies with a warm spot between 95-100 degrees for the first week with cooler areas in the brooder. Is it unusual for this to be too warm for the chicks? Mine seem to get too hot (a couple lying flat on their sides with legs extended, the rest scattered to other areas) at those temps. I lower the hot spot to 90 and they perk right up and go eat, drink, try to fly, etc. I accidentally let it get down to 83 for about 45 minutes, and they were huddled together (but not shivering or looking really cold), but scattered and resumed normal activity after bringing the temp back up to 90.

The cooler areas of the brooder are 10-15 degrees cooler than the hot spot.

Edit: Just let me know if I ask too many silly questions.
No silly questions. I saw one book say 95-100*, and about died! It is not correct! That would cause pasty butt, dehydration and possibly other issues. Quail (and ducklings) are actually happy at 85* it seems. Chicken chicks are more like ninety.
 
From everything I've read, I should be keeping the babies with a warm spot between 95-100 degrees for the first week with cooler areas in the brooder. Is it unusual for this to be too warm for the chicks? Mine seem to get too hot (a couple lying flat on their sides with legs extended, the rest scattered to other areas) at those temps. I lower the hot spot to 90 and they perk right up and go eat, drink, try to fly, etc. I accidentally let it get down to 83 for about 45 minutes, and they were huddled together (but not shivering or looking really cold), but scattered and resumed normal activity after bringing the temp back up to 90.

The cooler areas of the brooder are 10-15 degrees cooler than the hot spot.

Edit: Just let me know if I ask too many silly questions.
no question is silly! and you have to listen to your babies! 90 is perfectly acceptable during the first week. as long as they aren’t piling up and have cooler areas to move to. just watch for the occasional runt that doesn’t find its way back to the warmth or gets wet. i’ve had some tunnel under the paper towels/puppy pad/and or heat pad and suffocate.
 
Sounds like my observations aren't off, then. I'll continue to keep an eye on them and adjust to where they seem comfortable. I may even lower the temp a bit more since they seem pretty comfortable as low as 85 now. At this rate, I may only need to give them heat during the night soon.

I have a heat lamp, but instead of a light bulb, I have one of these in it. No light to disrupt their sleep cycle.
 
Sounds like my observations aren't off, then. I'll continue to keep an eye on them and adjust to where they seem comfortable. I may even lower the temp a bit more since they seem pretty comfortable as low as 85 now. At this rate, I may only need to give them heat during the night soon.

I have a heat lamp, but instead of a light bulb, I have one of these in it. No light to disrupt their sleep cycle.
that’s awesome....i’ve been planning to change to those but haven’t ordered one yet. do you have it plugged into a thermostat or adjust temp by height?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom