3wk old dieing quail. Helep!

I said I would keep you posted. My new chicks are sooo adorable and I got some yellow this time. My white laying bird (can't tell if Texas A&M or White Japanese quail) finally came to age. Yeay! Not much of a size difference but they are the biggest chicks out of the lot. Due to a younger mum I am gathering. Would I be right to assume that? The other females are about 11 months old.
Anyway, 13 hatched out of 18 fertile eggs (candled on day 13) and they are 1 week old tomorrow. They eat so much!
I reckon that is pretty good going for my second attempt wouldn't you say
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Even some of the eggs that were more then 2 weeks old hatched. I am sort of experimenting a bit. I had 44 eggs in my incubator to start off with.
I would attach a photo if I could. How do I?

No dust this time because none of that horrid cat litter. Fuew!!! The butchers paper is working wonders and I placed some big black pebbles ( approx. 50c size) around the side and near where the others used to like sleeping under the light. Sure enough they all love huddling and climbing under each other where the pebbles are under the light. It is a cold night tonight but the temp seems to be keeping 90 degrees. I am planning on placing some bubble wrap around the sides of the tank when I get some soon, to help keep the heat in. If this is a new idea to anyone like me, you wet the glass first and the bubble wrap sticks. It pulls off easily when you do not need it.

Some sad news is that the side of my quail cage, separated from the frame. It had all my adult quails in - I didn't realize the screws were not in properly at the top. I lost all 6 of my quail. They have simply disappeared. A few white feathers on the ground and my pore daughter found 2 round tough healthy yellow yolks on the ground with fresh blood vessels attached. They were the size of small marbles. That is what my daughter thought they were the pore thing and simply picked them up. I was surprised they never burst when she droped the immediately when I told her what they were. My daughter soon settled down and was able to go back into the back yard again. I had been leaving a nest alone to see what would happen, because all the quail seem to take interest in it. The eggs (about 10) in the nest were missing with the quail, except two of them I guess. Magpies maybe. I did find a pure white quail egg (newly layed - no date on) near the yolks my daughter found, but it had looked like it had been pecked. I would have loved to put that in the incubator. Oh well!
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I gathered up the eggs ( 48) that were left (2 other nests) and placed them in the incubator - third try.
With quail, could I get away with mating a half brother to half sister or will I be causing trouble?
 
I am sorry about your adult birds and reading on about the 3 week old chicks dying. I used the clumping kitty litter once and it wasn't good. What I use now is pine pellets or yesterday's news (unscented).

Now to answer the question about mating sibling to sibling? I was always told it was a big no no. I would however mate father to son and mother to daughter for 5 generations or so before outcrossing (adding another line in ). The more brother sister mating the more problems we get in future generations (genetic problems).
 
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With quail, could I get away with mating a half brother to half sister or will I be causing trouble?

really depends if you desire the traits of the shared parent. If the shared parent was a perfect specimen you could try it.
If the shared parent had any undesireable trait, it would be amplified and more than likely "set" in the offspring.
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I apologize, I meant father to daughter and mother to son. I didn't realize what I wrote. Of course it would be non existent what I said prior. I must have been really tired when typing. Wow.
 
Thanks for all your replies. I don't think I will inbreed at all. I don't want any problems down the track.
I plan on using two males from my chicks and placing them with new older Jumbo Japanease hens I bought.
All I need now is more room!
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