Abandoned Quail Eggs- Advice Please!

[Kiki]

I'm really not sure. @Kiki is the candling queen. Let's see what she thinks.

I am pretty sure these are good.
I would not call them quitters yet.
Sometimes in the beginning these red lines like to make you think they are quitters be they are not.


What day are they on?

 

[Clearwater Chicken]

I heard but probably don't trust me the red lines in eggs are from decaying blood vessels

 

[maxride14]

I am pretty sure these are good.
I would not call them quitters yet.
Sometimes in the beginning these red lines like to make you think they are quitters be they are not.


What day are they on?

This is day 3 of them being in the incubator, and they're at least 12 days old. Considering the circumstances, I'm not exactly sure how old they are, or if their growth was stunted by being abandoned for 9 days.

 

[maxride14]

I heard but probably don't trust me the red lines in eggs are from decaying blood vessels

Ah, that would be unfortunate. Hopefully that's not the case.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

 

[maxride14]

So I candled four of the eggs today, and the only thing I see different about the eggs is that the orange section of the eggs seems to be bigger (in two it looked like only the tip of the egg wasn't orange, the others had some white on the big end too) and the red lines seem more visible. I see only one or two in each egg. Here's a pic of one of the vessels. Besides this, there are no other real changes. Anyways, I wasn't planning on candling today but I was just too curious. I might end up doing daily updates.

 

[pozees2]

Looks like you've got development, yay! Super interested in how this turns out, fingers crossed you wind up with some quail babies! If they continue to develop you will want to contact local feed stores looking for some game bird starter. The only quail I've ever hatched and raised are buttons, and they are ADORABLE! I would have kept them but here they would have to live indoors and we have 6 indoor-only cats. I was considering trying to set them up in a large aquarium with a secure cover, but I knew if anything happened to them because of the cats I'd have never forgiven myself, so they went to live with a fellow bird lover with better options for them. They were really fun, when they first hatch they are so tiny, but man can they zoom around! I set them up in a plastic storage container as a brooder, with a heat lamp and some towels stacked on the end where the light was, the first few days they would all be up on the top layer except when they were eating and drinking, and by the time they were a week old I started removing layers of towels (they were just bar towels folded up). There are many people here with lots of experience who can give you great advice, just sharing my very limited experience with Buttons.

 

[Nabiki]

So I candled four of the eggs today, and the only thing I see different about the eggs is that the orange section of the eggs seems to be bigger (in two it looked like only the tip of the egg wasn't orange, the others had some white on the big end too) and the red lines seem more visible. I see only one or two in each egg. Here's a pic of one of the vessels. Besides this, there are no other real changes. Anyways, I wasn't planning on candling today but I was just too curious. I might end up doing daily updates.
View attachment 2093227

There is definitely development in this egg. Those nice, defined veins are a good sign.

 

[maxride14]

Looks like you've got development, yay! Super interested in how this turns out, fingers crossed you wind up with some quail babies! If they continue to develop you will want to contact local feed stores looking for some game bird starter. The only quail I've ever hatched and raised are buttons, and they are ADORABLE! I would have kept them but here they would have to live indoors and we have 6 indoor-only cats. I was considering trying to set them up in a large aquarium with a secure cover, but I knew if anything happened to them because of the cats I'd have never forgiven myself, so they went to live with a fellow bird lover with better options for them. They were really fun, when they first hatch they are so tiny, but man can they zoom around! I set them up in a plastic storage container as a brooder, with a heat lamp and some towels stacked on the end where the light was, the first few days they would all be up on the top layer except when they were eating and drinking, and by the time they were a week old I started removing layers of towels (they were just bar towels folded up). There are many people here with lots of experience who can give you great advice, just sharing my very limited experience with Buttons.

There is definitely development in this egg. Those nice, defined veins are a good sign.

Great! I'll definetely be trying to use towels in the brooder if I get them to hatch. Is there any way to tell how far along they are? If they hatch, I'll try to get some game starter and maybe bedding from a livestock store about twenty minutes away. Could I use paper towels or do I need something like pine sheddings? Which would be better for the brooder: a 10 gallon empty aquarium or a plastic tote storage container? The tote is much bigger but I know aquariums hold in heat better. Since I won't know when exactly to go into lockdown, I'll keep the humidity a little bit higher. It concerns me a little how low it gets when I open the incubator to turn the eggs. Do you think I could just stop turning them once the candling shows there's enough development? It might be worth noting that these are gambel eggs. I'll post more pics tomorrow

 

[maxride14]

I took some more pictures today. The veins don't look any different, and I didn't see any more. But unless it's just me, the eggs are getting more orange. Some of them have a harder time getting light through the egg. Some have the air pocket well defined at the round end of the egg.

These are all separate eggs. The second and last pic look similar and not like the others. I'd think they're unfertilized because they aren't dark but they're definitely not yellow or green (besides the circle at the end of the egg).