Are quail eggs supposed to be brittle?

[SweetieChicken234]

I got my eggs in the mail and noticed these are more brittle than chicken eggs. Is this normal for quail? Or is it a lack of calcium like with my chicken hens diet?

 

[Nabiki]

In my experience, quail egg shells are thicker than chicken egg shells. It sounds like it might be a lack of calcium. If your feed doesn't have around 3.5% calcium, you should probably be providing oyster shell or egg shell on the side to supplement their calcium intake.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

In my experience, quail egg shells are thicker than chicken egg shells. It sounds like it might be a lack of calcium. If your feed doesn't have around 3.5% calcium, you should probably be providing oyster shell or egg shell on the side to supplement their calcium intake.

Wow quail eggs are thicker than chicken eggs! So then my concern is that with these eggs I got shipped is that they actually hatch. The poor chicks inside will hopefully have enough calcium to grow and hatch.

 

[Nabiki]

I would candle them all after a week to see how they're developing. Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[Susan Skylark]

The membranes on quail eggs are pretty thick, not sure the shell is thicker? Definitely thicker than commercial chicken eggs but home raised might be a toss up. As long as the shells are intact it won’t be an issue but candle for cracks before incubating.

 

[007Sean]

I got my eggs in the mail and noticed these are more brittle than chicken eggs. Is this normal for quail? Or is it a lack of calcium like with my chicken hens diet?

Egg shell quality depends on nutrition. A complete and balanced feed ration to include but not limited too, proper protein, essential vitamins and minerals along with essential amino acids need to be in their diet to have proper reproductive development.
Brittle egg shell's could be diet or could be the reproductive system hasn't fully developed (young birds/first time layers). Also, a slight chance that the issue is genetical in nature. Could also be a reproductive disease, such as peritonitis.