Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[grandbayou]

I would give them 21 or 22 days before I gave up. If you have a bunch you could open one or 2 and check . If the temp is a little low it may take longer. If they are infertile or bad some should have gotten bad rotten and cracked or exploded by now and you would be smelling them.

 

[TherryChicken]

What is an Italian Cortunix quail?  I'm on the 18th day with 36 eggs I got from online breeders, but I hear no sound and there is not a pip in any of the eggs. I tried to candle the eggs after the first week but couldn't see anything except from a dark area that I assumed was the yolk. Does this mean that none of them were fertile?  I turned them 4 times a day religiously and had two thermometer/hygrometers in case one of them failed, and a tiny fan to circulate the warm air. Temps ranged from 95-102 F but most of the time around 99-100 F, I started with 55 humidity and bumped it up to 70-75 on day 14. Stopped turned on the eve of the 14th day.  Our outdoor temperatures can fluctuate by 30 degrees, common for it to be in the 80's (F) in the afternoon and the 50's at night and humid. The eggs are kept in a 70 degree room that is bone dry, no plants, leaky pipes or kitchen steam to worry about. Could that be the problem? When should I give up and throw them all away? 

My Italian.

 

[Hybridchucks]

Beautiful!!

xx

 

[Chic-a-Bhu]

Just finished my incubation of our own coturnix eggs. Tried 12 and 7nhatched really well. Unfortunately one died this morning not sure why as they were all strong hatchlings and have been up and running for 3 days eating and drinking like great. Way better than any chicken chicks. Quail chicks really know how to eat and drink perfect little quail just laying there dead. Makes no sence ;(

Will try another batch soon. This first run was from the first laying of new birds so hoping for a better fertility/ hatch rates now they've been laying for a while. From blond gals and a brown male we hot mostly blond chicks with one brown.

How long can I collect eggs for before I start to reduce the hatch rates? I only have 3 females laying daily the other one has had a few issues and laid a lot of softies until yesterday. And her first hard shell egg was pale, small and thin. Son won't be using those this they get better. Will need at least 12 to incubate so that's 4 days. I hear 5 is the max? Is that true? My chicken eggs have waited uptom2 weeks before now with a near 100% hatch rate before I started incubation.

 

[TherryChicken]

Beautiful!!   xx

Thank you!

Just finished my incubation of our own coturnix eggs. Tried 12 and 7nhatched really well. Unfortunately one died this morning not sure why as they were all strong hatchlings and have been up and running for 3 days eating and drinking like great. Way better than any chicken chicks. Quail chicks really know how to eat and drink perfect little quail just laying there dead. Makes no sence ;(

Will try another batch soon. This first run was from the first laying of new birds so hoping for a better fertility/ hatch rates now they've been laying for a while. From blond gals and a brown male we hot mostly blond chicks with one brown.

How long can I collect eggs for before I start to reduce the hatch rates? I only have 3 females laying daily the other one has had a few issues and laid a lot of softies until yesterday. And her first hard shell egg was pale, small and thin. Son won't be using those this they get better. Will need at least 12 to incubate so that's 4 days. I hear 5 is the max? Is that true? My chicken eggs have waited uptom2 weeks before now with a near 100% hatch rate before I started incubation.

Quail are a lot more fragile and a lot smaller. The feed has to be EXTRA small so they can eat it. Regular crumble can be too large. You can collect up to 10 days worth. NO LATER THEN 10 DAYS! 10 days is the absolute max, then will need to be placed in the incubator. Hope that helps

 

[Chic-a-Bhu]

Thank you!
Quail are a lot more fragile and a lot smaller. The feed has to be EXTRA small so they can eat it. Regular crumble can be too large. You can collect up to 10 days worth. NO LATER THEN 10 DAYS! 10 days is the absolute max, then will need to be placed in the incubator. Hope that helps

Hi Thanks for that yes is a lot of help. I will go to around day 6 or 7 then I'm in the deadline ok. That way I will have a good collection of eggs to incubate

But why would a 3 day old healthy looking chick die? He was eating and drinking fine... nature is weird!

 

[TherryChicken]

Hi Thanks for that yes is a lot of help. I will go to around day 6 or 7 then I'm in the deadline ok. That way I will have a good collection of eggs to incubate  

But why would a 3 day old healthy looking chick die? He was eating and drinking fine... nature is weird! 

Were you watching him swallow the food? Chick's will play with the food to try and swallow it but the spit it out because they cant. It's actually very common that way. I don't hatch quail super often and sometimes I forget to grind up their food more and quite a few end up dying, but as they get a little bigger they are able to swallow and survive.

 

[Chic-a-Bhu]

well they all seem to eat a lot of food for sure ands have biggish crops. The crumb as tiny bits and dust as well. He was a day late hatching out was a good clean hatch.

 

[RainForestBird]

I don't really smell anything. I'm starting a new batch of coturnix and button eggs and if I'm doing something terribly wrong I'd like to know. With none hatching out of an entire batch it makes me wonder if I'd be just going through the motions again for nothing. So discouraging. I put this incubator in another building that has better insulation, but it kind of worries me that maybe there is some kind of virus or bacteria I'm carrying around even though I wash and glove my hands every time I touch the eggs and I've done it so many times my hands are raw and there's a big sore on my wrist where I pull the gloves on and off. We have a huge problem is mold here because of the dampness (70 inches of rain a year here). But each place I've put the eggs has been free of all mold and dampness, no plumbing in either place.

 

[Chic-a-Bhu]

I don't really smell anything. I'm starting a new batch of coturnix and button eggs and if I'm doing something terribly wrong I'd like to know. With none hatching out of an entire batch it makes me wonder if I'd be just going through the motions again for nothing.  So discouraging.  I put this incubator in another building that has better insulation, but it kind of worries me that maybe there is some kind of virus or bacteria I'm carrying around even though I wash and glove my hands every time I touch the eggs and I've done it so many times my hands are raw and there's a big sore on my wrist where I pull the gloves on and off. We have a huge problem is mold here because of the dampness (70 inches of rain a year here). But each place I've put the eggs has been free of all mold and dampness, no plumbing in either place. 

Sounds way to clinical for me. I doubt if that is the issue for you. I have found that buying eggs online yields very poor hatch rates. I'm not sure if it's the shipping process or that online sellers have weak genetic stock or poor fertility rates but all my own eggs hatch great. The most ive ever got from online purchases are 4 out of 12 compared to nearly 12 out of 12 from my own eggs. I've had whole batches 48 eggs from online sellers do nothing get yourself a local source you may find you get better results that way. Once you have birds that are laying with a cock you will get much more success.