Did I kill my eggs?

[Snowingamanda]

Hi,
My first time hatching, so I dong now much about it! I got a still-air turned into forced air styrofoam incubator and set 26 of our cortunix quail’s eggs in it plus three bob white that someone shipped to me as a favor. I had little hope for those because the person sent them a week after they were packaged and it took at least another 5 days to come in the mail... so, thought they are duds but put them in anyways with my own 26 eggs.
Then I did everything wrong with my quail eggs - i stored them at room temp, then stuck in an incubator and left on “dry hatch” for the whole time (we are in CA so natural humidity is between 15 and 30), then miscalculated the time for lockdown, forgot to take the turner, when took it out, the fan stopped working. Temperatures dropped to 94 while I was figuring it out, then raised to 103, because I couldn’t manually seem to stabilize temperature, and I rolled eggs around to cool them... The next couple days it jumped all over the place, humidity was 40-ish, temps climbed to 102 for several hours while we weren’t home... then when in lockdown, kids opened the lid...anyways, I thought they for sure are dead. Hatch Day came and went and I was about to throw them all out, when heard a peep. Lo and behold, 25 or 26 hatched, all healthy. 2 had splay legs but we fixed that.
So, being pretty sure that 3 of bobwhte eggs were dead upon arrival I took them out and did the float test. I never candled any of them, because not sure how to do it. Anyways, when I put them in the water one by one only the part where the air sack isn’t floated!! So, seems like I may have had babies there after all! But since I didn’t count on that, I didn’t even heat up the water, just plopped them into cold water from the sink. I didn’t hold them there for long, - took them out as soon as they bobbed up, so my question is - did I chill and kill those babies? Given how crazy the incubation went for the coturnix eggs and they still hatched, I stuck those back in the incubator, but can anyways tell me from experience - does submerging eggs in cold water always kills them or do they stand some chance?

 

[DK newbie]

In general - never do the float test. Not even with warm water. Stick with candling, it's much more accurate and less dangerous for the chick. But that said, they might have survived. I haven't tried it myself, but as you noticed, quail eggs can be quite resilient.

I'm also incubating right now. Have about 50 quail eggs and 20 chicken eggs in the incubator (yes, I know, I'm not supposed to hatch chickens with quail). The incubator (janoel 48) has serious issues keeping the temperature the same all over, because the house is cold (around 62 F) - the eggs are between 98 F and 102 F depending on their position in the incubator (I wrapped the incubator (except the vent holes) in blankets on day 6, in an attempt to keep the temp steady, it only helped a little). Just placed them in lockdown and candled and the majority of the chicken chicks were moving. 5 seemed dead, a few seemed very small but alive. Removed 5 quail eggs, the rest seemed normal. I'm still looking forward to seeing what will actually hatch out, but so far I'm impressed I could actually see so many live chicks despite the temperature issues.

 

[Snowingamanda]

Thank you, let’s hope something comes out of it. And good luck with your hatch!! They are resilient little things, I guess more than we give them credit for !

In general - never do the float test. Not even with warm water. Stick with candling, it's much more accurate and less dangerous for the chick. But that said, they might have survived. I haven't tried it myself, but as you noticed, quail eggs can be quite resilient.

I'm also incubating right now. Have about 50 quail eggs and 20 chicken eggs in the incubator (yes, I know, I'm not supposed to hatch chickens with quail). The incubator (janoel 48) has serious issues keeping the temperature the same all over, because the house is cold (around 62 F) - the eggs are between 98 F and 102 F depending on their position in the incubator (I wrapped the incubator (except the vent holes) in blankets on day 6, in an attempt to keep the temp steady, it only helped a little). Just placed them in lockdown and candled and the majority of the chicken chicks were moving. 5 seemed dead, a few seemed very small but alive. Removed 5 quail eggs, the rest seemed normal. I'm still looking forward to seeing what will actually hatch out, but so far I'm impressed I could actually see so many live chicks despite the temperature issues.

 

[Maiahr]

From what I read you hatched 26 out of 26 quail eggs? Congratulations! Are they ok and happy now?

 

[Maiahr]

@DK newbie I also hatch both chicken and quail at the same time.. no issues so far. BTW why don't you join the "Quail Hatch a long' thread? When are your quail due to hatch?

 

[john_wrightson2003]

In general - never do the float test. Not even with warm water. Stick with candling, it's much more accurate and less dangerous for the chick. But that said, they might have survived. I haven't tried it myself, but as you noticed, quail eggs can be quite resilient.

I'm also incubating right now. Have about 50 quail eggs and 20 chicken eggs in the incubator (yes, I know, I'm not supposed to hatch chickens with quail). The incubator (janoel 48) has serious issues keeping the temperature the same all over, because the house is cold (around 62 F) - the eggs are between 98 F and 102 F depending on their position in the incubator (I wrapped the incubator (except the vent holes) in blankets on day 6, in an attempt to keep the temp steady, it only helped a little). Just placed them in lockdown and candled and the majority of the chicken chicks were moving. 5 seemed dead, a few seemed very small but alive. Removed 5 quail eggs, the rest seemed normal. I'm still looking forward to seeing what will actually hatch out, but so far I'm impressed I could actually see so many live chicks despite the temperature issues.

Come join the october hatch a long

 

[Snowingamanda]

Thank you, everyone!! All the quail are doing great! All the splayed legs have straightened out (I had them wear tape braces), and they are all happy and healthy, stampeding around )
I will definitely join the suggested threads. Thank you!!

 

[john_wrightson2003]

I really need to hatch some quail! I hear they sell pretty well, and I know that they start laying at like 6-8 weeks old, and are full grown at that time, and they take less time to hatch, sounds like somthin i need to try my hand at!

 

[Snowingamanda]

 

[Snowingamanda]