eggs not hatching

[wqlec]

we have put lights in each of our coops and generally get one egg for each hen a day. My question is its been very cold lately and my eggs are not hatching since the temperature has been below freezing. We collect the eggs twice a day so they do not freeze but they will not hatch. There coops are in three sections, they have a laying quarters, a feeding quarters and an outside run. We feed them a mix of laying mash, scratch, oyster shell and twice a week we add ground dry cat food. But still no babies in the incubator. Any suggestions?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

How old is your rooster? What breeds?

 

[wqlec]

im sorry im new, i thought i posted in quail section. They are japanese coturinx quale, they are 6 months old

 

[swords75xlh]

how many females to males 3 or 4 to one seems to work good for me

 

[wqlec]

In that coop we have 3 males and 18 female. We had great success in hatching until weather changed and got very cold.

 

[TwoCrows]

Cold weather does effect fertility. So unless you add heat to the situation, you hatch rate can suffer. On this note, adding heat is never a good idea in cold weather as you want the birds to adapt to the temps. If you were getting good hatches when the weather was warm, then I assume there is no health issues. You can either wait til spring or add heat. Your choice.

 

[wqlec]

Thank you for your input twocrows....i was afraid of that. We really dont want to put heat in coops for the reasons you stated. This is our first winter with quail, so we will probably just sell eggs to local restaurant for winter months. Thanks again for your time.