Fertile egg or not? "Quail"

[Jeff L]

I am new so please forgive me but I just had my first egg drop today. I have 17 females and 3 males and I am wondering. Is there a way to visually know if a egg has been fertilized by a male? Feel free to make fun of the rookie but my questions will get better and harder I promise. Thanks Jeff L

 

[TwoCrows]

Generally after the roo has been mating the hens for 2 full weeks, the eggs should be fertile. If there are too many hens, the fertility can drop. Of course if there are too little hens, the over mating of the roo can cause fertility to drop. So it is best to stick with 1 roo to 5 to 7 hens.

You can crack open an egg out of curiosity. You should see a bulls eye in the yolk like this...

 

[orumpoultry]

Agreed. The only real way to know is to crack it open and look for a bulls eye.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Generally after the roo has been mating the hens for 2 full weeks, the eggs should be fertile. If there are too many hens, the fertility can drop. Of course if there are too little hens, the over mating of the roo can cause fertility to drop. So it is best to stick with 1 roo to 5 to 7 hens.

You can crack open an egg out of curiosity. You should see a bulls eye in the yolk like this...

X 2 - it may seem counter-intuitive to "waste" a few eggs by cracking them open and losing the ability to incubate them, but in the long run it's worth it so you save yourself the hassle of incubating a bunch of infertile eggs from that same general group. Alternatively, you can set them and then candle to determine if development is on track for a fertile egg at the point of which the egg you are checking should be.
Also - everyone is a rookie at some point, so ask all the questions you have - you can't know what you don't know, and if you never ask you'll never know.

 

[Invision]

I am new so please forgive me but I just had my first egg drop today. I have 17 females and 3 males and I am wondering. Is there a way to visually know if a egg has been fertilized by a male? Feel free to make fun of the rookie but my questions will get better and harder I promise. Thanks Jeff L

I would wait a couple weeks before you incubate, make sure all eggs are uniform size and ensure the shells are thick enough, for the first week or so they can be miss shaped. I've had an egg look like a jellybean...

 

[half crazy]

you have to many hens and not enough of roosters, a good ratio is 2 but not over 3 hens per rooster

 

[TwoCrows]

you have to many hens and not enough of roosters, a good ratio is 2 but not over 3 hens per rooster

Welcome to BYC!

With only 2 hens and 1 roo, chances are he will favor one hen and kill her with over mating. Most Coturnix roos are so over zealous with the mating. They really do need more hens. Some flocks may have quite roos but it is not worth losing hens over.

 

[Jeff L]

So what I have learned so far is NO there is no way to determine if fertile by the outside.

Second I need to separate a few birds most likely to have a better chance if I want to put some in a incubator. I still look forward to post. I can see already just the numbers game of hens to make is different between members.

 

[TwoCrows]

Correct...can't tell a fertile egg by looking at it on the outside.

And yes, ratio is everything for fertility AND keeping your hens alive.

 

[Fat Daddy]

you have to many hens and not enough of roosters, a good ratio is 2 but not over 3 hens per rooster

Welcome to BYC!

With only 2 hens and 1 roo, chances are he will favor one hen and kill her with over mating. Most Coturnix roos are so over zealous with the mating. They really do need more hens. Some flocks may have quite roos but it is not worth losing hens over.

What Leyla is sweetly trying to say is "your above statement is incorrect..." 3 hens is about the min.number of hens to keep with a roo and I assure you they will soon be bald from over breeding. In a ideal world I would run 5 hens per roo and maybe 6. You will not have 100% fertility but that is unlikely anyway. What you will have a happy group that will hold up over time.

To Jeff L, There no such thing a question you should not ask.... The trick is sifting thru the answers. For all you know I could be a 15 year old child that has a PHD from Google but no birds..... Your hen to roo ratio is not bad. But you will find running more than one roo with a group is counter productive. One roo will always be the top dog and spend a great deal of time keeping his spot instead of servicing hens..... Id split your birds into 3 groups of 5-6 hens to each roo. Your fertility will be good and they will likely get along fine.