First quail eggs! & Fertility question

[Jschaaff]

I have 9 eggs as of yesterday from my new girls!! There are 6 girls and one boy in that pen, so I do not know what to expect, as far as fertility rates goes, but with all those little piles of "shaving cream" that seem to be popping up all over their pen.... I'm hoping!!

Going to wait until Saturday, which puts me at the 7 day mark from when I collected the first ones, and hopefully, I will have 18 by then (getting 3 a day now!!) and will stick them in the incubator.

Bator is going in the basement this time, as the basement keeps a very steady temp of 62...so it will be easier to stabilize the bator temp...Hopefully NO spiking this time.

BUT am going into this setting with low expectations, considering these are the first eggs I've got from these girls. I candled them all before storing, and 2 are perfectly clear, 7 have a darker mass inside....

I'm still confused on if that means fertile...JJ explained some of it once, but I'm still not sure I get it

... Any clarification would be great..use little words, and type slow...I'll read it slow..and I just might get it this time

!!!


Thanks!!

-Jessa

 

[snyd08]

if you see your shaving cream all over and hear crowing. getting eggs... everyone is mature enough to mate. the only issue i would see here is that your eggs are the first eggs from your hens and sometimes the first week or two of the girls laying wont be fertile not because the rooster didnt do his job, but because the eggs itself isnt mature. this isnt 100% that they wont hatch but i did the exact same as you collected the first 12 eggs from the batch on all white A&Ms i have and only one hatched! AND HE HAD A TINY SPOT ON HIS HEAD!

 

[gamebirdboy]

Quote:
Almost all of them have that.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Would your "darker mass" be the yolk? They kind of need that to hatch!

 

[Jschaaff]

Quote:
Yes, i kind of assumed it's the yolk.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
YES WITH CHICKENS... EH NOT SO MUCH WITH COTURNIX... THEY'RE VERY LIKELY FERTILE. NOT TOO MUCH COMPARES TO THE DRIVE, DESIRE, AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS OF A COTURNIX ROO( REGULAR LIL HUNKA HUNKA BURNIN LOVE THEY ARE...

) EXCEPT MAYBE A TEENAGE BOY

SINCE ROOS MATURE FASTER THAN HENS NORMALLY THE HEN HAS BEEN MATED DOZENS OF TIMES BEFORE THE 1ST EGG IS FORMED... SO WHEN IT IS FORMED THEY'RE USUALLY FERTILE

 

[Jschaaff]

Quote:
YES WITH CHICKENS... EH NOT SO MUCH WITH COTURNIX... THEY'RE VERY LIKELY FERTILE. NOT TOO MUCH COMPARES TO THE DRIVE, DESIRE, AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS OF A COTURNIX ROO( REGULAR LIL HUNKA HUNKA BURNIN LOVE THEY ARE...

) EXCEPT MAYBE A TEENAGE BOY

SINCE ROOS MATURE FASTER THAN HENS NORMALLY THE HEN HAS BEEN MATED DOZENS OF TIMES BEFORE THE 1ST EGG IS FORMED... SO WHEN IT IS FORMED THEY'RE USUALLY FERTILE

Thanks JJ.... PLUS I remembered yesterday, that these are the new girls, and they were supposedly laying BEFORE I got them, so though these are MY first eggs, they really aren't the first eggs at all...Will have 18 by tomorrow to go in...I'm so excited!!

I am amazed at the *cough* DRIVE these boys have. One pen has 6 girls, one boy...and oh my ...I swear ALL he does is chase the girls around and try and "dance" with them...seriously...okay, he stops to eat, and drink... other than that...one track mind...yep, Teenage boy lol.

I had to separate the other pen too, until I can put everyone together, because 3 boys and 1 girl just wasn't fair to faith. The little toeless guy (yea yea, he's been given a reprieve, until we decide which of the other males we want to eat with him..) is in with faith... no issues with bullying etc, yet. He is much smaller and seems younger than the other two roos, he's like half of faith's size, even though all four were from the same hatch (I do think the little guy hatched 2 days later..but still, SUCH a difference in size)... The poor thing crawls up on her back, and Faith patiently waits (where as in the other pen, the girls can't run away fast enough from that big roo!), but he ALWAYS falls off...I think he's not willing to really grab her feathers lol. I guess he doesn't quite rate teenage boy yet. ..He's the preteen thumbing through dirty magazines (oh geesh, well, I guess it's the internet now days)...and trying to figure it all out!

Anyway, if he "matures" and starts to give her a hard time before we can integrate everyone, he'll have to go in with the other boys. The other two boys are separated from the others, and a little tired of being together...no fighting buy they crow CONSTANTLY. Personally I love the noise, (and I notice my Delaware mutt roos, who are just about to find their voices, stop what they are doing every time the boy quail crow, and give the hairy eyeball in their direction.) but I feel bad that they're not getting to....dance!

Again, thanks JJ.

-Jessa