first time hatching quail eggs need help

2chick

Chirping
6 Years
Jul 6, 2013
266
3
83
So i have 10 button quail eggs i got on ebay. today is my 5th day and when i candled all my eggs turned really dark and i couldnt see a thing in them. Is this normal or does this mean something is wrong? I turn my eggs 3 times a day and my temprature is 96
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a little low.. what is the problem or is this normal? thanks for your help.
 
:barnie Try not to play around with the eggs to much, I am assuming that that's why the temp is so low. Find another method to turn all eggs at once and fast.... Temperature is super crucial for chicks to hatch healthy, bobwhites eggs are so small that they cool down twice faster then any other quail egg. I had both coturnix and bobwhites in my bator(with auto turner) when coturnix started hatching I opened my bator to many times to get the chicks out, well, long story short, from 20 bobwhite eggs 3 hatched 1 survived, autopsy of unhatched eggs showed that they died at around the age when coturnix hatched......so sad...... I never candled my coturnix, I tried to candle bobwhites , so frustratingly hard to see inside...... I figured that a couple of quarter sized areas in my bator occupied by some unfertilized eggs is something I can live with, the half way developed chicks that did not hatch......... Traumatic.......:oops:
 
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barnie.gif
Try not to play around with the eggs to much, I am assuming that that's why the temp is so low. Find another method to turn all eggs at once and fast.... Temperature is super crucial for chicks to hatch healthy, bobwhites eggs are so small that they cool down twice faster then any other quail egg. I had both coturnix and bobwhites in my bator(with auto turner) when coturnix started hatching I opened my bator to many times to get the chicks out, well, long story short, from 20 bobwhite eggs 3 hatched 1 survived, autopsy of unhatched eggs showed that they died at around the age when coturnix hatched......so sad...... I never candled my coturnix, I tried to candle bobwhites , so frustratingly hard to see inside...... I figured that a couple of quarter sized areas in my bator occupied by some unfertilized eggs is something I can live with, the half way developed chicks that did not hatch......... Traumatic.......
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what do you mean dont play around with the eggs too much? Do you mean you dont need to turn the eggs that much or do you mean dont candle it too much? I only candled it 1 time.
 
Try placing them in an egg carton lifted on one side, when it's time to turn them switch the lifted side. You can get it closed alit faster so the temp doesn't decrease so quickly.
 
you can even raise the one side of the incubator and switch sides. Just use something about 1 inch thick or so and move it back and forth every 4 hours or so. Get your temp up or you might have weak chicks or a really bad hatch/survivor rate. Good luck!

edit to add: DC is correct your incubator will not catch on fire using egg cartons inside. its really no that hot. ask mom is her newspaper or books on the shelf burst into flames when it get hot outside? lol na don't back talk her just be realistic.
 
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