Float test mistake....did I kill this quail chick?

[kjoseph93]

Hi everyone,

First time incubating anything in my life. Put three conturnix quail eggs in the incubator on September 1. It has been a relatively hands off process as it is an automatic turner. The color of quail eggs makes candling very difficult so I read online that many people float test their eggs to see if they are developing.

I filled a bowl with water about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. and slowly placed in the three eggs. All three sunk to the bottom like rocks. Everything I read said that sinkers were most likely duds from the beginning.

Disappointed, I decide to crack one of the eggs open and see if it is just a yolk and if I had wasted the last fourteen days. To my horror as soon as I cracked the egg I noticed blood coming out and than found a nearly completely developed chick. I immediately put the other two eggs back in the incubator.


Was this chick dead already or did I kill it? Are the other eggs viable even though they sank?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
KS

 

[Pyxis]

Most people only float test if the eggs are past the hatching date as a last resort to try to figure out if they can turn off the incubator or not. It works with chicken eggs because of how much air they will have in the air cell at that time. I'm not sure if it would work at all with quail eggs, but if it did it would probably only work late in incubation. So you may have killed that one I'd leave the others alone until the hatch date at least before tossing them out.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Most people only float test if the eggs are past the hatching date as a last resort to try to figure out if they can turn off the incubator or not. It works with chicken eggs because of how much air they will have in the air cell at that time. I'm not sure if it would work at all with quail eggs, but if it did it would probably only work late in incubation. So you may have killed that one

I'd leave the others alone until the hatch date at least before tossing them out.

xs 2 I don't even recommend the float test because it can be very misleading and I don't find it accurate.