HELP... Abandoned eggs

[jen10]

Hi all

My chinese/button quail hen was sitting on 14 eggs laid by her and the other hen in my aviary. She was incubating them for a full 3 days and then by the following morning she had abandoned them, I found them stone cold! I watched her closely for the rest of the day to see if she went back on them and at no point has she went near the nest (that I have seen anyway)... its been over 36 hours but iv had a few other quail breeders say the eggs could still be ok if they were to be put in an incubator. Is this true? Is there any chance they may still be viable/alive???

 

[nikirushka]

I am by no means an experienced breeder but I've just gone through similar - I had a coturnix hen abandon her eggs after sitting on them almost to hatching point. They'd been left for around the same time as yours when I gave up hoping she'd go back and rescued them. At least some of them have survived and I'm waiting for hatching now - I would imagine that as yours are much, much earlier in the process (mine were around day 12 when I rescued them) that they'd have a better chance of survival as many are collected and shipped around that age. Worth a try I think!

 

[Sill]

Yes they can still be viable! Get them into an incubator pronto. Something might have spooked your hen, or she may just have lost interest. Unfortunately it's more and more common for buttons not to set their eggs.

 

[jen10]

Thanks for the responses I ordered an incubator the other day and it should be here tomorrow, in the meantime I have them stored in a cool place with the other eggs I plan on incubating from my other hen who abandoned her last 5 eggs just days before hatching, not running the risk of losing anymore!

Something has definitely spooked her as she done an amazing job of incubating and raising her last clutch yet this time she come off and wont go near them

I have my fingers crossed they are still viable, should have them in the incubator by this time tomorrow