Help talk me into quail (for meat)

[DemeterAD9]

Day 6ish and I’ve gone through and candled them all. Fertile eggs appear to be about half dark as the embryos grow. I removed 15 blanks and left a few other questionable ones. Both the cracked and sealed ones are still in there so we’ll see what happens. Shocking fertility rate though if about 50% are duds, I’d expect that from shipped eggs but local?

So 19 eggs left, hoping for at least a dozen to make it to lockdown.

 

[Nabiki]

Day 6ish and I’ve gone through and candled them all. Fertile eggs appear to be about half dark as the embryos grow. I removed 15 blanks and left a few other questionable ones. Both the cracked and sealed ones are still in there so we’ll see what happens. Shocking fertility rate though if about 50% are duds, I’d expect that from shipped eggs but local?

So 19 eggs left, hoping for at least a dozen to make it to lockdown.

If you're interested, here is a series of videos showing candling day by day.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8AKDZ9NpcmHLecXHu6m5qhUIp67ldEnG

 

[farmer90]

I once bought local eggs and got 20% fertility so it all depends on the rooster.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Fertility is not looking great, checked again last night and between the confirmed blanks and 2-3 more quitter I think I’ll be lucky to get 5. It almost makes me want to scrap the whole batch but of course I can’t do that with the few good eggs still cooking.

I did crack open the 15 I removed and one may have been doing something really early on but all others didn’t even have the fertile germinal disk.

But here’s the lightly spotted blue egg, going strong. Other blue egg quit around day 6 or so.

I’m not sure if I want to try again with the same local seller or just buy from someone who actually has reviews (good ones of course). I’m not sure if I can squeeze in another quail incubation/brood between my chicken plans either. So let’s hope a few hatch and pray I get at least 1 pair.

Side note, I was impulsive after a drink and popped in 4 chicken eggs. I was wanting some chicks from my barred rock, specially a boy or two, and I had a very pretty speckled green egg. Can’t see through the green egg but the other 3 are growing. I have a spare incubator to pop them in when the quail go on lockdown.

 

[NatJ]

I believe automatic turners of the circular dome type bator also turn their eggs the same direction every time but I don’t know how often. Something I’ll definitely keep in mind!

I've got a Brinsea Maxi incubator, the "Advance" model that includes an automatic turner, and it turns the eggs in alternate directions (clockwise and counterclockwise.) I think it would be considered a "circular dome type" incubator. As for how often it turns them, it is somewhat adjustable (turner can be set to run for a different number of seconds, and a different number of times per day.)

 

[DemeterAD9]

I removed 11 more, 2 of which were infertile and the rest looked like quitters (though those 2 cracked and sealed eggs were likely doomed from the start). Maybe @farmer90 was right about the turners but I had to learn the hard way! 6 eggs look promising and two are still questionable.

Lockdown this morning, a quick candling shows a few of the eggs are already drawing down the air cell and I’ve seen some wobbling. Chicken eggs were moved to the spare bator. Humidity holding around 60-70. Put them in a bowl to keep them near the viewing window, everything is lined with shelf liner mats. Hoping for pips tomorrow and will be getting their brooder set up in the meantime.

Seems fertility rate overall was about 50% which IMO is atrocious. I guess I’m so used to my own chicken eggs’ fertility rates so maybe it’s an unfair comparison. Let’s just hope some hatch and then pray I can raise at least a breeding pair!

 

[Nabiki]

Let’s just hope some hatch and then pray I can raise at least a breeding pair!

You want at least three hens per male. If you only end up with a pair, the male will over breed the hen and probably kill her.

 

[DemeterAD9]

You want at least three hens per male. If you only end up with a pair, the male will over breed the hen and probably kill her.

I know but I’ll take whatever hatches, can’t pick the genders on these guys after all! Ideally, if they all hatch I plan to keep all the females and one male. If all I get is a pair I’ll likely keep them together to get fertile eggs and then separate them if a problem arises. All I need is a pair to produce the next generation and create a breeding group with the proper gender ratio.

 

[farmer90]

Fingers crossed for the remaining eggs! You can try the next time hand turning yourself and compare the results.