I day 19 of my second time hatching shipped Coturnix quail eggs and it ha seven abysmal. I adjusted minor things I think could have been better from the first incubation, and things have gotten worse somehow.
Using an NR360 & additional Govee monitors. Allowed both sets of shipped eggs to sit for 24 hours, blunt end upright, before putting in incubator. Also using a specific quail egg turner foe the NR360 as well.
First hatch: Set 36 eggs from SW game birds, 31 were possibly fertile at lockdown (I could see clear air sacs in nearly all of the remaining eggs). 9 hatched, 1 w/curled toes died shortly after. 2-3 clearly externally pipped but never progressed. I had not calibrated my extra thermometer/hygrometer for this hatch,
50-55% humidity, then up to around 70% @ lockdown based on the MyShire video recommendations. I had a hard time controlling humidity as it was also unseasonably rainy outside during this hatch and seemed to want to stay high.
Second hatch: Set 30 eggs from MyShire farm removed 6 obviously not developing at lockdown but these eggs were really hard to candle and I did not see many clear air sacs at lockdown, which was very weird, but the eggs were dark. 2 hatched on day 18, 1 w/curled toes that are not correcting themselves (long hatch, zipped but took forever to actually hatch). Literally NOTHING else - not even a Pip. Using same thermometer/hygrometer but calibrated this time & it is accurate).
45% humidity, then up to 60-65% at lockdown (thinking the humidity was maybe too high in the first hatch).
I opened the 6 eggs that clearly didn’t develop and several literally looked scrambled with broken yolks.
I don’t expect shipped eggs to do amazingly given the circumstances, but gosh this has been an awful experience with this latest hatch. I am going to leave the eggs in the incubator for another day or so but let’s be realistic here - what is going wrong?! I’ve read and researched and prepared as much as I could and expected better than 2/24 from this second hatch.
Using an NR360 & additional Govee monitors. Allowed both sets of shipped eggs to sit for 24 hours, blunt end upright, before putting in incubator. Also using a specific quail egg turner foe the NR360 as well.
First hatch: Set 36 eggs from SW game birds, 31 were possibly fertile at lockdown (I could see clear air sacs in nearly all of the remaining eggs). 9 hatched, 1 w/curled toes died shortly after. 2-3 clearly externally pipped but never progressed. I had not calibrated my extra thermometer/hygrometer for this hatch,
50-55% humidity, then up to around 70% @ lockdown based on the MyShire video recommendations. I had a hard time controlling humidity as it was also unseasonably rainy outside during this hatch and seemed to want to stay high.
Second hatch: Set 30 eggs from MyShire farm removed 6 obviously not developing at lockdown but these eggs were really hard to candle and I did not see many clear air sacs at lockdown, which was very weird, but the eggs were dark. 2 hatched on day 18, 1 w/curled toes that are not correcting themselves (long hatch, zipped but took forever to actually hatch). Literally NOTHING else - not even a Pip. Using same thermometer/hygrometer but calibrated this time & it is accurate).
45% humidity, then up to 60-65% at lockdown (thinking the humidity was maybe too high in the first hatch).
I opened the 6 eggs that clearly didn’t develop and several literally looked scrambled with broken yolks.
I don’t expect shipped eggs to do amazingly given the circumstances, but gosh this has been an awful experience with this latest hatch. I am going to leave the eggs in the incubator for another day or so but let’s be realistic here - what is going wrong?! I’ve read and researched and prepared as much as I could and expected better than 2/24 from this second hatch.
Last edited:
