Hybridising Chinese Painted Quail and Japanese Quail

[pterry97]

Update: sad news tonight. Very sad news. The eggs have been completely empty as of late, not a sight to be seen of life during candling. Recently though some of the egg prints have been getting more pigmented and much harder to see through, even with a strong LED light. One of these dark ones, I was trying my best, seeing which way and that trying to see inside, but I couldn't see anything promising. I removed from the incubator as usual and oened it up... Only to find a living embryo inside. I'm so gutted. This one was farther along than any of the unsuccessful attempts so far. About nine days into incubation... I didn't take pictures because it was alive for a few painful seconds that I had cut through the egg (and ultimately the veins). I feel like scum. A very healthy looking embryo of the hybrid attempt, and I went and opened it up like a moron.

Currently one more egg is showing faint signs of veins in the incubator, but I'm riddled with guilt for what I just did tonight. I'm out of room in the incubator and can't incubate till there's no debate to avoid this happening in the future, but yeah. Might have to hold onto the darker eggs for a while longer in the future. I'm so sorry little guy. It was a genuine mistake.

 

[FloorCandy]

Update: sad news tonight. Very sad news. The eggs have been completely empty as of late, not a sight to be seen of life during candling. Recently though some of the egg prints have been getting more pigmented and much harder to see through, even with a strong LED light. One of these dark ones, I was trying my best, seeing which way and that trying to see inside, but I couldn't see anything promising. I removed from the incubator as usual and oened it up... Only to find a living embryo inside. I'm so gutted. This one was farther along than any of the unsuccessful attempts so far. About nine days into incubation... I didn't take pictures because it was alive for a few painful seconds that I had cut through the egg (and ultimately the veins). I feel like scum. A very healthy looking embryo of the hybrid attempt, and I went and opened it up like a moron.

Currently one more egg is showing faint signs of veins in the incubator, but I'm riddled with guilt for what I just did tonight. I'm out of room in the incubator and can't incubate till there's no debate to avoid this happening in the future, but yeah. Might have to hold onto the darker eggs for a while longer in the future. I'm so sorry little guy. It was a genuine mistake.

I would recommend a brighter light, I think Myshire sells some on their site. It will probably make your life easier to see inside more clearly.

 

[pterry97]

Tiny update: currently three eggs are fertile in the incubator. Got one very promising wiggler in the egg. Will keep you posted on their condition.

 

[pterry97]

Update: another egg red ringed today, but then we got 2 more fertiles show up, so currently have 4 cooking in the incubator. Here’s today’s quitter:

 

[pterry97]

Another update so soon… 4 eggs are down to 3 again. This latest egg didn’t red ring, but the contents of the egg is kind of funky looking. I think this little one mutated a bit, doesn’t look like the usual developing embryos I’ve seen in all my years rearing birds. It seemed to have only one eye, or at least one large eye and a tiny other.

 

[pterry97]

A little look at my two furthest along eggs. Sorry for the poor quality images they are clearer in real life.

I can’t really see the embryo in this one, although there are some visible veins and the flesh around the section of the egg which means there’s definitely something alive in there, hopefully they’re doing well but it’s hard to tell. I haven’t been able to see any recent movements.

This egg however I’m slightly worried for. They were mymain wiggler and were doing so well at first. You can even see the embryo mass inside. Owever, the black colour it gives off and lack of red orveins make me fear it might have died. I haven’t been seeing movement lately either. But I’m too scared to open prematurely to find out just in case they’re alive still and just being funky.

My concern I have is wondering about hatching. With them being part CPQ it’s most likely that they will be smaller than normal JCQ and thus won’t be able to fill out the egg. If this is the case, how will they reach hatching position? How will they know when to pip if they can’t fit to the point where they need to breach the air sac? I haven’t kept track on their days since I’m adding and removing eggs from the incubator every single day, but it’s safe to say they’re at least 9-11 days oldish. Would this mean I’d need to plan an assist hatch on the estimated hatching date? This is a new problem I didn’t really think about previously, suggestions might be appreciated.

 

[Nabiki]

You are discovering first hand why most of us consider this hybridization to be unviable. The chances of you getting a chick to actually hatch are very slim.

If you get one, it's likely to be weak and die young. If it does survive, it will be infertile. I wish you luck, however!

 

[pterry97]

You are discovering first hand why most of us consider this hybridization to be unviable. The chances of you getting a chick to actually hatch are very slim.

If you get one, it's likely to be weak and die young. If it does survive, it will be infertile. I wish you luck, however!

Yes it’s just for experimental sake, there’s no real value to me doing this other than I want to see if it can be done. Any potential results would just be kept as pets anyways.

 

[pterry97]

Update time, and boy is there some news.

So! That wiggly egg I was worried about in the last update had indeed died as suspected. It came out super weird, in a little bubble of blood. I’ve never seen embryos in such a pocket before, so I’m wondering if they potentially burst a vein and bled to death inside the egg. Still a tiny embryo.

Then another potential egg red ringed tonight, and upon opening I found the teensiest little embryo I’ve ever seen. Like pinhead sized.

I’m now down to 2 fertiles again. BUT I have something exciting to show. They’re both wigglers which is always nice to see (but so was the first one on this post so I won’t get my hopes too high) but here’s my furthest developed embryo yet. Again there’s no promises or hopes up on fully surviving the long run, but it’s still exciting to see.

 

[Irelandbuttonquails]

Maybe try a male JAPAN SE and female button but artificial insemination