I'm Probably Gonna Need My Hand Held Quail Hatch-A-Long

[redinator]

Does this mean another hatch-along thread!?!

It's in the thread in my signature

 

[GreenJay]

Let's grow tiny quails!

 

[Sefirothe]

Trying to keep track of hatching quail is impossible, they all hatch at once, use a separate incubator per batch if it is important, with 90+ eggs, good luck, I can’t manage a dozen! There are not breeds of quail, just colors and species (bobwhite, coturnix), you’ll be able to get a good idea on color by 3-4 weeks, all yellow chicks with a dot on their head will be your white birds. I’d candle your eggs and check air cells, they might be hard to see but if thy are mobile or wonky looking (or get more wonky looking as they grow), just in case you have shipping trauma, it is best to prepare your expectations now. My two shipped hatches this year had saddled air cells and dismal hatch rates, nothing you can do but hope for the best and prepare for the worst, but if air cells look good, yay! Day 4/5 is a good day to check fertility, a dark reddish black spot with the occasional vein or embryo is a good sign, a yellow/green egg with a faint yolk shadow is usually infertile. Day 10/11 is good for a recheck, veins appear in most eggs and all fertile eggs should be mostly dark. Make sure your turner works for quail eggs. Humidity isn’t a big issue until you hit lockdown. Have fun but remember they are addicting! Also be ready for 87 chicks, sometimes your hatch rates are ridiculously good too!

I was just reading thru your quail candling article.

Am I fairly safe to assume that at the end of day 6 that any eggs that are this yellow with barely a faint trace of yolk shadow are duds and could be pulled? Especially as the incubator seems to be running at the higher end of around 99.9° to 100°?

 

[redinator]

I was just reading thru your quail candling article.

Am I fairly safe to assume that at the end of day 6 that any eggs that are this yellow with barely a faint trace of yolk shadow are duds and could be pulled? Especially as the incubator seems to be running at the higher end of around 99.9° to 100°?

View attachment 4280202

Normally I'd say it's a dud if I don't see veins by now, but with my speckled chicken eggs it can be hard to see faint veins this early. I'd give it until day 10 to be sure. I'm not sure with quail eggs though, I think they have a shorter incubation period than chicken eggs.

 

[SemiSweet2391]

Hope many days do quail eggs incubate? I hope your hatch goes well and you get dozens of chicks!

 

[Sefirothe]

@redinator @SemiSweet2391 Its just 17 days for coturnix quail. So these guys are already a bit over 1/3 of the way there.

 

[redinator]

@redinator @SemiSweet2391 Its just 17 days for quail. So these guys are already a bit over 1/3 of the way there.

My rule is "when in doubt wait it out". I would sniff the egg, if it doesn't smell bad you're probably safe to wait a few more days and recheck it.

I have heard of eggs exploding in the incubator, but I haven't had it happen (yet ) so I'm probably less cautious than I should be about leaving eggs in longer.

 

[Sefirothe]

Well, I just realized the egg turner wasn’t correctly lined up with the tray to move the eggs. I don’t know how long for. Could have happened when I grabbed a couple eggs this afternoon to look at out of curiosity. Could have been for a couple days.

I just ordered a cup type turner for a hovabator that I think will fit in this incubator.

Fingers crossed it fits. And fingers crossed the turner was disconnected only a few hours.

 

[Sefirothe]

And watch…the new egg turner will deliver on lockdown day I bet!!!

 

[Sefirothe]

So I candled 4 of the 8 filled rows. I sorted the ones that looked viable to the left of the incubator and the questionable ones to the right. I'll do the last 4 rows tomorrow. Then recheck again before lock down.

I did manage to drop one egg, trying to be too quick to keep the lid off the incubator for the shortest time and the eggs are so darn little. So #12 got cracked.

I cracked it open later, and there was definite development of an embryo.

Spoiler