Is this even true?

[cmfarm]

I was just talking to a guy that I am going to buy some quail eggs from. I was telling him that I would be out his way tomorrow to pick up some duck eggs so I could also get the quail eggs then. He told me around this time of year duck eggs only have 60% fertility and chicken eggs only have 80%, and quail eggs are not effected at all. I didn't think this sounded right but didn't say anything. What have others experienced?

 

[sumi]

I've no personal experience, but while researching online I found a study by a university in Bangladesh on the hatch ability of duck eggs through the year. They found that the hatch ability was highest in March, and lowest in June. In June they got the most unfertilised eggs, followed by March, January, April and May.

Another study shows that chicken eggs have the highest hatch ability in in Winter (78.62%), followed by monsoon season (76.70%) and then Summer (75.79%)
They used 3 different breeds for this study, Fayoumi, White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red. Of the 3 the Fayoumi's eggs had the highest hatch rate (78.34%), followed by the White Leghorn (76.48%) and the Rhode Island Red (74.59%)
Age wise they found the hens aged 41-60 weeks produced the most hatchable eggs (77.99%), followed by 61 weeks and older (76.49%) and the 28-40 weeks old (75.71%)

I'll see if I can find anything on Quails...

Same Bangladesh University also did a study on Japanese quail eggs. Results in short:

"Eggs of medium weight, 9.10-10g could be hatched satisfactorily between 4-7 days of pre-incubation holding periods during any season of the year"

I looked a bit more and found another study that said quail eggs should not be stored longer than 9 days prior to incubation at any season of the year. After 18 days the hatch ability of the eggs used during the study "showed no sign of fertility"

 

[cmfarm]

Thank you for taking the time to look that up. I wonder how much the fertility goes down. I thought it sounded strange because right now we have been having cooler weather. If it was still August I would agree that what he said would sound very true since it is so hot then, but once September hit it has been cooler (upper 80's to low 90's, with some temps around 96 on a few days). So with it cooler I would think the fertility would be better. I guess I will see what happens when I get my duck eggs. It was also interesting about the quail eggs being non-fertile after 18 days.

 

[sumi]

It would be interesting to see how your duck eggs do. Unfortunately I only got the months, not percentages from that study, but when I get time I'll do a bit more research. I find it very interesting. I've hatched eggs through the years and I've never thought of taking notes on hatch rates in the different seasons. I never thought it would be a factor. I'll go look for the quail egg study and get the link for you.

Effects of pre-incubation storage on the hatchability of quail (Cot

This is also very interesting:

PERIODS ON HATCHABILITY OF JAPANESE QUAIL EGGS - AJAS

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Awesome!
btw Sumi.. I maxed my ovations last night whilst I was reading a zillion member articles! I think its chaos in that section, we should be able to catagorize within the section so you can sort... health, chicken breeds, sellers, and soooooo on... sighhhhhh only thousands more to go.

 

[sumi]

It's a good idea, any volunteers?