Pip or Rotten Egg?

[PepeDeSilva]

I'm hatching my first batch of quail eggs, on day 16 in lockdown and not sure what is going on with this egg.

I've had a hard time candling these eggs because they are so spotted + they arrived covered in a lot of mud but this one in particular is one I could see a well defined air sac on Wednesday night.

Is it possible for them to pip inward like this or is the egg rotten? I haven't noticed much obvious movement outside of a few small wobbles.

 

[Fishkeeper]

That doesn't look good at all. I don't see how a quail would pip inward, it's not like they're grabbing the inside of the shell and pulling. If it were me, I'd take that egg out and smell it- if it's rotten, you'll know. If it smells okay, put it back and keep a very careful eye on it.

 

[007Sean]

I've learned to never 'say never' but in this case I will...pipping inside isn't possible because it has to break the the membrane and the shell to be a pip!
I'd just leave it be for awhile longer. If it doesn't pip, then its (DIS).

 

[PepeDeSilva]

I pulled it out really quick and gave it a sniff, no rotten smell but doesn't seem alive either. It looks like the membrane is still intact and the shell has just collapsed.

I put it back in and I guess we will just wait out the weekend and see if anything happens.

 

[007Sean]

I pulled it out really quick and gave it a sniff, no rotten smell but doesn't seem alive either. It looks like the membrane is still intact and the shell has just collapsed.

I put it back in and I guess we will just wait out the weekend and see if anything happens.

I'd remove it of the shells collapsed...it most likely isn't alive.

 

[PepeDeSilva]

Update: I removed the collapsed egg and cracked it open, nothing going on inside. Looks like it either wasn't fertile or stopped developing awhile ago.

I wasn't feeling optimistic about this batch BUT we just had our first real pip! I saw a tiny beak poke out and everything. There is some noticeable movement with the other eggs as well, I'll take some pictures once the first one pushed all the way out.

 

[PepeDeSilva]

Good news! We have our first three quail! Looks like a couple more eggs have pipped so hopefully they will hatch soon as well. I will be super pleased if we get to 50% hatch rate on our first try with some ebay eggs that went thru the mail when it was only 24 degrees outside.
Also, I think I figured out what happened to the collapsed egg and it may be of interest to anyone hatching quail with the JANOEL 12. When I went into lockdown I didn't bother to removed the top plate like you would for chickens because I figured the quail were so short enough to stand up anyway. However, there is a little hole in the top plate that is big enough for a quail egg to fall into, and this hole is directly under the post for the turning mechanism, which you can see in the picture. When the post went around (I don't think there is a way to turn it off) it hit the egg and since the egg was stuck in the hole, it crushed it instead of rolling it out of the way. Luckily it looks like it hit an egg that wasn't viable, but next time I will definiately remove this plate when I go into lockdown.

Anyway, thanks for your help everyone!