Putting eggs in the bator on July 25, does anyone wanna hatch along???

[cluckitall]

Going with a broody is so hard. I am to nosey it would drive me crazy not being able to peek.

Yeah, but on the other hand I kinda like the idea of sitting back and letting mama hen do all the work! Hopefully eventually I'll get to try it both ways...

 

[farmer boy]

Yay, I can't wait. I keep getting back on here because, I am excited about seeing more of your babies.

Do you have any more babies yet? How many eggs did your broody have?

she has 8 two hatched and most of the 6 left are fertilized ... on is so beautiful you guys would like it i think .... i will see tomorrow if anymore hatch and i will get all the pics of the new ones

 

[Reedgirl20]

Ok, I'm late to this thread but figured I would post anyway. This is my first ever hatch and I put in 50 bobwhite quail on July 27. Am so excited I candled for the first time last night and saw veins and movement in all but 5-6.

Newbie question.....how often can you safely candle an egg?

 

[cluckitall]

Whoa! 50??? Reedgirl, I think you just won the "ambition" award for this hatch!!!

I am NOT an expert, sadly, but I have researched a lot Here's the info I've gleaned -- with one small hitch: all my reading has been on hatching chickens, not quail. I don't know if quail eggs are more delicate!

Here's what I've learned:

It is suggested that candling in the first week isn't a good idea. Those little embryos are fairly delicate, and the less they're handled in the early stages of development, the better. Additionally, there really isn't much to see (with chicken eggs) until day 4 or 5 at the earliest, so why not wait till day 7? That said, I've been candling my eggs from day two, and they all seem to be developing vigorously. This is also my first attempt at incubation, so how could I resist???

But popular wisdom says to wait till day 7, if not 10, and I have to agree that handling them as little as possible is probably smart.

When you DO candle them or turn them (I'm hand-turning 3 to 5 times a day) do so as gently as possible. It's fairly easy to jar the embryo hard enough to shock it, so that it stops developing and dies, or to damage the protective membranes. So handle them like, well, eggs!

Length of time out of the incubator -- again, this applies to chicken eggs. I don't know quail hatching habits! But chicken mamas often leave the nest for as much as twenty minutes at a time, once a day. They seem to have a native instinct for how long they can be off the nest -- in cold weather, apparently they routinely grab their drink and bite of food and make a beeline back to the nest! So if it's colder out, you have a smaller window of opportunity for the same reason the chicken does -- the eggs will cool more rapidly. If it's warm, five or even ten minutes out of the incubator shouldn't hurt them a bit.

I've been candling my eggs daily, because I just can't help myself! I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm doing it

More than once a day seems silly, though -- at least I can show THAT much self-control!

There appears to be a TON of info on hatching quail eggs -- https://www.backyardchickens.com/search.php?search=hatching+quail+eggs Looks like all the info you could want and more! Good luck, and just because I'm curious -- what sort of incubator set-up are you using??

 

[cluckitall]

And hey, the 27th! I put mine in the morning of the 28th. Dang, if I remember right, quail eggs take four or five days less than chicken eggs, so yours are gonna hatch first, too!

Everybody's gonna have chicks before me...

If you candled last night for the first time, that should put you at day 8 and just about right on schedule. 44-45 out of 50 is a GREAT percentage!!! And heck, your eggs must be just about halfway through their incubation! VERY cool!!!

 

[cluckitall]

I can't wait to see, farmer boy!

 

[farmer boy]

Whoa! 50??? Reedgirl, I think you just won the "ambition" award for this hatch!!!

I am NOT an expert, sadly, but I have researched a lot Here's the info I've gleaned -- with one small hitch: all my reading has been on hatching chickens, not quail. I don't know if quail eggs are more delicate!

Here's what I've learned:

It is suggested that candling in the first week isn't a good idea. Those little embryos are fairly delicate, and the less they're handled in the early stages of development, the better. Additionally, there really isn't much to see (with chicken eggs) until day 4 or 5 at the earliest, so why not wait till day 7? That said, I've been candling my eggs from day two, and they all seem to be developing vigorously. This is also my first attempt at incubation, so how could I resist???

But popular wisdom says to wait till day 7, if not 10, and I have to agree that handling them as little as possible is probably smart.

When you DO candle them or turn them (I'm hand-turning 3 to 5 times a day) do so as gently as possible. It's fairly easy to jar the embryo hard enough to shock it, so that it stops developing and dies, or to damage the protective membranes. So handle them like, well, eggs!

Length of time out of the incubator -- again, this applies to chicken eggs. I don't know quail hatching habits! But chicken mamas often leave the nest for as much as twenty minutes at a time, once a day. They seem to have a native instinct for how long they can be off the nest -- in cold weather, apparently they routinely grab their drink and bite of food and make a beeline back to the nest! So if it's colder out, you have a smaller window of opportunity for the same reason the chicken does -- the eggs will cool more rapidly. If it's warm, five or even ten minutes out of the incubator shouldn't hurt them a bit.

I've been candling my eggs daily, because I just can't help myself! I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm doing it

More than once a day seems silly, though -- at least I can show THAT much self-control!

There appears to be a TON of info on hatching quail eggs -- https://www.backyardchickens.com/search.php?search=hatching+quail+eggs Looks like all the info you could want and more! Good luck, and just because I'm curious -- what sort of incubator set-up are you using??

you should not do that to much candling can kill the chick

 

[farmer boy]

I can't wait to see, farmer boy!

ya i can't wait to see if anymore hatched tomorrow its 12:30 for me

 

[Reedgirl20]

Well from what I've read the bobwhite quail actually have an incubation about the same as a hens so we may still be on the same day

And I'm using the Brinsea octagon 20 with the automatic turner. I needed something to make this as easy as possible, lol. I am hoping for a fifty percent hatch but after my candling I made an extra cage this weekend in case I'm luckier then that.

 

[cluckitall]

farmerboy, yes it can! I have to admit I'd really thought of this first hatch as a learning experience which is a large part of why I only set eight eggs -- I wanted to learn how it all worked, see what the chicks' development was like, the whole nine yards. As of right now, all eight eggs seem to be doing fine, but no, I have no intention of repeating this level of curiosity on subsequent hatches!!!