quail eggs Vs chicken eggs

[ozzie]

I have ordered chicken eggs in the mail before and have successfully hatched some and I thought I would do quail as well. Anyway, I found that despite the packaging, out of the 40 that were sent, 3 were cracked when they arrived (the packaging wasn't squashed but I thought maybe it got bumped or something). Anyway, I popped the rest into the bator - and now at day 3 I noticed that another 1-2 look cracked - they didn't look it when I took them out of the packaging but they may have had minute hairline cracks that I couldn't see.

I guess my question is - have you found quail eggs to be thinner shelled than chicken eggs and therefore more likely to suffer cracks in transit or with rough handling?

I'm not sure how many will hatch from this batch because with all the speckling on the quail eggs, it's really hard to see the cracks.

ozzie

 

[Boyd]

their eggs do seem a lot more delicate than chicken eggs. And because of how they are colored, I have to wait for a stinky to figure out what where and why......

My fumble fingers breaks more eggs than shipping or rough handling though

 

[farrier!]

I have had 3 orders of quail and button quail. Just 2 were cracked.
I cheat and make my 13 yr old unwrap them....

 

[citalk2much]

I do find the shells a little thinner

 

[ozzie]

Thank you - I'm so glad that they hatch faster than chicken eggs - so I'll know in 2 weeks if they hatch or not!

ozzie

 

[shelleyd2008]

The shells are easier to crack, but the membrane is very tough! You should candle them before setting them (any eggs for that matter). If the egg has small, hairline cracks, you can 'fix' them with wax.

 

[kingmt]

Try candling from the air cell side. This seems much easier to me.

 

[babalubird]

Whole lot easier to break. I raise quail. Check your local craigslist or other such pubs. There's bound to be quail raisers around. They're everywhere. That way you can get them locally and not take those risks.