Hugs!! I too have felt your pain! Hatching eggs is an art and a hard to perfect one at that!
Every hatch I've had has went horribly wrong so far... My first hatch I didn't know to leave the lid closed and only hatched 6 out of 60! I helped one out of his shell and he wasn't finished absorbing the yolk! I thought he was deformed so I had hubby cull him... then a few weeks later the cat got in the house and killed all but 2
So then when the female finally started laying eggs I put them all into the bator each hatch (I would save up a week at a time to put in) would only hatch 1-2 eggs because of various disasters... my little girl got into the bator to get her some "balls" and had tossed them across the room! (Lucky my gal had hard shells and they only cracked instead of splattered)
Then another week I was sick with the flu so were the kids the house was a disaster! I had ordered another big batch of eggs and had all 70 in the bator! At the end of the week hubby tried to do something nice for me... we all took the family out that night to an antique auction house (I love it) and when I got home the house was spotless! Hubby had paid the neighbor lady to come in and clean the house for me...
But then I went in to turn the eggs and they were COLD! temp said 72... The lady had unplugged the bator to plug in the vaccume... they had been without heat for about 4-5 hours... I started to toss the eggs but only had one week left so I went ahead and plugged the bator back in... well then next morning I get up and the Temp spiked! it was 110
Some how 3 of those eggs still hatch! But 2 birds wasn't the kind I had ordered... I ordered A&M and I got one golden, one Tibetan, and one A&M and he was the runt out of the 3!
This last hatch our electric went out! so for an hour waiting for it to return I put a candle in the bator and opened a few vent holes I was able to keep the temp around 85 finally when I realized it wasn't coming back on we drove it into my moms house... it was 80 by the time we got there... But I still got 14 out of 20 to hatch! Best hatch yet! only downfall is that my stupid sister took 4 birds
And my silly mom let her... saying that since I had so many she thought my sister could just have a few
So much for raising these guys for eggs and food for my family... And my mooch of a sister had the audacity to come out to my house to get food and bedding! because she is too dumb to know to go to the feed store...
and me being the softie (for the birds not her) I didn't want the babies to be fed the wrong food so I gave her some...
So you are not alone! When the weather warms up some more I'll be happy to send you a few Texas A&M eggs if you like (I also have a mutt pin with a golden and Tibetan in there) They make cute babies... Eventually you will get a flock going it just takes time... I'm just now getting a small flock and I've had my bator running nonstop since April of last year! But I have 29 in the bator now due to hatch the end of the month and they are all from my gals!
As for the eggs I've never had any of my quail lay an egg before 8 weeks some take 9 and I even put the light on them
So my 10 babies should start laying in 6 more weeks or 4 if I'm lucky but doubt it!
Hugs!