Should I look at the unhatched eggs?

[robbdebbie]

I haven't opened the eggs that I was able to candle and actually see they weren't right. I read about everyone here opening them and looking to see what stage they were at. Is it really that helpful of a thing to do? I am a little aprehensive about it.

I have quail eggs hatching right now, and I moved them all to the hatcher without candling. I know that there will be some that don't hatch. Should I open them up to see if they developed at all? Is that how people come up with a hatch rate? How many hatch that went into the hatcher or total percentage of eggs that hatched out of all?


Thanks

 

[wadek2008]

If you have a bad hatch, its a good idea to open them up to see what went wrong so maybe it won't happen next time. If you get a high percentage of them hatching, I'd leave them alone-not worth it.

 

[Paganbird]

I total my hatch rate on both the # going into the hatcher and the total # set. I do check (crack open) my unhatched eggs... and any eggs that have a blood ring, etc. I keep track of my losses & reasons for loss.
It has helped me determine which hatches worked better and why.
I keep my humidity at a certain % at lockdown because of what I found when comparing my hatch notes.

 

[walkswithdog]

You learn a LOT more if you do open the eggs after.

Do candle them before you open them and open them as IF they were alive and you were helping them out - don't just mash em open. You'd be surprised the number of late viable chicks killed that way.

If you candle first and the egg is totally clear you don't have to bother. Look into the ones that did develop - there's a lot of info there. When they quit is important, lets you know at what stage you may have had a problem. Helps you know what to tinker with.

Good luck.

 

[pax12]

day 24