The "Accidental" no turn hatch experiment.

[HumbleHen207]

Today, on the day of lockdown I discover the egg turner never got plugged in. Im kicking myself for not noticing it earlier, but my life kinda just got away from me it seems. I had set approximately 135 coturnix quail eggs, they are due on Wednesday the 11th of March. In water candling I can see that a good percentage have developed and are still alive, however I fear a mass mortality right before hatch. I'm going to record and report the number of hatched eggs, and maybe do a few "eggtopsies" to see what happened to some of the eggs that died just prior to hatch. Crossing my fingers for an okay hatch rate... Has anyone else ever had any experiences with a similar situation?

 

[JJSS89]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Less than ideal but not a death sentence.

I've noticed some hens seem to always be kicking their eggs around and some I've never witnessed "turning" eggs.

I once pencil marked eggs that I placed under a broody and they were never repositioned but she hatched a regular hatch rate of chicks, I think 6/7.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

I wouldn't worry about them not hatching. Some of the eggs should hatch. In our first batch of eggs, we were very inexperienced and didn't turn the eggs. We still had one chick hatch. Hopefully some of yours will hatch! Good luck and have a great day!

 

[HumbleHen207]

Hoping at least some of them hatch, we have one lonely quail that hatched last week who is waiting for a friend! I think I didnt turn his batch for at least the first week and a half either...

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Hoping at least some of them hatch, we have one lonely quail that hatched last week who is waiting for a friend! I think I didnt turn his batch for at least the first week and a half either...

Our hatch results were about 1/10. If you are hatching 150, you should get quite a few to hatch.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had heard you had to turn eggs for atleast the first 11 days. as an experiment I turned 2 eggs for 14 days and then went on a trip for a week. one egg hatched when I got back, one was quit on day 20. the one that did hatch was weak. and died. I think we didn't have the heat up enough in house. during the incubation.

The week before I had hatched 6/6, but I was home, keeping on the heat. and turning.



the plus one was one week older, chicks were a test to see if my roos were fertile.

 

[HumbleHen207]

Good news! Although they are early, therefore letting me know I should turn down the incubator a bit maybe, we currently have two chicks and counting. Several more pips. This is exciting. Not expecting a huge hatch, but some is better than none!

 

[lazy gardener]

Resilient little buggers, aren't they!

 

[HumbleHen207]

Very, they are actively hatching, and they are strong healthy chicks too. Not recommending people stop turning their eggs but if an accident happens, or you forget to turn them its obviously not the end of the world!

 

[HumbleHen207]

I have about 30 quail currently with more still on the way!