Monday will be lockdown day for my cot eggs. I tried candling them last night, but I can't see anything except one looks like it is half full of something. Other than that, beats me! None have any yellow spots or stink, so I guess I'll just let them all stay in and see what happens. When you candle eggs, can you see into very many of them?
Quail eggs are very very hard to see through, my friend. Just pretend its Christmas and see what happens on day 18...at day 21 pitch what's left and start your new set BTW...like the looks of your homemade 'bator. We have a 1922 cabinet style Victrola, still works. I looked at your pics and looked at ours my wife started and said not a chance! (I wouldn't have anyway since it still is in really good shape) But definitely likes the looks of yours!
My start lock down on Saturday. I have 71 that came from Quail lady. It was a warm 17 degrees when they arrived so I have my fingers crossed. I tried candling but I don't have a light that will do it. Hopefully it will come today. Good luck!
I simply don't understand the obsession with candling quail eggs. Candling eggs over and over again does absolutley nothing to benefit a developing embryo, yet offers a possibility to harm them. (overheating, dropping them, etc.) I have incubated thousands of quail eggs, and never had one go bad and "blow up", or foul the rest of the eggs. Quail egg shells and membranes are tougher than chicken eggs and seldom, if ever pop during a normal incubation cycle. It also seems like the "over-candlers" are the same ones who ask later on "Why didn't I get a good hatch?" Hmmmm...... I wonder why? Broody quail don't carry flashlights.
Good luck to both of you! When I candle, mostly, I look for glowing green eggs. Those get tossed. Sometimes I have to turn the eggs at different angles in my candling contraption to see a glow. I just use an LED flashlight and a disposable cup with a hole punched in the bottom. Halfway through incubation, they will glow reddish. You'll be able to see the air sac at the pointy end. At lockdown, you don't see a thing except the air sac. A couple times I'll be candling and going along fine and get to an egg that is completely solid and makes it seem like I turned off the light. I candle a lot mostly because I'm like a kid with a Christmas present and I like to try to peek! For me, it's fun to see how they change over the days.
I only candle at lockdown . when i move from bator to hatcher i pull the whold rack and go to a dark room . i have a led light with a pvc fitting over the end and piece of garden hose in the fitting . it just fits over the top of the egg. i only candle for clear ones which shine kinda green inside . i leave them in the rack and just go down the row taking out any thats clear. the rest go in the hatcher and what hatches well it does and what dont well it dont..lol
Lock down already! Cool! But also very frustrating 3 days Mine went into lock down last night. Boy is it frustrating. It's a staggered hatch at that. lol. Button around 16 days, Coturnix, around 18 and chickens around 21. Quail eggs are very hard to candle.. Extremely bright light, very dark room! I got several flashlights before I found one that i'm happy with. Mibotsu did a post on one he modified. I'll see if I can find it later. I candle several times throughout the incubation. I do just a few here and there, not all of them at once so the bator doesnt cool down. Good luck to both of you! We'll be waiting!!
I "locked down" 6 test eggs of mine to see how fertile my birds are, I also had 4 eggs that had been refrigerated for 2 days as a test to see if they would hatch lol. I am doing a staggered hatch as well since I just put in some eggs 2 days ago but it will be ok as I put the eggs I just put in on the quail racks so all I have to do to quickly turn them a couple times a day is reach in really quick and slide the "spacer" to the other side and they are good to go rather than rolling 24 eggs and trying to keep track of who has been turned and who hasn't. Ideally I would like to avoid staggered hatches but in my world they are a normal thing lol
My incubators are in a small room that the incubators easily heat up to the same temp as they are. Actually I could set eggs on shelve and just turn them and probably have success. I just candle once and pitch the clears but these are my first cots and and are not as easy as bob eggs to candle.
I put mine in lockdown today. I candled them all as I put each one in. Seven of them were clear, several seem to have something in them and some I couldn't tell, but put them in anyway. I broke open the 7 and they had not done anything. Got my fingers crossed. I guess we'll know something in a few days.
