Varying air cell sizes in quail eggs?

[alpinewelsummer]

Hey all! I have 11 quail eggs in the incubator right now, all from the same mama. They're on day 17 but the air cells vary wildly between some of them. A few of the eggs have much bigger air cells than the others, but they've all been on the same tray in the same incubator the entire time they've been incubating.

I've kept the humidity consistently around 35-40% and then bumped it to 65-70% for lockdown. I thought maybe some parts of the incubator were dryer than others but, the ""dryer"" eggs are spotted throughout the tray, not favoring one spot or anything.

I'm not too worried as there's still movement in all of them, and this is the batch that survived two wild temperature swings during those rolling blackouts (dropped 10 degrees once and then nearly 20 another time! ), so they seem to be tough little ones! I'm more just curious what would cause this large variance in air cells? And are there any precautions I should take during hatch, in light of the differences?

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

@Kiki

 

[Kiki]

Have you ever hatched quail before?
Do you know what draw down means or looks like?

 

[als77]

How did you store the eggs prior to incubating? Since they are from the same mama, some of the eggs will have been 1.5 week older than the freshest.

Although Kiki probably has a better question (i.e maybe the wild ones are close to hatching)

 

[Kiki]

Pips today?

 

[alpinewelsummer]

They were fresh off of mama's nest and right into the incubator about an hour later, so essentially no prior storage.

You're right that this is my first hatch so I'm prone to worrying over nothing. I am aware of draw down, and figured a slight age difference might explain the differences, but curiosity and anxiousness moved me to confirm with the experts, haha.

Happy to say we've got a few pips today! Thank you for easing a newbie's nerves!

 

[AverellFarms]

That's an interesting phenomenon... I have different sizes in my chicken eggs but they're all different breeds. I wonder if it has to do with individual shell porosity? I've noticed that my thickest shells have the smallest air cells.

 

[alpinewelsummer]

That's an interesting phenomenon... I have different sizes in my chicken eggs but they're all different breeds. I wonder if it has to do with individual shell porosity? I've noticed that my thickest shells have the smallest air cells.

That's a good thought! I definitely noticed that some eggs had more visible pores than the others, but didn't think much of it at the time!

 

[AverellFarms]

That's a good thought! I definitely noticed that some eggs had more visible pores than the others, but didn't think much of it at the time!

It's my first hatch, too, and I'm a little obsessed. I have some Marans and Olive Egger eggs that are so thick the light can't get through. So how hard must it be for moisture to escape?

 

[alpinewelsummer]

It's my first hatch, too, and I'm a little obsessed. I have some Marans and Olive Egger eggs that are so thick the light can't get through. So how hard must it be for moisture to escape?

Yeah! I wonder if anyone's tested that somehow? Done some experiments?

Good luck with your hatch! I hope you get a good rate!