Why oh why?

[Esc_Quaily]

Hello BYCers.
As some of you know I joined after my first quail chick hatched last week. Since then we got a total of 7 chicks from 14 eggs. A little bit of background. I bought 8 eggs from one seller and 6 from another. Both batches were sent via the post with no delay or extreme temps along the way. 1 egg was cracked on delivery. We checked over the other eggs and let the 13 sit in a dark room for 24-hours. We tipped all the eggs 4 times in 24 hours and popped them all in the auto incubator. We had the humidity at 30-40% and the temp at 37.5°c for the first 15 days. We then raised the humidity to 40-50% at Lockdown.
5 of the 6 eggs hatched.
Why did only 2 of the other 8 hatch? We had to assist the 2nd chick to hatch as it had pipped but no progress after 18 hours.

All the chicks are doing well in the brooder. I'm confused how one set of eggs had a high hatch rate and the other set of eggs such a low hatch rate even though they were treated identical. If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them. Many thanks in advance.

 

[SilverBirds]

Shipped eggs are always a gamble. Even if incubation conditions are perfect, you aren't guaranteed a successful hatch. There are lots of variables that can affect the hatch rate between the two batches. Eggs stored for a longer time or improperly before shipping can significantly decrease your hatch rate. Longer or rougher travel during shipping, fertility issues (if the eggs never seemed to start developing), or other problems with the parental stock can also be factors.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm confused how one set of eggs had a high hatch rate and the other set of eggs such a low hatch rate even though they were treated identical. If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

Were both sets of eggs in the same container during shipping? If not, conditions were not identical. One could have been dropped or set in the sun for a while.

 

[C Siena]

Agree with @SilverBirds . We had 12 eggs from a Mennonite neighbor that we placed in the incubator, they were 5 guinea and 7 bantam. It was when the layers were just under 1yr, early spring. From what I read, it could have been too early for fertilized eggs. We hatched 1 of each and in candling the eggs, it looked like only 2-3 were fertilized.

Another help the family with eggs about 5 weeks later and had 5 hatch. Then a bantam went broody and hatched 5-6 eggs.

Why was the group I had such a poor hatch rate? I'm going to say, it was too early in the season. The family did not notice any mounting at that time.

Curious, did you candle the eggs at anytime during incubation?

 

[Esc_Quaily]

Were both sets of eggs in the same container during shipping? If not, conditions were not identical. One could have been dropped or set in the sun for a while.

No, thanks for pointing this out. The eggs were sent by 2 different people. The eggs that didn't hatch were from a dedicated breeder. The successful batch were found by the seller in their coop and was a bit less certain as to fertility and likelihood of hatching, but they thrived and the others from the breeder didn't. I meant I treated the eggs identically.

If we order more eggs, I will try the 2nd seller again as their eggs had the higher hatch rate. I feel bad for the poor babies that didn't make it.

Thank-you for responding and giving me some food for thought.

 

[Esc_Quaily]

@C Siena, we did attempt to candle them but neither my lights were bright enough to get a really good look. As we didn't see/smell any obvious infertile eggs we left them all in the incubator. We checked again before lockdown and this time the eggs looked much darker and felt heavy so we assumed they were growing steadily. I must invest in a better egg candler. Thank-you for your input. Very much appreciated.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I was a novice incubator a year ago and getting 85% hatch rates on shipped eggs from random eBay sellers, this spring I ordered expensive eggs from a top end breeder and got 25% hatch rates as an experienced Hatcher, it is all in the shipping! This years batch had saddled air cells so you know they went through something awful while last year I had a batch that was 8 days in the mail, 30% were cracked but still got 6/8.

 

[C Siena]

@C Siena, we did attempt to candle them but neither my lights were bright enough to get a really good look. As we didn't see/smell any obvious infertile eggs we left them all in the incubator. We checked again before lockdown and this time the eggs looked much darker and felt heavy so we assumed they were growing steadily. I must invest in a better egg candler. Thank-you for your input. Very much appreciated.

We have a headlamp that we bought, going outside in the dark of the night for a puppy, that we use to candle. Works great and dual purpose.

 

[Esc_Quaily]

I was a novice incubator a year ago and getting 85% hatch rates on shipped eggs from random eBay sellers, this spring I ordered expensive eggs from a top end breeder and got 25% hatch rates as an experienced Hatcher, it is all in the shipping! This years batch had saddled air cells so you know they went through something awful while last year I had a batch that was 8 days in the mail, 30% were cracked but still got 6/8.

We'll purchase a headlamp and more eggs and try again once the successful 7 are sexed and settled in their forever coop.

I'll have to take a look through the forum to see what issues might arise with mixing different aged birds. I've skimmed over it but now I'll have to take notes. Thanks for sharing your story with us. We appreciate you and your support.