That Quail Place Forum
Raising Gamebirds => Incubation => Topic started by: KAG on June 26, 2009, 10:52:55 PM
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I bought 120 coturnix eggs off of ebay from a seller with great feedback for my little giant w/turner. I read and re-read before I started. its been 15 days and decided to check them. So just to see I opened 3....just warm undeveloped eggs. So I opened 10 more, most the same others white paste like material inside. At this point with close to 10% checked and all not viable I have somehow really jacked it up.
So I guess I will get 120 more and this time spend the extra $$ and get a digital temp and hum to use. I do not think I got 120 bad eggs.....could have but I doubt it. I guess the lesson learned here is attention to detail.
SO honestly, how many of you have absolutely messed up an entire hatch? Oh well on to my 2nd hatch attempt.
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I haven't messed up an entire hatch. thk1
Candling doesn't require breaking the eggs open and should be done 7-10 days on bobwhites, I'm not sure what the recommendation is on coturnix, someone may chime in with some experience with them.
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AHH----- ebay
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E-Bay s53 b3
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don't wash the eggs
pointed end down?
what temp you got for the bator? 99.5f w/fan 100.5f w/o
How much humidity?
Don't open the bator unless you need to add water.
don't leave it where the sun shines on it directly- it will over heat the eggs.
allow the eggs to reach room temp before setting in the bator.- I set the eggs in the turner outside the bator first and wait til they reach room temp, then set whole thing in bator.
I turn the turner off at 15 days and my coturnix hatch on day 17 most times for me.
I can't see due to the colored shells so don't candle. I tried the first time and couldn't see anything.
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I agree with the colored shell thing. When I hatched my turckeys I didn't bother candling them. My quail I only take one or two out to candle b/c I don't like letting the heat and humidity out.
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Since I am just starting this.... ebay is my source......I can tell it may not be a good source but I have not been doing this enough to know a good one from a bad one. a29 I really did research each seller for the feedback comments on their eggs. I have been searching and found several websites offering eggs for sale but I figure they are close to the same as ebay except no way to leave feedback on them.
I did rest them prior. No washing. Loaded eggs pointed side down. Temp was right near 100f. Humidity is unk. I have read several places where some people do not add any water and achieve 85% or better hatch rate. I may try that next as maybe I had too much water in the incubator. I filled the rings in the bottom. stp1
I plan to change the location of the incubator to down in my walkout basement area, buy digital gauges, source eggs from several different places. Not add water this time. For me while totally jacking it up like a football bat is disappointing I am not up set over it and just plan to try again and see what happens.
With that said if it happens again.......I will let my wife do it after that from now on and then just blame her if it fails......Just kidding j2
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......I will let my wife do it after that from now on and then just blame her if it fails
lol2 You can blame her anyway, no matter what..........she's bound to have disrupted the process in some manor. Happens around here all the time with my wife. ^-^
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Just keep trying intill you get it right, it's the only way to learn. I used to breed leopard geckos and it took a few times before I could get any to hatch and after I got a process worked out I had a 100% hatch every time or close to it.
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i candle my jumbo browns about 5 days be for they hatch.....if you candle and cant see light through the egg except for the air sack at top of egg its going to hatch ...if you candle and the light lights up the whole egg toss it....i candle about 5 days befor they hatch just because its easier to tell and i can through the bad eggs out so i aint waiting on them to hatch....this is just my 2 cents hope it helps
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You gave me a good idea, well I hope it's a good idea. When you said about not waiting for rottenones to hatch it made me think back to my last hatch were I waited and most of them were just rotten. I think with my chickens I am going to candle them as I am putting them in the hatcher, that way I don't put any rotten ones in the hatcher and I can just pitch them.
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Well the 2nd attempt is slotted to start hatching, I use the word loosely, on Monday. So we will see. I just got my 3rd batch of 120 eggs and they will be going in the 2nd incubator in the am. I have been watching for a good egg supplier but I am still ebaying it as of now. I need another 120 for next week.
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Kag, When you say you filled the rings in the bottom of the incubator does that mean you filled all of them b3 you should fill only 1 slot in the bottom while incubating. Then when it is time to take them out of the turner and lay them on the wire to hatch fill 2 slots with water try this an see if it helps. once they are put on the wire to hatch do not open the incubator. ty2 Jim
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Kag, When you say you filled the rings in the bottom of the incubator does that mean you filled all of them b3 you should fill only 1 slot in the bottom while incubating. Then when it is time to take them out of the turner and lay them on the wire to hatch fill 2 slots with water try this an see if it helps. once they are put on the wire to hatch do not open the incubator. ty2 Jim
Well I guess that would explain why the first hatch completely failed...... r1
The 2nd attempt I did not put any water in it at all.
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Kag, You need to fill 1 slot with water they have got to have moisture. ty2 Jim
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Kag - I used to use a Little Giant inc w/ turner. I put a small hole in the top and ran 1/4" tube down through that, through where one of the eggs would go, and through the wire mesh into one of the slots. I put a funnel on the other end. This way you don't have to open the incubator at all to add water. For hatching, I removed the other red plug but didn't do anything different with filling the water. I would also light mist the eggs the final 3 days of hatching to add moisture and do it as quick as possible to not let all of the heat and humidity out. I got between 65% and 75% hatches with coturnix eggs from my own hens and about 50% on mail order eggs.
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Kag, are your hatches doing any better??????
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Kag, are your hatches doing any better??????
Started hatching last night. 5 so far with one I know is not going to make it. I did pull 10 out on the 15th day and opened them. 3 had chicks the others were just eggs. Still looking for a good egg supplier. Need another 120 soon to fill this incubator. My other one has been incubating 5 days now. I think with the first hatch I had too much water in it and killed them early. I guess my deal is until I figure it out I will just keep the little giant dry. I did note that I had to adjust the temp on the little giant daily sometimes multiple times. I am using digital temp probes. One incubator has a fan the other does not. I did buy another fan just need to hook it up.
I keep looking at a sportsman 1502 and will probably get one sometime in the fall. Also getting ready to build a whizbang plucker for use on all the chickens, ducks, and turkeys I will cull later next month. I plan on building a small one for the quail too.
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Kag - I purchased the 1502 recently and love it. However, the Little Giant worked pretty well for me, I just needed more capacity. When I incubated eggs, I started the inc a day before and got the temp dialed in. I just used the plastic thermometer you get with it and put it on top of the turner to dial it in and then just left it alone. It seemed to maintain temp from 99 to 100 pretty good. Does the room you have your incubator in maintain an even temp and humidity fairly well? I think you need a little water in the tray or the eggs would just dry out. Also, an incubator takes a little time to adjust when you change the dial, changing it multiple times a day could affect your hatch.
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Lots of great advice here........now I just need to follow it
I did not have a single egg hatch all day.....so in my usual form I messed with a few. stp1 Seems like most of the ones I opened (10) were well developed with feathers and such but dead. I did fill the water rings when I took the eggs out of the turner and placed them on the wire. I am going to pull the live birds out tomorrow and then wait 2 more days then open them all up and see what I have going on. c29 As most of the ones I opened tonight were advanced in their development I would say I killed them in the last several days or so. All were moist and not dried out looking. Believe it or not it is not discouraging but interesting in just how many ways can I screw it up....... dh1
We have a rural lake home and we lost power for about 12hrs 5 days ago. Do not know if that is enough to maybe have an impact on them.