Set my first eggs today!

[haroun]

MisterGribs

Let's stick with the rehoming plan, shall we.....

lol yes we shall eat them miam miam

[MisterGribs]

Hey guys! Sorry for such a long time with no update, today is day 6 of incubating those coturnix eggs and let me tell you, it was really difficult to restrain myself from candling them until now.

Apparently, they are viable, despite going quite long without incubation, and having been refrigerated! In two of the eggs, I can now see the embryo rocking back and forth. In 8 out of 10 eggs there is visible growth, most of the dark spots are now filling just under half the egg, and the air sacs are growing.

I was expecting a 10 percent hatch rate if I was lucky!

Isn't it amazing what an egg can go through and still hatch??

Regarding that white leghorn egg 'Billy' that was supposed to be an infertile egg- That ALSO came out of a fridge, from a farm that supposedly doesn't allow mating. It was in the fridge for 4 days after laying. In that same dozen eggs I've bought from the store, two others I've since turned into cupcakes had the fertile bullseye.

Fellow bird hoarders beware, there are free chicks everywhere.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

So if I crack open an egg, and it has a little red spot on the yolk, does that mean....

[MisterGribs]

MisterGribs

So if I crack open an egg, and it has a little red spot on the yolk, does that mean....

Well, not always. Blood spots are fairly common, but they don't mean fertility. When a hen releases an ova under stress, or other improper conditions, it can bleed a tiny bit. Then it winds up inside the egg. Bits of tissue can even come off with the ova in some cases. It's called a meat spot.

If you see a circulatory system, veins, etc, then that does mean the egg has begun to develop!

Less obviously, If you crack open an egg and there is a small white spot on the ova (yolk) that is tiny, or irregularly shaped, that's the blastodisc. It's just the germ waiting to be activated by a sperm cell that never showed up.

BUT if you crack open an egg and see a more solid, symmetrical white dot with a faint white ring around it, that is a blastodisc that has accepted a sperm cell and begun to grow and fill with fluid called amnion and become a blastocyst. Some people say it looks like a little bullseye.

If you put one of these eggs under a hen, it will grow veins and begin to develop into a chick. Unfortunately you can't tell a blastodisc from a blastocyst without opening the egg! So just pay attention when making breakfast. If you notice a couple out of a batch have a bullseye, it might be worth buying an extra dozen next time and parenting those ones to see if you get a chick!

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

I might, if I wanted to raise chickens (which I most definitely don't, lol).

In the city, we are not really allowed to keep chickens (considered farm animals), although some people do keep illegal chickens .

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Excited to hear about your coturnix! I just set nine button quail eggs on the fourteenth and am already counting down! First time incubating eggs, so I'm not holding my breath... But gosh, do I hope I've got everything right.

There will be pictures of your babies, right?

[MisterGribs]

celeris I'm not holding my breath for mine either! Lol, yes I will post pics. I started a second clutch yesterday as well!

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Has anything hatched yet?
How long is their incubation period?

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

What are you using for an incubator? Homemade, was it? Honestly, that's proving to be the real heartburn in all of this for me. I heard one comment from my chicken friends that incubators should come with an extensive manual and a shot or two of alcohol--couldn't agree more! I'm borrowing one of those styrofoam incubators from a friend and am certainly seeing the appeal to a nicer one. If I get into the habit of incubating eggs, I'm definitely gonna invest in something nice, no matter the cost!

[MisterGribs]

celeris

Yes, homemade. It took quite a bit of fiddling to get the temperature stable.

I actually just ordered a cheap one from ebay, one of those non branded ones with a build in thermostat. Only ran me 20 euros, but it needs a separate hygrometer.

[MisterGribs]

[quote="lovezebs"][url=http://www.finchforum.com/memberlist.ph ... isterGribs][b]MisterGribs[/b][/url]

Has anything hatched yet?
How long is their incubation period?[/quote] the inc. Period is. Like- 23 days or so long at the most, but I've also heard 18 days
Oh, still 10 days on batch 1. On the two developing eggs I had,I got a DIS bloodring at 8 days, and when I float tested the other, it sank. That's supposed to mean that it's not fertile, so I went to feed it to my zeebs. It was still alive, but not any more! D:

Heta. Grabbed me another batch of cot eggs, but mainly did it to force the store to stock new ones. They are hella old.

Hatchable or no, I don't mind keeping the incubator warm with them and continuing to turn the slugs. I have been really sick lately, but I am addicted to my birds and the eggs get me out of bed at least 4 times a day. They're good for me, lol

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Sorry to hear that you've been sick.
Did you come down with a flu bug?

I noticed that you haven't been on here as often as usual.
Hope you feel better soon....

[MisterGribs]

I'm doing OK, health wise! I have a lot of psychiatric issues though, PTSD and the kind of depression that doesn't really have a cause and doesn't go away and sometimes I just go down and stay down. I slept for 30 hours almost in a row! It just happens! Thank you for your well wishes.

Everyone is getting the flu here in Finland right now, last season we had 4(!!!) strains going around at ONCE and one of them was deadly! I have no idea what's going on out there right now, and I don't mean to, lol

I ordered some size 4 bands to band my quail when I eventually get some going. I'm learning new bird stuff all the time. Man, people do NOT like to deliberately sell hatching eggs around here. I'd like to order some, but they're even hard to find online. We're currently stalking the organic produce for more eggs. I do NOT approve of them having the same crate of eggs in there for 3 weeks!!

Are you kidding me!? They just hold onto the same eggs until they're all gone. One of the first 10 I bought was cracked like a spider's web, too! It's a miracle it didn't explode.

I should keep a cock, and sell my eggs, just so that they would be available.

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Weeell? Any news on the quail?

[MisterGribs]

MisterGribs

Weeell? Any news on the quail?

Not so far! I have been turnin' turnin' turnin' but these eggs are so thick and so dark that I can't see inside them! I have fresh backup eggs that are guaranteed fertile from a breeder lined up in case these guys don't work out. I'd give them a float test, but the last time I tried that, I opened a 'bad' one that had sank to feed it to my birds and killed a beating-heart baby bird in there... I was not happy about it.

Another test-egg from the refrigerator that was 9 days old started developing in my old contraption incubator, but my wife refused to let me hatch it, lol. She doesn't want to get attached to it, chickens are not legal in our housing area, but quail are provided we don't get too many. I think what I have learned from this is anyone, if they care enough, can build their own incubators and hatch eggs.

Luckily though I've got a real, actual incubator with temp control and forced air circulation now.. It's great, but it sure is louder than I expected.

I used the heat element from the contraption to provide substrate infrared heat for the babies, if and when they ever come out. I'm currently sewing some eensy weensy faux fur pillows to stack up and provide them lots of little nooks and crannies to snuggle down into.

I don't think I wound up with any fertile eggs this batch as they were bought from a grocery store (Had two fertile ones in the last batch) but I want to give them the full hatching term plus a little extra just in case.