Are my eggs too old?? Hatching storebought duck and quail eggs...

WhistlePig

Chirping
Jan 14, 2023
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First post!! Hope this gets some notice... thanks in advance to all who reply.

I recently got interested in incubating eggs from the grocery store. In short I went down a rabbit trail on Youtube and came out desperately wanting to do this strange thing, filled with hope that I could be successful at something so unlikely.

I purchased 18 duck eggs and 3 dozen quail eggs at the Asian food store. I also grabbed some open container chicken eggs they had from a local farm. The boy at the counter said he thought there were roosters at the farm they got the chicken eggs from. There were a few cracked eggs both quail and duck, plus 2 or 3 huge duck eggs that wouldn't turn in the auto turning so I used the opportunity to check for fertility. There were definite bullseyes in the duck eggs, couldn't tell in the quail at all (too small). I'm not sure about the chicken eggs either, I'm new to looking for fertilized ovum in the yolks so who knows.

In 2 incubators (22 eggs ea.) I place duck and chicken eggs in one and quail eggs in the other. Found out good info about how to heat and hydrate them so that's not a big issue but I've been having a bit of trouble regulating the humidity. They've been in the machines since the 20th so we're 4 days in.

I know it's early but I checked them via candling tonight (1/24). I am really happy to say that I saw little webs of veins in more than half of the duck eggs. I truly can't tell with the quail or the chicken eggs. The quail eggs are so dark and spotty it seems I may not know until they fill up and the chicken eggs are all dark shells as well.

The big concern I have is this: the duck eggs I cracked open that were fertile had too much wateryness, if that makes sense, in the whites. The yolks looked solid enough but any time I've opened up an egg and it was soupy or watery I assume they're a little old. Will this kill my babies part way through the incubation? I have very low hopes of them making it but am looking for some guidance. The air sacks are weak/odd-looking as well. Nothing like my fresh duck eggs I've had in the past.

Any advice or info about quail eggs would be great also. I assumed since quail should only take 16 or 18 days to hatch (I'm assuming they're Coturnix without any info on the box) shouldn't they be evident already? 1/4 of the way in seems like when they should show but I know nothing of how hatching quail works.

Nevertheless, where there is life, there is hope! At least, that's making me feel better right now :)
 
I have no experience with duck eggs and can’t say on the wateryness but I imagine if eggs were too old they just wouldn’t start?
Quail eggs are hard to see in to- you should have a better idea around day 7.
 
This is all you’ll see in a quail egg day 4/5 very light veining. You may need to turn eggs on their side to find the veins and sometimes you just won’t see them
 

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A few days later they’ll start looking like this- the egg will be darker and it’ll be easier to see veining by the air cell
 

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Quail eggs are small but you should be able to make out a bullseye, so those may not have been fertile. Some have a blue membrane - those are near impossible to see veins in. I candle around 10 days and still miss some clears.
 
A few days later they’ll start looking like this- the egg will be darker and it’ll be easier to see veining by the air cell
Thank you for this! How helpful. I'm hoping we get a few at least but I'm not seeing anything at the moment. Will try back to see if I can spot anything like your pics.
 
Quail eggs are small but you should be able to make out a bullseye, so those may not have been fertile. Some have a blue membrane - those are near impossible to see veins in. I candle around 10 days and still miss some clears.
I couldn't see anything so we may have a bunch of duds. Yes, some of these do have a blue hue when I light them up. Does that mean they are a different breed than the others? I am pretty sure I'm seeing Coturnix eggs but a couple are less ink-spot-like and more speckled. If any hatch it would be really cool to have a variety.
 
I couldn't see anything so we may have a bunch of duds. Yes, some of these do have a blue hue when I light them up. Does that mean they are a different breed than the others? I am pretty sure I'm seeing Coturnix eggs but a couple are less ink-spot-like and more speckled. If any hatch it would be really cool to have a variety.
They are all coturnix. The blue membrane is just a gene that is present in all celadon eggs and some speckled ones.
 
To update, all the quail eggs are duds, probably never fertilized. The chicken eggs were the same. Kind of a bummer, but the good news is that all of the duck eggs are doing well! Doing backflips when I candle them, to be precise :) I hope they make it to hatch
 

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