albinosilver
Songster
- May 17, 2018
- 217
- 447
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I was interested to see the effects of turning on eggs. It is generally agreed upon that turning is necessary for incubating eggs but I have seen a few sources that claim it is unnecessary. I started with 6 quail eggs. I incubated them at 99.5, 40% for 7 days with no turning. On day 7, I candled and 4/6 were alive and developing well. I immediately noticed that the embryos were stuck to one side of the shell. Usually, when you turn an egg, the embryo repositions to the top side. These embryos were completely stuck and couldn’t move. I started turning each egg regularly on day 7. Within 3 days, 3/4 developing eggs died. 1 egg survived and is now on day 24 of incubation. I candled it this morning and it was still alive and moving! Surprisingly, it seemed to be several days behind in development. I’m really curious if it will hatch and how it will turn out.
From this experiment, it seems that not turning eggs for an extended period and then starting to turn is quite harmful. I wonder if I never turned the eggs at all, would the outcome be different...
Note that I successfully hatched 2 dozen quail eggs in my incubator prior to this experiment so incubation elements would not be a factor. The only difference is the turning of the eggs.
From this experiment, it seems that not turning eggs for an extended period and then starting to turn is quite harmful. I wonder if I never turned the eggs at all, would the outcome be different...
Note that I successfully hatched 2 dozen quail eggs in my incubator prior to this experiment so incubation elements would not be a factor. The only difference is the turning of the eggs.
