Twins!!!

[chookiechook]

Hi all...

Just thought you might like to see the quail I hatched earlier this year.... Marigold has asked me to post some pics to show you all

Egg was massive so easily housed the two chicks, was more than likely a double yolker (most of hers were) and hatched unassisted

I also found when cracking the other unhatched eggs these two that didnt make it.....

Funny goings on at Parkside Poultry!!

 

[Marigold]

Thanks for posting that on here, Chookiechook, I know all the qual people will be very interested in these amazing pictures. When you get a minute, please can we also see your pic of the two that did hatch, when they were a bit bigger? And did you think they were identical twins, or just came from separate embryos? The last pic certainly looks like a dark chick and a golden one, doesn't it?
Have you still got the hen who laid these whoppers? And we're the chicks boys or girls? If girls are they laying normal sized eggs?
So many questions, I'm just fascinated.

 

[chookiechook]

Hi again.... They are hens, normal eggs so far which is good as they are not often viable if huge I think they were probably non identical but do look pretty much the same.

The hen that laid the whopper is still here but doesnt lay anymore..... she is getting on a bit (in quail years) so dont really expect much more from her.

Here are the girls all grown up

 

[tygrysek75]

This is a fantastic story and both of them so prytty little birds

 

[ncotb]

Nice to see they are doing well

 

[Marigold]

The yellow chick in the last picture is obviously underdeveloped and not viable so I'm wondering if its early death affected the chances of the other one hatching successfully. Did you break open the egg postmortem in the last pic, or had the bigger chick attempted to get out but just not made it? It looks as if she was thw wrong way round, but probably this was just how they ended up when you you pulled them out of the shell. I'm wondering about how the positioning of the chicks affects their chances. Ie the strongest chick needs to be the right way round and maybe if one is pointing the wrong way it reduces the chances of either of them getting out alive.
Candling quail eggs is obviously very difficult and you wouldnt normally bother, but I wonder if you tried it on these, and if so, what you saw?