Effect of Preincubation Storage, Parental Age, and Rate of Lay on Hatchability in Coturnix coturnix japonica

Three experiments on hatchability of Japanese quail eggs were conducted. Records on a total of 1829 eggs were taken. Parental ages from six to 11 weeks were studied and at the age of 8–9 weeks maximum hatchability of fresh eggs was attained. Effect of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (or maximum) lay was investigated in four lines of Japonica. Only at 25% lay were the results inferior to the other rates studied. Effect of preincubation storage of one day to 23 days on hatchability and length of incubation (time of hatch) was also studied. Length of incubation was found to be highly dependent on the length of preincubation storage of the eggs. Every additional day of storage increased the incubation time by 1.1 hours. Details of quail husbandry, feeding and rearing, are also outlined.