Couple questions regarding lockdown

[SegiDream]

I have a mixed bag of corturnix quail eggs: jumbo and potentially any of these varieties: English white, panda, extended brown, Pharaoh, tuxedo, rosetta, grau fee, silver, sparkly, Italian. They seem to be about 60/40 big quail eggs and some slightly smaller ones. No button quail in this mix. Getting the brooder ready this weekend and want to verify a couple things now that hatch time is almost here.

The eggs were started March 6th about 7am. This is the first time using this incubator which I made and my first time with quail. Has an automatic turner. A fan to circulate the air. Has an inkbird temp controller which varies by 1 degree so the average temp has been at 99.5 - and I have multiple backups for the humidity and temp readings. Humidity has been slightly bumpy but has stayed between 39-43%. I used 2 light bulbs for the heat source. One of the bulbs in the back went out which I replaced but not sure how long it was out. I check the incubator a couple times a day but I don't open it so my view of that bulb was somewhat obstructed until I opened it to refill water and saw it. Hopefully that bulb didn't disturb the process too much. For lockdown I plan to raise the humidity to 60-65% and move the eggs out of the turner.

My questions:

1. I keep second guessing myself. Am I correct that lockdown should start on March 21st in the morning?
2. And hatching should start on the 22nd through the 23rd?
3. The bottom of their tray is 1/4" hardware cloth. Is it safe to line it with no-slip shelf liner (pic) for hatching?
4. Should I consider lowering the temp when they start hatching or better to just leave it alone?

 

[Nabiki]

I have a mixed bag of corturnix quail eggs: jumbo and potentially any of these varieties: English white, panda, extended brown, Pharaoh, tuxedo, rosetta, grau fee, silver, sparkly, Italian. They seem to be about 60/40 big quail eggs and some slightly smaller ones. No button quail in this mix. Getting the brooder ready this weekend and want to verify a couple things now that hatch time is almost here.

The eggs were started March 6th about 7am. This is the first time using this incubator which I made and my first time with quail. Has an automatic turner. A fan to circulate the air. Has an inkbird temp controller which varies by 1 degree so the average temp has been at 99.5 - and I have multiple backups for the humidity and temp readings. Humidity has been slightly bumpy but has stayed between 39-43%. I used 2 light bulbs for the heat source. One of the bulbs in the back went out which I replaced but not sure how long it was out. I check the incubator a couple times a day but I don't open it so my view of that bulb was somewhat obstructed until I opened it to refill water and saw it. Hopefully that bulb didn't disturb the process too much. For lockdown I plan to raise the humidity to 60-65% and move the eggs out of the turner.

My questions:

1. I keep second guessing myself. Am I correct that lockdown should start on March 21st in the morning?
2. And hatching should start on the 22nd through the 23rd?
3. The bottom of their tray is 1/4" hardware cloth. Is it safe to line it with no-slip shelf liner (pic) for hatching?
4. Should I consider lowering the temp when they start hatching or better to just leave it alone?

View attachment 3435391

The only issue I see is that, in my experience, your humidity was a bit high during incubation. I had a lot of curled toes and issues with hatching my first few hatches, but they mostly went away when I lowered my incubation humidity to about 30%.

For hatching, the humidity should be around 50-60%.

I would lock down in the 20th, but it's okay if lockdown varies a day in either direction. It's not cut and dried.

You have the hatch dates right as long as your temperature readings are right.

Definitely line with the shelf liner. Good footing is very important for the chicks.

I would leave the temperature alone.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your hatch! Let us know how it goes.

 

[SegiDream]

The only issue I see is that, un my experience, your humidity was a bit high during incubation. I had a lot of curled toes and issues with hatching my first few hatches, but they mostly went away when I lowered my incubation humidity to about 30%.

For hatching, the humidity should be around 50-60%.

I would lock down in the 20th, but it's okay if lockdown varies a day in either direction. It's not cut and dried.

You have the hatch dates right as long as your temperature readings are right.

Definitely line with the shelf liner. Good footing is very important for the chicks.

I would leave the temperature alone.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your hatch! Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the advice! I hope there are no curled toes ugh. I opted for no water at all in the incubator at first since it was staying about 40-42 naturally. Added water only to keep it steady later on. I'm not sure if I would have been able to maintain humidity in the 30's unfortunately.

I may start lockdown on the 20th in the evening then.. will let ya know how it goes. *fingers crossed*

 

[bhaugh]

I put chicks on wood pellets and for the most part it really helps with feet leg issues and slipping around

 

[SegiDream]

Ugh I was off on the hatch dates, making this waiting game feel worse. Went back and checked my notes and realized I originally guesstimated march 24th for hatch day (18th day).

Today would be the 17th day. So I guess I may see hatches at any point now or within a couple days. Humidity is currently at 56 to 57.

I didn't candle these eggs at any point. But I did notice a couple "wiggle" when I moved them from the egg turner. Yesterday evening I noticed a shadow of something on many of the eggs, looks like a speck of dirt (circled). Hoping it's external pipping. Can't hear any cheeps but the fan may be obscuring the sound and all the birdies outside aren't helping. This pic was from yesterday morning.

 

[Nabiki]

Ugh I was off on the hatch dates, making this waiting game feel worse. Went back and checked my notes and realized I originally guesstimated march 24th for hatch day (18th day).

Today would be the 17th day. So I guess I may see hatches at any point now or within a couple days. Humidity is currently at 56 to 57.

I didn't candle these eggs at any point. But I did notice a couple "wiggle" when I moved them from the egg turner. Yesterday evening I noticed a shadow of something on many of the eggs, looks like a speck of dirt (circled). Hoping it's external pipping. Can't hear any cheeps but the fan may be obscuring the sound and all the birdies outside aren't helping. This pic was from yesterday morning.
View attachment 3441004

That's a pip. You'll see chicks soon!

 

[SegiDream]

haha no sooner than I come back inside from feeding everybody, check the incubator and I see a crack on that exact egg. I tried about 10 times to get a shot of it but you can't see it on the pic, but I can see the edge of the shell sticking up a bit. Woot!

Wonder how long it will take this one to pop out. Next time I'm putting a little spy camera in there I swear.

 

[SegiDream]

2 chicks so far. Left them in for several hours but the others haven't finished hatching. The babies are dry but they were knocking around the other eggs and pecking at them, was really worried that they were gonna cause real harm. I super fast popped the door open a little bit, misted with water, and moved those two to the brooder. Both have had food and water. Didn't see any swings in humidity.

Edited to add: no sign of curled toes, their feet and legs look perfect.

 

[Nabiki]

2 chicks so far. Left them in for several hours but the others haven't finished hatching. The babies are dry but they were knocking around the other eggs and pecking at them, was really worried that they were gonna cause real harm. I super fast popped the door open a little bit, misted with water, and moved those two to the brooder. Both have had food and water. Didn't see any swings in humidity.

A little swing in humidity is okay. You did the right thing to get the dry chicks out and the right thing in getting them out quickly for minimal impact to the rest.

 

[SegiDream]

Update is 70% have hatched, just a few eggs remaining. I'm assuming they won't hatch but time will tell.

Right now I think I've got 2 rosetta, 2 tibetan, 1 tuxedo, 1 italian, 1 grau fee and the rest are pharaohs. Already see a breeding project possibility lol. 1 out of the 13 had a foot with curled toes, taped his foot and will recheck in a couple days. He's running around like speed racer atm.