Help! Quail hatch day with slippery floor!

[Rafnel]

I'm kind of freaking out, I'm on my second attempt of quail hatching (first attempt nothing hatched) and my first quail has officially hatched. About 1 hour ago. It has been trying to stand for an hour but just keeps slipping. The floor of the incubator is just this dumb plastic flooring and I never thought to put drawer liner down or something!

Should I intervene? Other eggs have yet to hatch but have multiple pips. Don't want to open the incubator and ruin the others. Don't want to let these chicks get splayed leg though because I have no clue how I will fix splayed leg if all these little guys get it!

Will they be ok? Is it normal to struggle to stand for the first couple hours even on non-slippery floors?

 

[Rafnel]

Well I took her out and put her in the brooder, she was doing way too many splits trying to stand and it was just freaking me out. The humidity went from 60 -> 40 in that 5 seconds but has climbed back up.

 

[Nabiki]

You can take them out very soon as long as your brooder is set up and warm enough.

 

[Kiki]

Don't stress about the humidity changing on hatch day.
It is much more important that the quail do not screw their legs up on hatch day so get them out of there immediately or put some paper towels down.

 

[The Birb King]

Yes quail can get splayed legs very easily when they are first learning to walk. For the first week they should be on a solid surface such as paper towels.

 

[Rafnel]

Thanks all. I woke up this morning to 3 more hatched! Took them out and put them in the brooder all together!

 

[Nabiki]

Hatching never gets old. Keep us posted on the cute little guys.

 

[Rafnel]

So far I think I avoided splayed leg. The one I took out last night is very strong now and walking.

I had 13 in the incubator, only 4 hatched. I candled the remaining and confirmed no more development, so I cut them open and threw them out. I'd say 4 / 13 is a success as my first attempt was 0 / 11. I'm using eggs from my young male and his 3 females. I imagine he might have a poor fertilization rate here early on but I bet the next hatch will get better.

 

[Nabiki]

Each hatch will get better. You'll learn something each time and won't make the same mistakes again.

 

[Quailman26]

I'm kind of freaking out, I'm on my second attempt of quail hatching (first attempt nothing hatched) and my first quail has officially hatched. About 1 hour ago. It has been trying to stand for an hour but just keeps slipping. The floor of the incubator is just this dumb plastic flooring and I never thought to put drawer liner down or something!

Should I intervene? Other eggs have yet to hatch but have multiple pips. Don't want to open the incubator and ruin the others. Don't want to let these chicks get splayed leg though because I have no clue how I will fix splayed leg if all these little guys get it!

Will they be ok? Is it normal to struggle to stand for the first couple hours even on non-slippery floors?

Freshly hatched quail have to have a floor surface that their feet. Will not slip! The muscle that holds their back legs together is the size of a hair. If their feet slips, they tare that muscle, creating thier legs to separate. Never to be corrected. Use coarse paper towels, or much better, cheap rubberized self liner. Dollar tree for $1.25