Ok, one of the quail has hatched. He/she finally decided to get out of the shell. One question though, how long do you leave them in the bator before moving them to the brooder?
Great!
Depends. My incubator recovers very fast after opening it up, both temp & humidity wise.
I'll typically pull out the chicks when several have hatched. I do it as quickly as possible & keep the humidity high during hatching. If I had an incubator that didn't recover as quickly I'd be hesitant to open it up any more than absolutely necessary.
I dip each chick's beak in the waterer as I move them to the brooder to be sure they know where to get water. Once the first few are eating/drinking the others will likely learn from watching them. To get them eating I'll spread some food in the brooder & peck at it with my finger, this gets them interested in the food.
I've read both that quail chicks can and that they cannot go the first day or two without food/water. So not sure which to believe so I like to see them eating & drinking sooner rather than later.
In my experience hatching quail, they zip and hatch quite quickly. If they start to zip & stall I'll cautiously help them. It seems quail get stuck in the shell more readily unless your incubator has a really great turner. Possibly due to quail eggs having a higher ratio of yolk to egg white.
Good luck hope you have more hatching soon!
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