quail incubation problem

[Nathanya]

I tried incubating coturnix quail eggs and it was not succesful and i dont understand why. I kept the temperature at 99.5 to 100 and the humidity at 50% to 55%. I stopped turning them at 14 days and then didnt touch them until way past the hatch date. I finally decided to take them out at day 21. When i opened up the eggs i saw that all of the eggs were half develpoed and i could see the little chickens inside with their fuzz. I am wondering why did they only half develope and not finishing growing and hatch please help!!

 

[bingrancher]

Lower the humidity maybe, kept mine around 44 percent.

 

[Nathanya]

ok and when you have hatched quail about what day did they hatch on and what percent of your total eggs hatched?

 

[TwoCrows]

If they only got about half way thru the incubation period and then died, it is most like a ventilation problem. Chicks ran out of air. Or, your temp was too high and your gauges are off. If they made to pipping stage and died, then it may also be a ventilation issue, or your humidity was off.

 

[Nathanya]

Ya I am pretty sure the humidity was kept correct. How would I have bad ventilation if the incubator is a circulated air incubator with a fan?

 

[TwoCrows]

Does your incubator have any plugs in the vents that were not letting in fresh air? Were the eggs turned enough during incubation? Are you sure the temp was correct? Where did you get these eggs....shipped eggs can have issues as well as eggs can have breeder parent issues.

 

[Nathanya]

Ya I got the eggs from my own quail flock who are very healthy. Yes I am sure the temperature was correct. Yes it does have plugs and one is open and the other two stay closed to maintain humidity.

 

[SliderShooter]

Ya I got the eggs from my own quail flock who are very healthy. Yes I am sure the temperature was correct. Yes it does have plugs and one is open and the other two stay closed to maintain humidity.

Not enough fresh air is my guess. Pull all the plugs and just before hatch, if you need increase humidity, mist the eggs with some warm water or add a damp sponge. You might have too much humidity and not enough air flow.

Mine hatch in 17-18 days and I get about a 90-95% hatch rate with my own eggs. Expect about 50% hatch from shipped eggs if you are lucky.

 

[bingrancher]

Mine hatched on day 17 and I got 50% hatch on them which they were shipped. I've read alot of people open all vents for fresh air so I agree with the other posts. I'm trying dry incubation this time around with 100 shipped eggs with all vents open.

 

[Nathanya]

Ok ya I just ordered 20 eggs from eBay and thy are on day 17 righ now. I have only had one vent open do you thi I that they will no hatch now because of that's?