Yay, they hatched!!

[amaurer]

Today is day 25... 6 of my valleys/blue scales are out! Two more have zipped but have been fighting their eggs all day... How much longer should I give the rest of the eggs? I have 10 eggs left and most have pipped but not much else.

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

Awesome! One day I will try my hand at valleys... if my wife lets me. Sticking with the coturnix for now. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
If they were mine, and been zipped and fighting the egg all day. I would help just enough to let them out. My fear would be shrink wrapping at this point. If they dont get out before long there feet will be badly curled. Some will disagree with me but thats ok too....

Bill

 

[Axle Quails]

try help or wait another 24 hours

I hatch Chinese Painted Quail - Courtix Quail - Itailian Quails Aswell

I hatch loads lol

 

[amaurer]

... I've already decided that if they're not out by the time I get home then they'll get help.

I have a webcam set up on the little guys and am watching them at work...

 

[Little_Bigfoot]

DONT HELP if they cant make it out of the egg they probably wont make it after bieng helped out.

 

[amaurer]

Quote:
Everyone says this, but as I see it that means there is no harm done, but a small chance of success. These eggs have zipped around 80 or 90% of the shell, the cap is being held on by some sticky membrane and they can't break it, it just pulses.

 

[spikennipper]

I have helped at least 3 chicks out of shells during hatching and all 3 lived to tell the tale, they grew up strong healthy birds, go with your gut instinct if you think they are having trouble give them a little help, the key is a little at a time, chip where the bird has already started chipping and if you see blood stop immediately, as long as the beak is clear and the bird can breathe then it should be fine, keep wetting the membrane with a damp q tip to make it easier for the chick too.

 

[aprophet]

it sounds like your temps was low I woould check the thermometer the ones I have hatched hatch really slow compared to coturnix or bobs but they start hatching day 22 and finish day 23 but it takes them forever to get out

 

[amaurer]

We're up to 11 now!! I've helped three that zipped and then stopped for 12+ hours... so far all three have been just fine, no blood when I was helping. They seemed grateful, honestly.

I have one more that pipped a big hole but then stalled... we're giving him until after work this afternoon and if hes still with us then he'll get help too.

Interestingly - all but ONE of my chicks are Valleys. Only ONE blue scale hatched, and only 4 of the blue scaled pipped at all. Maybe they need different conditions. The seller did warn me that the weather was bad (?) the week I ordered so he only had 12 blue scale eggs and couldn't send the customary extras. On top of that almost all of the clear/infertile eggs I found (about 6 or 7) were blue scale eggs... so maybe this batch was a little off.


I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I did this in a homemade incubator made out of parts from my junk drawer, so my conditions may have been less than ideal... I used a styrofoam cooler with a 40Watt brooder lamp for heat. I took apart a picture frame and stole the glass to make a sexy double-paned window. The eggs rested on a wire platform with a paper towel over it, and a water trough with sponges underneath.

Originally I tried to control temperature with a lamp dimmer, but it varied too much. I added a PC case fan (with bling bling blue LEDS) and stole the digital temperature gauge out of my car since it had an alarm function that I used to control the temperature by using the "alarm" to switch the lamp on and off...

... so that probably explains the difficulty.