➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[CoturnixComplex]

This is a great idea if you have at least two slow ones...I'd separate them.

Ditto. I always have "grades", even from a single hatch. Casper just got held back one! He is doing well but his method for finding food is still "peck at everything incl air until goes in beak."

 

[CayugaJana]

Yep, when the humidity is too high during incubation, you will see chicks hatching with 'mushy chick' syndrome. And too high humidity can cause 'stuck' chick syndrome...which is different from a shrink wrapped chick. There is too much fluid surrounding the chick and it can't 'turn' properly, it keeps 'sliding' back to the same point it began pipping and can't 'zip'. When the chick takes a long time in zipping, from my observations, they will have 'curled toes' or other leg deformities.
Some peeps tend to ignore the humidity and worry about temperature.(that's close enough) attitude toward humidity isn't conducive to a good hatch. Under incubator conditions (unnatural) humidity plays an important part in determining the outcome of the hatch and the viability of the chicks.
Sorry for the novel, I'm off my rant.

Thanks for the novel. I try to sink it all in. What is mushy chick syndrome?

I know at one point during the hatch the humidity was really high because over 50 of them hatched right at the same time causing a big spike. But I’m unsure how long it was like that.

 

[Kelsykin]

unfortunately that’s the similar battle I’ve been fighting. decent hatch rates, but only 50% survival from my hatches. I lost my curled foot runt today that hatched two days late.

I just am trying to figure out why they are suddenly dying now after making it 24 to 48 hours.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Thanks for the novel. I try to sink it all in. What is mushy chick syndrome?

I know at one point during the hatch the humidity was really high because over 50 of them hatched right at the same time causing a big spike. But I’m unsure how long it was like that.

Also called a birth infection. Smooshy-feeling, dark, infected abdomen is a symptom.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for the novel. I try to sink it all in. What is mushy chick syndrome?

I know at one point during the hatch the humidity was really high because over 50 of them hatched right at the same time causing a big spike. But I’m unsure how long it was like that.

The humidity at hatch time going high doesn't hurt as much as having it high/er throughout the whole incubation period.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Also called a birth infection. Smooshy-feeling, dark, infected abdomen is a symptom.

Well, an infected abdomen is *the thing. Smooshy-feeling and dark-looking are symptoms.

 

[CayugaJana]

The humidity at hatch time going high doesn't hurt as much as having it high/er throughout the whole incubation period.

Gotcha!

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Well, an infected abdomen is *the thing. Smooshy-feeling and dark-looking are symptoms.

I have heard that doing that intense lock-kneed position where they even sleep falling over standing totally straight-legged can be a symptom, too.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

I just am trying to figure out why they are suddenly dying now after making it 24 to 48 hours.

Unless you own the parents, the trauma of shipping affecting the availability of nutrients to the chick, poor genetics/high inbreeding, or poor parent nutrition are the likeliest suspects. If you do own the parents, I'd reassess the feed, add vitamins, maybe shake things up with some new breeder males unless things improve after that. In any of those cases it makes sense you'd see a high mortality right around when they use up most of their egg yolk (i.e. now).

 

[CayugaJana]

Unless you own the parents, the trauma of shipping affecting the availability of nutrients to the chick, poor genetics/high inbreeding, or poor parent nutrition are the likeliest suspects. If you do own the parents, I'd reassess the feed, add vitamins, maybe shake things up with some new breeder males unless things improve after that. In any of those cases it makes sense you'd see a high mortality right around when they use up most of their egg yolk (i.e. now).

My nerd brain would like to do some sort of study on vitamins and the egg shell. Since it’s porous, would any vitamins put on the outside of the shell be absorbed then available for the chick to use during incubation. But I’m not curious enough to make my own experiment. And someone has probably already published a paper on it.