➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[007Sean]

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.

Mushy chicks are the ones that hatch with larger than normal abdomens (visually).Too high humidity during incubation causes the chick to not be able to absorb the yolk as it would if the humidity was lower. This is why some peeps weigh the eggs during incubation to see if the water loss is normal or abnormal, it's another way of determining whether the humidity is right or not (weight loss). When they hatch they appear to be 'pot bellied".
They feel 'mushy', their abdomen will feel 'mushy' when handling them, thus the name.

The spike at hatch time isn't going to cause a problem ( while their actively hatching). The problem occurs prior to hatching during the incubation period, depending on the species of bird being incubated, that could be 14 days, 18 days, 21 days, 28 days, etc. The last 3 or 4 days that the humidity is increased, does not affect the embryos, unless the humidity is at saturation point...when you see water droplets forming on the viewing windows, it's too high.

 

[007Sean]

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.

I like the thought process but I think it would be better to get the right balance of vitamins and minerals into the parent stock's dietary nutritional needs...how do you know what vitamins and how much to put on the outside of the shell to be absorbed, plus too big a chance of introducing bacteria into the egg. Liquids will remove the 'bloom' from the egg shell and allow bacteria to find a pathway into the egg.

 

[Kullas]

@Kullas should be getting close to lockdown right?

Friday

 

[muddy75]

I started candling last night (day 4) did about 32 eggs so far and only put 4 potential clears aside so far. hopefully candle others tonight.

 

[R2elk]

BYC Member Interview - Igors Mistress

 

[dpenning]

The other day when the hawk was here visiting...after he left the silly Mex said he should have feed him one of my boys. I almost karate chopped him.

I'm just looking out for the cats. They need play time.


I could never just chunk a quail to my dog.
I'd die.

But even the faker would enjoy it I bet. One of my dogs has a huge high prey drive. I don't toss him anything but when I had quail sometimes one would get out of the pen and into the dog yard when I was trying to catch it. Bo had big fun. The quail were going to wind up in his bowl anyway but he had WAY more fun catching his own!

 

[Kiki]

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.

This would be a neat experiment. I need to think about it for a minute.

 

[Kiki]

Friday

Is it Friday yet?

 

[BullChick]

Y’all have been talkative!
My quail babies are two weeks old now, and still like me. They are able to get into the feeder, and keep popping the lid off, then the others poop on it.

 

[Kiki]

But even the faker would enjoy it I bet. One of my dogs has a huge high prey drive. I don't toss him anything but when I had quail sometimes one would get out of the pen and into the dog yard when I was trying to catch it. Bo had big fun. The quail were going to wind up in his bowl anyway but he had WAY more fun catching his own!

The Faker would LOVE to play with a baby quail.
All of the quail are now bigger than him...he would probably be scared of one if I let him play.

My real dogs...would go ape nuts if I made the mistake of letting a quail escape.
I'd be too scared they would then destroy my cages to get to them.