➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[eddie_van_quailen]

What brand of incubator are you using?
If it's the standard foam type (Harris Farms Innovator, Hovabator, Little Giant, etc, with 2 small red vent plugs, I leave both of them off. I usually only have to add a tiny bit of water, once a day to keep the Rh up to where I want it. Mine are in a AC controlled room and kept at 80°F.

Mine is a Hovabator Genesis 1588, styrofoam with a fan and 1 vent plug (currently open and will stay that way!). I am planning to put a radiator in that room to warm it up before the chicks hatch this weekend. But the room hasn't been heated during incubation.

I have been adding just 10-15mL of water each day, and that seems to be keeping the humidity right around 34-36%!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Btw, we're down from 26 to 15 eggs now! Couple of eggs with very mobile air cells that I gave a few extra days, but saw no development... when I opened them up found either scrambled yolks or nothing. One egg had a teeny tiny blood spot upon further investigation, but considering I can see chicks moving in most of the remaining eggs I don't think it would have developed even if I'd left it.

Of the remaining eggs, we have about 5 with severely saddled air sacs, so I am considering hatching them in cartons with the largest part of the air cells positioned on top, as I've seen suggested. These poor eggs must have had quite the wild ride from TN to CA. But we're about where I expected to be, if all the remaining ones hatch we'd be just under a 60% hatch rate. There is 1 egg that looks suspiciously underdeveloped compared to the rest, I will be keeping a close eye on that one.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

You could try adding a shot glass filled with water to the incubator. That adds some humidity but has a small enough surface area that it doesn't add much.

Thanks for this tip (you too, @R2elk)! The shot glass method has been keeping the humidity right at 30-32% since last week Total average humidity over the course of the hatch thus far is 36.3%.

Tomorrow is lockdown, I'm so nervous and excited!!! I'm currently researching the best way to hatch eggs with saddled air sacs since a handful are pretty bad... Has anyone had luck with hatching them in cartons? I'm afraid it might hinder their ability to zip & push out. I'm leaning more towards laying them on their sides as planned, with the largest surface area of the air cell facing up, and being prepared to intervene if they're not out within a day or so of pipping. (I read the whole article about interventions!)

 

[R2elk]

Thanks for this tip (you too, @R2elk)! The shot glass method has been keeping the humidity right at 30-32% since last week Total average humidity over the course of the hatch thus far is 36.3%.

Tomorrow is lockdown, I'm so nervous and excited!!! I'm currently researching the best way to hatch eggs with saddled air sacs since a handful are pretty bad... Has anyone had luck with hatching them in cartons? I'm afraid it might hinder their ability to zip & push out. I'm leaning more towards laying them on their sides as planned, with the largest surface area of the air cell facing up, and being prepared to intervene if they're not out within a day or so of pipping. (I read the whole article about interventions!)

Eggs can hatch in cartons fine. They can hatch on their side too.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

13 of the final 15 made it into lockdown. I finally pulled the 2 that were iffy… the ones in the carton are the ones with especially saddled air cells. I’ve still got 2 in here that I’m not sure about, lots of weird shadowing, but I saw movement in 1 so *something* is alive in there (candling gets hard when they’re so big!) If all 13 of these hatch we’d be at exactly 50% hatch rate, but I suspect we’ll end up with closer to 10 out of the 26. If one of the celadons is a roo I’ll keep him so I can hatch my own non-shipped cellies in the future.

 

[Nabiki]

My GodDaughter got me these.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

My GodDaughter got me these.
View attachment 3863248

Precious!! I’m always on the lookout for antique quail figurines when I go to the secondhand stores. These are beautiful

 

[Nabiki]

140 eggs are going into lockdown tomorrow.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

No pips over here yet! It's day 16 so it's still early. Humidity is hovering between 50% and 57%, when it drops below 50% I can add a little water via an IV line I ran through the cord hole for the turner. Hopefully we'll see some pips soon!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

We have our first pip, one of the celadon eggs in the carton! That's one with a very saddled air sac, good luck little one!