4 silver button quail + 1 lonely little blue andalusian - Day 22

[mjolly]

This is my first hatch, I was so excited and recieved the eggs in the mail, no breakage. I had a mix of 5 silver button quail eggs, 4 blue andalusian, 4 speckeled susix, and 4 silver spangeled hamburg's. I let them sit for about 12 hours and put them into the incubator. I candeled on day 14 and removed 6 of the chicken eggs. They had no signs of development - two had a small blood ring all the the way through the egg about 1/3 of the way down form the big end, but clear above an below. I cracked them just to be sure. No growth. One of them looked to clearly be scrambled. The temps and humidity have been right on all the way through.

On day 20, 3 of the quail hatched out! They are so very cute and soooo tiny! Day 21 brought a 4th quail and 1 of the Blue andalusian eggs. Today is Day 22 ad I have had no signs of any of the remaining eggs hatching.

I removed the lone chick and placed it in the brooder. While the bator wass open, I quickly candeled the remaining eggs. 4 of them are completely dark except for the air sac on the large end, and I can see what looks like a wing with wet feathers on one of them. Yet I detect no movement.

I know I candeled quickly, but I am hoping that at least one of the remaining eggs will hatch. My lonely chick need a friend. Richt now he is in with the button quail and towerts over them. The quail all huddle around his legs and he looks up at me like a giant amoungst miniatures! Almost liek, "Mom, do I have to hang out with my baby brothers!"

Please send hatching vibes....we need another buddy for my lone chick.

And how long should I wait until I turn off the bator...Day 24-25 or so?

Please let me know if there is anything else I should do, except sit on my hands and wait like an expectant mom!

Thank you,
Marva

 

[marie_martin]

Wow, it took your buttons 20 days to hatch? Mine usually take about 16 days. I would leave them another day or two to make sure since the quail were late hatching, the others might be as well. You may have had some low temps??? Good luck.

Marie

 

[mjolly]

Actually, I held the button quail eggs back 3 days or so, to insure they would be hatching near the chicks. I rotated them several times a day until placed on the automatic turner with the chicken eggs. I used 1/2 of a plastic easter egg lined with some cotton to hold the quail eggs in the larger turner. I was surprised at the hatch rate of 4/5 with the quail!

Marva

 

[marie_martin]

Oh well that makes sense. I would still wait before removing the eggs. Or try to candle them if you can.

Marie

 

[mjolly]

I did candle yesterday and looked liek we have 4 chicks inside and one egg with a good airsac, then maybe a partially developed chick, and the bottom third of the egg is clear.

I think we have a potential for 4 more chicks, unless they died inside the eggs just before hatching. I would be so sad if that is the case. I wonder what I may have doen wrong. The temps have been between 95.5-100.5 and humidity between 40-45% for days 1-18, then 67-72% for days 19 and on.

Any ideas?

Marva