Advice on hands on hatching please.

[molerosedan]

Hi all, My son is a first time hatcher and has incubated 5 quail eggs being careful to get the temperature and humidity right throughout. After the 18 days were up none had hatched. On day twenty two he decided to intervene as nothing was happening. Four had passed away but one little chap is alive but hasn't internally pipped. Following hands on hatching advice on here he has carefully pealed away the air sac end to see whats going on. He is painting the membrane with coconut oil as it still has veins. However, the chick hasn't broken through the membrane so my question is, is it right for him to leave well alone and watch for the veins to shrink back and then wait for the chick to break the membrane, or will he need to make a small tear when the veins have receded. As I understand it, it is the lack of oxygen that causes the chick to break though into the air sac on a conventional hatch, but I guess that wont happen now the shell is open.
Advice would be very much appreciated as he is already emotionally attached!

 

[molerosedan]

 

[ej1222]

I don't know what to do I will do some research.

 

[nuthatched]

@Nabiki
@FloorCandy

Did you make sure the temperature and humidity were reading accurately?
Just keep him in the incubator for the veins to absorb, best of luck!

 

[molerosedan]

I don't know what to do I will do some research.

Thanks,
I've not managed to find anything hopefully you will have more luck . I appreciate your help.

 

[molerosedan]

@Nabiki
@FloorCandy

Did you make sure the temperature and humidity were reading accurately?
Just keep him in the incubator for the veins to absorb, best of luck!

Hi, yes, he was like a mother hen making sure everything was right . Thanks for the advice, do you think the chick will still try to break the membrane on its own?

 

[nuthatched]

Hi, yes, he was like a mother hen making sure everything was right . Thanks for the advice, do you think the chick will still try to break the membrane on its own?

he may be a bit weak, I'm not sure, there's a lot that goes on in hatching and you don't want to interrupt a process.

 

[Nabiki]

Definitely wait until the veins have receded. It's too late to say, "leave them alone", so keep a close eye. Hopefully the chick will make it out on its own. I would guess that your temperature was a bit low during incubation.

If you choose to do hatches in the future, make sure to have at least two calibrated thermometers and a hygrometer inside the incubator. Never trust the readings on the incubator itself.

 

[molerosedan]

Thanks for your advice. It seems we did the right thing in intervening...... Chick has just pierced the membrane on its own and will now be left to complete the job, I'm sure if we had left it, it would have died like the others. This was my sons first hatch. I've hatched many times before with no problems in the same incubator.
Thanks again.

 

[ej1222]

I hope you have a wonderful hatching!