all who are hatching quail

[Gentry1350]

OK, so I got my humidity/temp sensor from Walmart. I unpacked my eggs and only found 3 broken. I've read that you're supposed to leave the eggs sit for a while before putting them in the bator. But, considering my eggs were a day late getting here, which is worse: waiting another day (they shipped from Idaho on Monday) to put them in the bator? or put them in the bator after only 4-5 hrs rest?  What say you?  Thanks!

Edit: Make that 4 broken. But that's ok, since IDHOUND sent an extra dozen.

I would go ahead and test your hygrometer...I know it's new, but most aren't accurate. Mine reads about 7% low, so I know to add that to whatever it reads in order to get the correct number. I would also recommend testing it every spring. Just google it or search on this site...all the instructions are pretty much the same. Just make sure you don't have any water sitting on top of your "slurry" when you make it. It does make a difference. Good luck! Please post pics when they hatch.

 

[yellowherb]

I bought a 99cent auction off Ebay for some A&M. They arrived today and oh my goodness..those eggs are HUGE. I had big eggs from my coturnix already but those made mine look a bit small. So I have 18days worth of hatching in my incubator right now. I've been setting my buttons and coturnix as they lay so that's 7-9 eggs a day I've put in My first button out of my own birds is pipping right now and I'm excited.

 

[313759]

My babies are pipping. I'm so excited!!!

 

[313759]

I got 5 chicks from my first batch out of 12 darn it. Well at least I have my second batch which is due in 3 days. I candled the second natch and there was one bad egg out of 13. Hope I get good hatch from these

 

[yellowherb]

Are you using shipped eggs Ducky 13? My first hatch of shipped eggs was 3/13 and one of those died day 2. I ended up with two roo's left lol. Second hatch was way better with 16/24 out of shipped eggs.

I have bobs in the bator now, white ones and Mexican speckled that are due 7/4-5 I'm not sure yet if I will be keeping them or selling them as chicks and concentrating on cortunix. I have a lot of local interest in Bob whites, but a lot of local people do not realize cortunix are available and grow quicker.

 

[EJA1]

I would go ahead and test your hygrometer...I know it's new, but most aren't accurate. Mine reads about 7% low, so I know to add that to whatever it reads in order to get the correct number. I would also recommend testing it every spring. Just google it or search on this site...all the instructions are pretty much the same. Just make sure you don't have any water sitting on top of your "slurry" when you make it. It does make a difference. Good luck! Please post pics when they hatch.

Gentry1350, thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I had already set 64 eggs in the bator before I saw it. My humidity is reading high, 58-62%, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Today is day 4. I guess I could either take it out and do the test, or buy another and test it, then swap it for the one that's in there. If the humidity is really that high this early in the process, what are the consequences? Thanks.

 

[Gentry1350]

Gentry1350,   thank you for your reply. Unfortunately,   I had already set 64 eggs in the bator before I saw it. My humidity is reading high, 58-62%, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Today is day 4. I guess I could either take it out and do the test, or buy another and test it, then swap it for the one that's in there.  If the humidity is really that high this early in the process, what are the consequences?  Thanks.

It won't hurt to take it out to do the test. Your humidity is way too high. Don't try to fix it now, just let it run dry before you add more water.

Humidity needs to be lower during incubation in order for the egg to lose the proper amount of moisture (which causes the air cell to get larger). If the air cell is not large enough at pipping, it increases the chance of the chick drowning at hatch. However, you don't want it to lose TOO MUCH moisture as the air cell will get too large. People incubate using many different methods and may run their humidity anywhere between 20-40%. There is no "correct" way to do it.

I add some warm water when I put eggs in and the humidity usually bumps up to about 45-50%. But then I let it run dry...this usually takes a couple days to fall to the teens. At day 7, I add some water to bump the humidity back up a little And then let it fall again. If I kept track and did an average, I'd say it averages out to be in the mid-high 20s, maybe into the low 30s. Then at lockdown, I bump it way up....I like it around 70-75%+++. Some people have told me that's WAY TOO HIGH.

DISCLAIMER: I don't have a lot of hatching experience, but I've hatched enough that I feel completely comfortable doing it now. The best advice I can give is to search "incubation cheat sheet" and read a couple of those (Sally Sunshine has a really good one that is geared more toward chickens, but the basic principles still apply.) Also, for my first two hatches, I joined one of the Hatch-A-Long groups on here. There are usually always other hatch a holics online there that will answer questions and offer advice in a pretty timely manner. Good luck!

 

[yellowherb]

I try to keep it between 30-40% on incubation, but it's hard to find a good hygrometer, so it's really just a guesstimate. There seems to be no perfection in hatching eggs, everyone does it a little differently and uses slightly different measures of humidity. So really if it works for you, then that's fabulous! Carry on. If it doesn't, you adjust something next time around until you find your sweet spot.

Too much humidity to early is bad though. I've lost nearly 100% of a hatch to that. Chicks get very swollen in the egg and have a hard time pipping and zipping or they drown. Fortunately it's early days for you yet and you have time to correct the humidity issue before it matters most.

 

[Plrichar]

I have quail eggs that need to be incubated today, 7/4/15 in League City TX. Free to a good home

 

[313759]

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I have quail eggs that need to be incubated today, 7/4/15 in League City TX. Free to a good home

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