Out of my 97 button quail eggs, I got them for free from someone I bought a button quail from before. He just keeps them in his aviary and told me to take as much as I wanted just leave a half dozen or so.
None looked like they were in nests, so I did. Gathered 98 eggs(broke one) Monday before last. I let them sit at room temp until Wednesday when I set them in the incubator.
Well this past Tuesday while turning, one was hatching! The membrane was white so I wet it down and had to put him back in until I got back from picking my hubby up from work. When I got home another had hatched and the original was still trying. So I helped the first one but made him so most of the work;-) . He had curly toes but was getting around so I decided to wait and see for a day to see if it got better at all before intervening.
Thursday morning I noticed they had splay leg. I put them in little harnesses out of vet wrap and a TP roll, so they could stand upright while their legs were taped. I found another one trying to hatch while I was turning, came back 30 minutes later and it had died. All day I moved them back and forth from the food and water. That evening the one I had helped died, too. :'(
The next morning I took the other one out of the harness. It was flailing around but its legs weren't sticking out to the side. I decided to wait and see for a few hours thinking maybe it just needs to relearn how to walk, and if it was still the same when I got back home I would put it out of its misery, something I really didn't want to do. I didn't have to, it died on its own.
As of yesterday I have two new chicks! I put them in the brooder this morning. I hope these ones make it! Not trying to "look a gift horse in the mouth" but I don't want to get eggs from this guy again.
