all who are hatching quail

[mule13]

ok so my hatch is done. this was my second try. i have lots of questions. i been watching youtube vids and people are hatching quail with cheaper looking homemades than mine.seen 1 person had the temp way up at 105.anyway my first go i had 9 eggs and 2 hatched but they died in brooder.so i changed my fan different bulb etc got it so it would hold about a 2 degree temperature variance.so i put in 25 eggs 7 hatched 4 of them died to include my little crooked foot courtnix. i didnt candle any eggs but i have 4 females to 1 male per cage so they should be pretty much fertile.i kept the humidity at around 40% until lock down when i raised it to about 65%. funny thing is i have A&M's and courtnix. i always see my courtnix male on a hen, hardly ever see the AM male mating .of the 7 that actually broke thru the shell/hatched 6 were A&M and little crooked foot was the only courtnix. and out in the pens my courtnix look way bigger and healthier than the A&M's (the parents) i'm just not sure what i'm doing wrong or whatever. i borrowed a incubator from someone and i got eggs in it. gonna see what happens there. they should be hatching in about 4 days i think.but till then does anyone ahve any idea whats going on /what i'm doing wrong?could my courtnix have gone sterile? on first attempt the 2 that hatchd were courtnix.

Thanks john

 

[Quail Jailer]

It'd be impossible to assess your problem without looking at your set up, but two things come to mind

number one, I think I would hold my humidity a little closer to 50% / 70% lockdown

The other thing is do you have a thermostat in your incubator?

 

[mule13]

ok next time i'll keep humidity a little higher, and i have a 20$ KTJ hydro/thermo i got from amazon i think. it has the wire lead /probe that goes in the incubator and the display can be outside. Any ideas on why only the A&M's are hatching? that seems really weird to me.

 

[Quail Jailer]

Luck of the draw.

 

[mule13]

oh also my setup is a cooler, inside i have a 12v fan about 4 inches from a 60 watt bulb which is about 1 inch from a hot water heater thermostat that i drilled out the holes so it would read temp faster. inside i have a jar with river rocks in it that i fill with water for humidity and use as a heat sink also. when humidity drops or i need to raise it for lock down i add another small bowl with a cloth rag and water.
i did see today that you should drill holes top one side and on bottom on the other. i drilled all mine in the middle all around the thing. i'm gonna tape those up and redrill top/bottom for next run,maybe that will help.

 

[Quail Jailer]

If I'm worried about ventillation I test it with my cigar, I'll hold it near the intake and see if it pulls in the smoke, then hold the fire end to the outlet to see if it brightens slightly. However I should add One should NOT take up cigar smoking for this purpose....

 

[Sill]

ok so my hatch is done. this was my second try. i have lots of questions. i been watching youtube vids and people are hatching quail with cheaper looking homemades than mine.seen 1 person had the temp way up at 105.anyway my first go i had 9 eggs and 2 hatched but they died in brooder.so i changed my fan different bulb etc got it so it would hold about a 2 degree temperature variance.so i put in 25 eggs 7 hatched 4 of them died to include my little crooked foot courtnix. i didnt candle any eggs but i have 4 females to 1 male per cage so they should be pretty much fertile.i kept the humidity at around 40% until lock down when i raised it to about 65%. funny thing is i have A&M's and courtnix. i always see my courtnix male on a hen, hardly ever see the AM male mating .of the 7 that actually broke thru the shell/hatched 6 were A&M and little crooked foot was the only courtnix. and out in the pens my courtnix look way bigger and healthier than the A&M's (the parents) i'm just not sure what i'm doing wrong or whatever. i borrowed a incubator from someone and i got eggs in it. gonna see what happens there. they should be hatching in about 4 days i think.but till then does anyone ahve any idea whats going on /what i'm doing wrong?could my courtnix have gone sterile? on first attempt the 2 that hatchd were courtnix.

Thanks john

Did you autopsy the unhatched eggs? That can help tell you if its an infertility/incompatibility issue or an incubation issue. Sometimes aggressive hens won't allow a meeker male to mate, and you could be seeing him mating with the same hen each time.

 

[mule13]

i havent looked at the eggs but i will tomorrow. i havent had anything hatch in 2 days so im sure there all done now. i was gonna take everything apart tomorrow and clean it up i'll check the eggs first and see whats going on with them.and that would make sense s hes a bit smaller than the hens but hes getting bigger

 

[Sill]

i havent looked at the eggs but i will tomorrow. i havent had anything hatch in 2 days so im sure there all done now. i was gonna take everything apart tomorrow and clean it up i'll check the eggs first and see whats going on with them.and that would make sense s hes a bit smaller than the hens but hes getting bigger

Is he young? He might need more maturing before he's got enough testicular fortitude to fertilize four hens.

 

[mule13]

i'm not sure i think i got the quail in Jan or Feb, so maybe 4 months.