Babies!

[VickieB57]

I am now the proud momma of 31 bouncing baby quail (and 12 rocking and rolling eggs...)

 

[SeptemberQuail]

Congratulations on the new baby quail!

Hope the other 12 hatch quickly.

Any pictures?

 

[TwoCrows]

Congrats on the new babies!

 

[JudiRose]

Congrats on the baby quail. We just had 30 come out of the incubator a couple of days ago. We just got our incubator not too long ago, and I've hatched only the quail and some 11 marans. It's fun and highly addicting. It's sort of like all of a sudden the (poultry) world is your oyster.

Judi

 

[VickieB57]

Okay, we're done! I had six hatch from the remaining 12 so I now have 36 quail! The last one just didn't want to complete the hatch. It chipped a hole through the shell, but never started chipping around the shell. It eventually just quit trying, so I carefully chipped the around the shell for the baby (leaving the membrane intact). The baby then started trying again. An hour later I checked on the baby and it still was within the shell, the membrane still being intact. So I carefully removed the membrane. What was odd was the chick was already dry and almost completely fluffed out by the time it got out of the egg. It had a hard time straightening up. She remained in a ball most of the night. This morning when I got up she was sitting up, with her head up but her feet seem to still be crippled. I put a paper towel in the incubator and have left her in there. What do y'all do in similar circumstances?

 

[jsdobson]

It's very hard not to help such little cute birds but its best to resist. I've hatch a few thousand birds the lest five years and the birds I help never make it.

 

[SeptemberQuail]

I had a baby who's membrane was all dried up and orange, and the baby couldn't break it any further and was stuck like that for four hours (compared to the other chicks who hatched in less than 10 minutes) which worried me. I had to take the egg out, and pull away bits of the shell to completely remove the top of the egg because the membrane was already completely dried up, but she was still alive and chirping. She managed to push herself out of the egg, but had trouble standing up and was all wobbly, but her feathers were pretty dry but still looked wet. I put her in an old butter container with cloth inside for friction in the incubator so she could dry herself off, not get disturbed by the other chicks and balance herself. She was normal the next day to be moved into the brooder.

I guess I was just lucky that human intervention didn't make anything worse, but it was my first time incubating anything.
The chicks hatched out on different days over a course of three days, which was strange, but I still got chicks.

 

[VickieB57]

This chick's membrane was all dried out and orange too. After I carefully cracked the shell around the egg she tried, once again to get out. After an hour or two of trying she quit. I ended up having to peel the membrane around the egg too. (The top of the shell and the bottom were still on the chick) At this point she was finally able to work her way out. She was the last egg to hatch and this hatch (my first) took 3 days also. After a night in the incubator she was able to straighten her neck out and sit up normally, but her legs seem crippled. I'm hoping they will eventually straighten out also. I have been keeping her in the incubator, in order to keep her at 100 degrees. Yesterday, a couple of times I put her in with the other chicks for short periods of time. The other chicks at first would pick on her. I would push them aside if they did and they eventually quit. This morning I put her back in and she's settled in pretty well with the others. They don't seem so antagonistic with her today, and she's so happy with the other chicks. In the incubator she spends most of her time peeping and wanting out. If her legs do straighten out and she makes it I need to band her so I know NOT to use her as a breeder.