Can hatched chicks turn unwell because of the incubator’s high humidity?

Jul 1, 2020
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Hello, Quail Lovers! We had our first babe hatch today, and I have a newbie question... Could high humidity have negative effects on her by remaining in the incubator? Her chirps sound forced and squeaky, unlike how they sounded earlier today. I’m not sure if moisture could accumulate too much in her lungs, or if she is peeping so much, she is just making herself horse... 🤔 I may be just overly paranoid?
 
85% is way to high! You should be able to lower it by opening the incubator for short periods of time. Start by moving your chick to your brooder. It will be lonely, but hopefully you will get some hatchmates to join it soon.
Ok, the babe is in the brooder, pips are still moving... That got the humidity down to 70. Should I continue to keep it cracked? Thank you for helping me through this. I feel so terrible! 😞
 
Well, thank you all so much for your help through this! This was a pretty tragic learning curve, and I made so many mistakes (the largest one being not knowing to not trust the built in temperature and humidity readers in my unit). I wish I would have known they were so off prior to lockdown day, but it was too late. Out of 27 well developed eggs, 1 hatched free on his/her own, which gave me hope! About 7 others had pipped, so I thought, let’s wait it out, maybe it will just be a late hatch since temps were low/fluctuating to begin with... Going into this, I had it in my mind that I would be completely hands off, as I read about the risks of assisting. However, last night, the humidity had gotten so high (my incubator has no vent holes), that I became concerned with the well-being of the one chick that had hatched. One of you here swiftly offered much needed guidance, and I placed her in the brooder, cracked the lid, and tried to keep the humidity at a lower level. At this point, we were in day 20... The first chick (we’ve named him/her Italy 🇮🇹) is thriving. ❤️🐣 Unfortunately, I knew I had issues with the others who were trying so hard to free themselves... 2 pips were actively moving. I could tell that they were trying so hard to zip, but couldn’t. Instead, one’s beak appeared stuck, while the other couldn’t spin, making a series pips along the same area. I could hear their little bodies and chirps giving it all the had! At about 11:30 last night, I began to assist the one what couldn’t spin. It was terrible. I cried, but eventually he/she was freed, and looked good (not much blood in the membrane), but it was so week. I also chipped away just a bit at the area where the others beak was stuck, hoping that by morning it would have made some progress, or at the very least would have been pipped for more than 24 hours. She was shrink wrapped so tightly when I came down at 4:30 this morning. 😞 The other chick had dried off so I placed it in with Italy, and they have been cuddle buddies ever since! I hope he/she makes it. After assisting last night, I hoped I would never be in that position again, fearing making a fatal flaw, but here he found ourselves... I’m sure he/she had been struggling ALL night. We began the process, and although he/she was moving and breathing heavily, I could see exhaustion had taken over. Eventually, after nearly having to take him/her completely out, things have been looking optimistic. Still quite weak, but alert. After just a couple of hours I thought the best thing for it would be to move it in with the other chicks. Maybe they would offer snuggles and a bit of encouragement... Well, Italy immediately stepped in, gave just one gentle peck to asses the situation, and literally took the tiny body under her wing. All three are snugged together, and even though it’s too early to tell if they will all make it, I know that without assisting they all would have died, except for Italy. After placing the 3 babes together, I had little hope for any others, so I water candled. Nothing. Upon opening each egg, I found internal pips and tiny air cells. As anticipated, was indeed the fatal mistake.

I have learned so much from this experience, and it was been horribly tragic, but I know next time I will be much more aware of the things that can go wrong, and hopefully have all things in place, 2x over, to prevent anything like this from happening again. I’m so sick about the whole thing, but against the odds, there is still life, and that’s what’s I’m going to do my best to focus on from here on out.

Cheers to these three little fighters! 💪

Thanks again everyone! This community is nothing short of amazing!

~Aly
 

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I'm glad you have three chicks!

In the future, please don't float (water candle) your eggs. That may well kill the chicks if they were still alive before the test. The best way to check for life is to hold it next to your ear and tap on the egg. If you hear scratching, tapping, or chirps, you know it's alive. If you don't hear anything, the next thing to do is to candle with a strong flashlight.
 

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