Classroom Quail - 11/13 hatched! **new pics added**

[mudmonkey]

I'm an art teacher who came into possession of some fertile button quail eggs. I built an incubator and set it up in class. This morning I found that 1 out of the 13 eggs I've been incubating actually hatched! I was expecting that none would hatch. Today is day 18 - from my reading I've learned that this means my incubator was running a bit cold.

I've been concentrating on information about hatching, but now that I have a little guy I'm not sure what to expect.
He's moving around and then resting for a bit.
How soon should he eat? (I have someone on the way with a bag of Game Feed)
How soon should he/she drink water? (I have a water dish in there - you can see it in the pics)
The temp is right around 100 degrees (perhaps a degree or two less)

***while typing this another just hatched...perhaps we'll get more

Can anyone give me examples of what to look out for and what to expect in these first few days?
The kids are crazy excited, so I'm worried that if anything bad happens they will be crushed.

Pictures of the new little guy...

He/She was walking all around with the egg stuck on his/her head...so I chose to intervene and remove it. I've seen the debates on when to get involved. It seems like this was an okay time to do so.

 

[Quail_Cottage]

Congratulations

I'm by no means an expert as I'm only on my second hatch, but did exactly the same thing as you, and was scrambling to get my brooder set up and had lots of what next questions. I have 21 coturnix in a brooder a week old. From what I could gather 6-12 hours in the incubator to dry out and then transfer them to a brooder (ours is a large plastic storage tub with wire mesh over the top, paper towel on the floor so they don't slip, water bowl/quail or chick waterer with marbles, and crushed gamebird starter feed in a jar lid/plastic food tub lid. I think buttons will need crushed feed as they are so tiny. The brooder needs to be nice and warm at 100 just like the incubator from a brroder lamp or 100w light bulb suspended above at the right height so you can get the temp to where the birds aren't too hot or too cold. I think that should get you started.
We did have one who hatched out fine and then died in the incubator after a few hours (so be prepared for a discussion about wild animals/nature taking it's course etc.) Second hatch I helped 2 out of their eggs and they are fine running around a week later. Although one is much smaller then the majority still got feathers coming in and looking like a normal quail. It was also the last one to hatch as I waited to see if it's make it out on its own so its 36 hours younger than the the first out and in their short lifespan/ accelerated growth that makes a big difference.

Good luck with the rest of the hatch.

(someone with buttons correct if I'm wrong/ feel free to add anything I missed)

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Congratulations! It sounds like you're doing everything right

 

[mudmonkey]

Thanks for the replies!
Things are going okay so far.
I got the feed and crushed it up pretty fine.
There are 2 chicks...one yellow and one black.
The yellow hatched first.
It doesn't seem to be doing as well as the black.
The black is running around peeping and eating already.
The yellow stays in one place...doesn't really seem to stand up too much.
Every once in a while it gets energetic and goes in tight circles...sometimes flipping over.
It was sitting in the food bowl pecking a bit a while ago.

I haven't seen either of them drink or even go near the water bowl.

Is it abnormal for a chick to be yellow? Could that be a sign of something wrong? (most of the pics I've found look like the black one)

Will they find the water themselves? Do i have to do something to help?

How long should I wait before handling them? (I've been using hand sanitizer any time I have to put anything in or take something out of the enclosure)

Do they get used to hands if you handle them young?

I've read the sticky about Coturnix Quail...do they differ greatly from button quail?

I teach Kindergarten - 8th grade.
Every single kid that came to my class today was ecstatic - even the ones that are usually too cool for anything.

 

[kingmt]

It may be to late for this advice but a little sugar in its water may pep it up a bit. They need to be shown the water by dipping its beak.

 

[mudmonkey]

Thanks for the tip.
Unfortunately the yellow bird died in the night. I was pretty sure this was going to happen.
I did show both birds the water by quickly dipping their beaks.
They both drank. Later I saw the dark bird drinking on it's own.

On a totally crazy note... 9 more of the eggs hatched this morning.
That's 11 out of 13 eggs that hatched!

Subtract the one that died and so far we have 10 out of 13 eggs that have produced viable chicks.
We'll have to see if there are any others with problems.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal? Was there anything I could have done to help the yellow bird?
I've read several sources online and have found that everyone seems to have their own opinions about how things should be done.
It's a bit confusing.
Anyway I'll share some pics once I get them up on Flickr.

I also just want to say that ALL the information I used to construct my incubator and care for these eggs I found on this website.
What an incredible resource!!

 

[quail kid1]

I am sorry about your loss, but on the plus side congrats on the hatch!!!! I am incubating some button quails right now, lockdown is on Monday

Cant wait! Cant wait for the piccies

quail kid1

 

[Frogchickrincess]

Ahh Congrads on your quail what a Great hatch rate!

Sorry about the one though

it happens...... I bet your kids are just so happy!

 

[mudmonkey]

Here are some quick photos of the new 9 that hatched today. Only 1 looks like he/she might not make it. It's behaving very similarly to the yellow one from yesterday that passed in the night. Hopefully it will pull through.

I call this one "hang'n at the pool"
The black (or rather dark colored) chick that hatched yesterday is clearly a leader...several of the others just follow it around emulating what it does.

Is it okay for me to be handling these now? I've been avoiding it...but they seem to be getting a bit spooked by my hands now...should i be holding them if I want them to be tame?
thx.

 

[secretquail]

Good luck taming them down. Quail are naturally skittish and rarely develop a relationship with people, although rumor is that it can be done! You can try bribing them with good eats, like mealworms. Keep the worms in your hand, and eventually they will be used to you reaching in and might take them from you. Just be sure not to feed them too many, a few per bird is all I would do. I'd also wait to do that until they were a bit bigger. awesome hatch rate though! Congratulations!!!