Dangit, unsuccessful hatch attempt…

[becomingquailmommy]

It’s the start of day 24 and no pips. Celadon coturnix. I’m shutting it down at the end of the day. This is my 2nd attempt at hatching…first one had 50% success. Not sure what I could’ve done differently this time. Same incubator, 2 extra hygrometers inside. Temp wasn’t holding as steady, would drop to 97° at night, so I started wrapping the incubator with a towel to get it to 99°. Incubator was set at 38.5, but I bumped it up to 38.8° in hopes of keeping that steady 99° on the hygrometer. Humidity was about 45-50 until lockdown, then bumped it up. Eggs were bobbling around a little up until a couple days ago, even heard them knock against each other a few times in the last several days, so I really thought something would happen I still see some movement, but it’s very minor, might actually be the air pushing them around.

No chance anything will happen now, right? I should shut down & get rid of the eggs before I have an explosion? I didn’t candle at any point, too nervous about damaging eggs

 

[Nabiki]

Day 24 is certainly far too late to expect anything out of coturnix eggs.

Have you read this article? It may help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-incubation-tips.76184/

 

[DemeterAD9]

It’s a good idea to open them up and see what could have gone wrong. Check for deformities, if they internally pipped, see if they are in the proper position, if they absorbed all the yolk. Also take note on if there was too much/little fluid in the eggs and if they were shrink wrapped. A lot can go wrong and different factors will affect the chicks in different ways. Of course the temp fluctuations were not good. Might be time to invest in a better incubator.

Another thing to note, covering the bator with a towel may smother them if the air vents are also covered and the incubator is rather cramped. Just a thought.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Candling and opening dud eggs are good ideas, are you getting development or is fertility an issue, are you losing embryos early or late, you need to define your problem (fertility, incubator temp, late embryonic death, whatever) before you can trouble shoot and fix it. From the little data available I’d look at incubator temp (low!) and stability (dropping two degrees is not good for eggs) first.

 

[becomingquailmommy]

Day 24 is certainly far too late to expect anything out of coturnix eggs.

Have you read this article? It may help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-incubation-tips.76184/

Was holding out for a miracle, I guess Thank you

 

[becomingquailmommy]

It’s a good idea to open them up and see what could have gone wrong. Check for deformities, if they internally pipped, see if they are in the proper position, if they absorbed all the yolk. Also take note on if there was too much/little fluid in the eggs and if they were shrink wrapped. A lot can go wrong and different factors will affect the chicks in different ways. Of course the temp fluctuations were not good. Might be time to invest in a better incubator.

Another thing to note, covering the bator with a towel may smother them if the air vents are also covered and the incubator is rather cramped. Just a thought.

I actually have another batch going in a new incubator now, but the new one is supposed to have a feature that’s not working, so I think I have to return it. Is there a bator under $150 you can recommend?

I left the vent hole uncovered when I wrapped the old bator in the towel. Couldn’t get temp up over 97.5° with it unwrapped at night

 

[DemeterAD9]

I actually have another batch going in a new incubator now, but the new one is supposed to have a feature that’s not working, so I think I have to return it. Is there a bator under $150 you can recommend?

I left the vent hole uncovered when I wrapped the old bator in the towel. Couldn’t get temp up over 97.5° with it unwrapped at night

I've only ever used one incubator and the 4 times I've used it all went well enough. It's a cheap one, only paid 50$ for it new but it holds about 20-30 chicken eggs depending on if I incubate vertical or horizontal. Auto turns if you leave the adjustable rollers in (only used the rollers once), temp only reads in Celsius and it's not quite exact so I have to keep an eye on it with a separate thermometer. Humidity reads fairly accurately but I also have a spare reader in there. I had to fiddle with it a bit before I was happy with the settings. Can't say I recommend it but it has worked for me each time. Incubating vertically in egg cartons has allowed me to hatch 25 (chickens) at one time! Just had to tilt the entire incubator every which way whenever I was in the room to turn the eggs.

Couldn't find the 24 egg one I have but I found the 64 capacity version.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3765136158...lp:2332490&itmmeta=01K46HX92ZHD1GBYJFAM1GQZEJ

 

[becomingquailmommy]

Candling and opening dud eggs are good ideas, are you getting development or is fertility an issue, are you losing embryos early or late, you need to define your problem (fertility, incubator temp, late embryonic death, whatever) before you can trouble shoot and fix it. From the little data available I’d look at incubator temp (low!) and stability (dropping two degrees is not good for eggs) first.

First batch of eggs we hatched were from the same birds that belong to our friends. They’re not trying to breed, so maybe not best genetics, though we had success first round and no major incubator fluctuations. Did pretty much the same this time, but had the issues with temp regulation. Tried candling 2 of them on day 14 and gave up because I couldn’t see through the shell at all and I didn’t want to keep them out of the incubator and risk damage. Either way I lost Ugh. Wish me luck on the next round that are supposed to lock down in 4 days (new incubator).