Day 15 for my Coturnix and getting excited!

[FloorCandy]

Definitely handle them, and maybe try to treat-train them? Mine have grown to be very flighty!

We had 19, so it was hard to handle them all a lot, we had our faves, and they are happier to see us I guess. From 3 to 7 weeks they were always trying to fly, I clipped all of their wings and it stopped, and they don’t try anymore even though many have some flight feathers back. Mine crowd me if I touch the food, if I touch the pan I put out with water to play in, they all come running. If they escape they don’t really try to evade me, they run for bushes and let me pick them up once they get there, so that’s good enough for me.

Tonight I’m going to set some eggs, but it will be much fewer, maybe 10, so we can just naturally handle the chicks more. I think they will be much more happy to be held.

 

[orloffer]

Mine crowd me if I touch the food, if I touch the pan I put out with water to play in, they all come running. If they escape they don’t really try to evade me, they run for bushes and let me pick them up once they get there, so that’s good enough for me.

Lucky! I don't have nearly as many quail, but when I open the door to add in more food, they panic!

 

[FloorCandy]

Lucky! I don't have nearly as many quail, but when I open the door to add in more food, they panic!

We had 10 Roos and 9 hens so I am down to 12 now. I’m hatching out more to get my hen numbers up to about 20.

 

[orloffer]

Out of the 8 I hatched, 2 were hens!

 

[Gallimimus]

Out of the 8 I hatched, 2 were hens!

Wow, that's no fun! I had the same situation with the last 12 I hatched a couple years ago. 10 out of 12 were roos. Maybe I was just really bad at vent sexing, but 10 of them definitely had foam, and the number I heard crowing as I slowly got rid of them matched. I am hoping to get at least 5 hens this time. That isn't too much to ask, is it!? I will definitely try and hold them more, and maybe hand feed them treats, and just their food too. Yours sound just like my bobwhites do when I feed them, and I certainly don't want my Coturnix like that!

 

[Gallimimus]

We had 10 Roos and 9 hens so I am down to 12 now. I’m hatching out more to get my hen numbers up to about 20.

That's a great number. Hopefully you get a great hatch with lots of hens!

20 hen is what I am aiming to go for as well. Not this hatch, but definitely when I can put eggs from the hens from this hatch, I want to get to 20. Cause once they are laying, I should be getting about 100 eggs per week. I will get a bigger bator and can start hatching and picking birds I like vs just keeping everything that hatched.

 

[Gallimimus]

On day 16 ½ this morning. Woke up this morning to some muffled peeps. Thought it was the birds outside but it was definitely from the incubator! Took a peek into it. 3 pips, at least! Looks like one may even be starting to zip.

Humidity was down to just 46% this morning. I didn't like that so I took a syringe and slowly dripped warm water down onto the washcloth through one of the vents. It is up to 72% now, but it should go down over the next hour and hopefully get back to the 63-67%

I think we will probably have the first chicks tonight(day 17) and from there they will hopefully all start popping out over the next 24-72 hours

 

[Gallimimus]

Sorry for all the posts. I am just getting so excited. At least 5 pips now! I am hearing a few little cheeps every now and again.

 

[Gallimimus]

Well, I hope I didn't just ruin everything I broke the #1 rule of lockdown. Do NOT open the incubator.

The incubator started vibrating(I think it hit the wall maybe?) and one of the thermometers fell(I really wish I had enough space to lay it flat!)onto one of the pipped eggs and the bator was vibrating and moving all the other eggs. I also noticed that I hadn't put down paper towels(Rookie hatcher mistake, I have definitely learned my lesson!) I got a thick blanket, a heater and ran a humidifier under the blanket for a couple minutes. Quickly pulled the eggs out, lifted the thermometer(and secured it to the side!) Put paper towels down, added some warm water to bring humidity up quickly, and returned the eggs without moving them. At least 7 had visible pips(one starting to zip) and when moving the others I definitely felt movement inside 6-8 more so they might have pipped as well. I was in there probably for around 1-2 minutes. Definitely no longer than that.

Humidity is currently at 68% and the temp is at 99.3. Lowest temp got was 97.4 and the lowest humidity got was 43. Both temp and humidity were back within 3 minutes of closing it up. Hopefully, it wasn't enough to do too much damage to anyone

The one who is zipping, in the last 15 minutes since opening, he has made 2 more cracks and is working on another. His membrane doesn't seem too dry so I am hoping for the best.
Here is the little guy who is zipping. He has made one more crack since I started writing this post, and another is just starting zipping as well. Holy cow! I was just spell checking and in 3 minutes the one who was only just starting to zip has gone almost all the way around!

Here is the quick zipper. You can see in the pic above(Taken less than 15 minuets ago!) You can't even see a crack!

 

[Gallimimus]

Holy sheesh! I didn't know how fast they were! In less than 15 minutes from when he started zipping. He/She is out! I got it on film too. I have never seen anything actually hatch. I always just seen the aftermath since they normally hatch at night and it takes hours. Baby #1!