day 19 and nothing...

[quailmama 82012]

i am quite concerned because its day nineteen and i have not seen anything. the humidity is 50% and temp is 99.5 F. i had it the same heat wise and i had the humidity 30-45% during incubation. i put them in at three o'clock one day and that day was day zero. i put them in lock down in day 14 and they are resting on shelf liner. i do not know what i did wrong and am super nervous. i candled them and they had embryos too. is there any advice out there?

also, anyone watching the Olympic tryouts?

 

[FortCluck]

Have you candled the eggs again to see if there's movement?

 

[quailmama 82012]

no, i don't think my mom would want to do that, what do you think? should i? i just don't want to disturb the eggs if there is a chance one is just a late comer.

edit: i think i heard a cheep, but I know it could be a trick of the mind.
edit: sorry i am being annoying but, i think it wasnt a chick peeping. i still have got no action whatsoever.

 

[JaeG]

External pips are difficult to see on quail eggs. Using your fingers to feel for a bump is often easier.

You can candle at this stage to see what's going on. If they are still looking full and dark under the air cell then they are still OK. A watery gap between the air cell and embryo means the embryo has died. You may see a shadow in the air cell if the chick has pipped internally. Just try to keep the egg in the same position they are lying in in the incubator.

You may need to bump the humidity up a bit to 60%+.

 

[quailmama 82012]

i just candled them. the darn things are just so hard to tell. i don't know if any are gong to hatch but i will keep them in there till tomorrow. fingers crossed

 

[BYC910]

none of them hatched. day 21 today. i dissected one and it looked like it just quit growing. it had feathers, but it still had a little sack that im guessing was the yolk? i quit dissecting with that one and buried them all. i do not know what i did wrong. this is my second time incubating quail eggs and out of 26 eggs and two tries i've only gotten one. i am going to buy a full grown female for my lonely quail and hopefully i will get more luck incubating with an unlimited supply of eggs. (at least unlimited while i have them.)

Try again @mixedUPturk @WVduckchick alittle advice and encouragement.

 

[JaeG]

Were the eggs you incubated from the same place both times? If they were shipped how far had they come? Shipping can have a huge impact on how many hatch. Quail eggs are smaller and more delicate than chicken eggs, so they are more likely to get damaged in transit, even though they may look fine on the outside.

One big thing that is often forgotten are the air vents. Were yours fully open? It's something that's easily forgotten, but it's very important for those eggs to have fresh air, especially in those final few days.

Humidity is something that's quite dependent on your own personal set-up so you might need to play around with what works for you. I incubate with a high humidity the whole way through (I'm talking 60%-ish - they are my own eggs) and I have amazing hatches in a cheap incubator. For others that would be a complete disaster. You need to candle at regular intervals to keep an eye on how the air cell at the fat end is growing. Even if you can't see into the egg (because they are not easy things to candle) you can keep an eye on that. If it's growing too quickly raise the humidity. If it's growing too slowly lower it.

This is a guide for a chicken egg - it just grows a little faster for a quail egg so just adapt it to that timescale, so days 5, 10 and 15:

This is an excellent candling guide too:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-quail-egg-candling-guide.71783/
Do try again and it must've been tough having only one little chick hatch out. They are so cute but one on its own must've been rather needy.

 

[quailmama 82012]

the first time i got the eggs from strombergs. half of them weren't even fertile so thats a bummer. the second time i got them from a local source and they were fresh but my mom bought them and didnt ask the questions i wouldve asked. (i wasnt there) im not sure were to look for air vents on my incubator but i didnt have anything touching the incubator at all. im not sure the humidity gauge or the thermometer is accurate either. the eggs rotate once every two hours but its not a very big rotation. thanks for the link and the pic.
he was very needy and i wasnt sure if i shouldve held him more. i was just so nervous he would die with to much handling. hes a big spoiled brat now tho

 

[JaeG]

Aww, I bet he's a gorgeous pet.

Mine is a cheap incubator and it's got a couple of holes in the top that had a screw in bit blocking them. I took those out and threw them away as then I can't forget. But every incubator is different. There isn't a diagram in the instructions for yours that points them out?

 

[quailmama 82012]

there are little holes at the bottom now that i look. they are in the front. is it possible that the fan did not circulate the fresh air in properly?

i hope to get 3 adult hens this week. hopefully my roo likes them and they grow up fine together. i have they're cage in the garage because he has never been outside before and its snowing. sometimes winter just has to quit being here!!!