disaster , need advice, premature quail

[gregwoods]

It is day 15, 96 quail in the incubator, needed to take out the rocking cradle, tripped, dropped the incubator.

lost 30 eggs over the side, all cracked, I put them into my spare incubator thinking they were lost, sorted out those that were not cracked in the original incubator.

From the 30 cracked eggs, I heard tweeting noises, 15 minutes later 2 were born, they are both quite weak, but moving around, they have been alive now for 3 hours.

should I put food and water (with marbles) in the incubator, are they likely to survive? I still have another 28 eggs in there doing nothing,

To be honest I dont really know what to do.

This is my first hatch

 

[funsized72]

i would put water and feed in there cuz i dont want to think that i didnt try to save them or that they could have survived. if you do put feed and water in there then put vitamin and sugar in the water too

 

[gregwoods]

Many Thanks Buddy

Drizzled sugar water over the beak, put some sugar water into a thin container with marbles, and the news is, the first two are over 5 hours old, and we now have number 3. I have scattered chick pellets on the floor of the incubator, and put in wet cloths around the edges

my heart sunk when the eggs fell, 4 are definatly lost, no movement and red blood coming from shell, 2 others infertile, 21 unknown, perhaps we will have more through the night

many thanks for your help

 

[gregwoods]

This morning we have our 4th, they are all small, bit still living, the main hatch should start tuesday/wednesday. I am so surprised that these little fella's came so early, and have survived so far.

I have put some chick pellets onto a damp cloth in the hope that they might eat a little. and they are getting sugar water drizzled on the beak every 4 hours

 

[dc3085]

Even hatched early they should be able to eat and drink regularly at this point. A damp cloth in the bator can give them hypothermia, you should remove that. You can add sugar to their water font so that you don't have to handle them as much. I try not to touch them for the first 3-5 days because they can pick up all sorts of nasties from your hands.

 

[funsized72]

Even hatched early they should be able to eat and drink regularly at this point. A damp cloth in the bator can give them hypothermia, you should remove that. You can add sugar to their water font so that you don't have to handle them as much. I try not to touch them for the first 3-5 days because they can pick up all sorts of nasties from your hands.

I thought is was okay as long as you wash you hands before touching them like a baby

 

[funsized72]

Oh an one time I dropped an egg on day 20 an it hatched out within a few hours. It was a coturnix egg. I have a still air incubator so it probably was a little low on the temps

 

[gregwoods]

Had 13 in the brooder, this morning one had died, they all felt to dry, humidity was at 46% I moved them back to the bator and dipped their beaks in some water, they are recovering.

apart from 2 water containers in the brooder, I have added 3 other containers filled with cloth and water to try to add humidity

I am keeping the chicks in the bator until I can get the humidity right, it is a double edged sword, If I have to much humidity their feed can go mouldy. what would be the perfect humidity levels for the brooder, it has lots of ventilation, but we have high pressure in the weather and the air is much drier than normal. I never thought that I would wish for rain!

I have had to break the rule about opening the bator on days 16 and 17, to save what has been born. I am still kicking myself for dropping it in the first place. must be an age thing.

 

[dc3085]

Had 13 in the brooder, this morning one had died, they all felt to dry, humidity was at 46% I moved them back to the bator and dipped their beaks in some water, they are recovering.

Chicks are supposed to be dry! They will eat and drink on their own once you've shown them once.

apart from 2 water containers in the brooder, I have added 3 other containers filled with cloth and water to try to add humidity

Stop trying to drown your chicks. Eggs need humidity. Chicks NEED TO BE DRY!

I am keeping the chicks in the bator until I can get the humidity right, it is a double edged sword, If I have to much humidity their feed can go mouldy. what would be the perfect humidity levels for the brooder, it has lots of ventilation, but we have high pressure in the weather and the air is much drier than normal. I never thought that I would wish for rain!

I have had to break the rule about opening the bator on days 16 and 17, to save what has been born. I am still kicking myself for dropping it in the first place. must be an age thing.

Leave chicks in the bator for 24 hours after they hatch. They have easily enough nutrition left from the yolk to survive that long without any consequences. When you open the door to the bator every chick that has a hole broken in it's egg is going to get shrink wrapped and that most often leads to death. The chicks communicate in the shell to organize the hatch so most often, most of the chicks you will get will hatch all together.

 

[Sill]

If you are feeding your quail chicks starter pellets they most likely won't be able to eat them as they are too big. Quail chicks are tiny and do better with food that is almost powdered. Put some pellets in a blender and pulverize them so they can fit the food into their tiny mouths. After a while you can make the food particles larger until they can eat full sized crumbles. I wouldn't feed pellets even to adult quail, they are too big for them to eat well and they will waste a lot. Crumbles are better for quail.