Dry Hatching Cortunix Quails

[Erkenstein]

I'm skeptical about dry incubation. It seems like the only advantage is not having to add water...

After I candle eggs at lockdown with 40-50% humidity and then 50-60% humidity, I get between 80 and 95% hatch rate. I lost some chicks in my last batch that pipped while I was removing dry chicks, and I've had chicks shrinkwrapped from inadequate humidity. I've also had chicks that pipped internally and then died before they could unzip, but I don't know if they "drowned" or just ran out of air, and to me running out of air could mean not being able to unzip because it's too dry in the incubator. It could mean the chick was too weak to make that last stage, or that my temps were slightly off so they outgrew the egg, many possible reasons. However, the eggs didn't seem to be full of water and the other 35/42 chicks were A-Okay.

If someone reports percentages that match mine, I may give it a try, but it would need to be a sample size of more than a few eggs. So Little Jerry Seinfeld please report back!

 

[feedman77]

I incubate dry for chicken, quail, pheasant, and Turkey. I don't keep total percentages of hatches. Tried the 45 to 55 percent humidity for x number of days. Seemed like I had more sticky chicks and eggs that fluid dried over pip hole before chick could hatch.

My last hatch of quail was 214 out of 250 eggs set. My last Turkey hatch was 12 of 25, the rest were infertile or quit early.

So the dry method seemed to work better for my hatching process. It was a lot of trial and error to get there.

But there are also a lot of factors at play. Altitude, regions constant humidity range, size of the eggs, and how well your humidity gauge reads and is calibrated.

I had 4 ( hovabator 1588, brinsea adv, and 2 gqf cabinets) incubators running in Jan. Same room not 5 feet apart humidity readings were from 19 to 31 percent on what they read. So if you just base it on the humidity incubator gives there is a good chance it is wrong.

Humidity is such a debated topic in incubating. That's why some have excellent results dry incubating others it's a total disaster.

What I try to give someone a suggestion on it is to keep records humidity, temp, and day they hatched.
If they didn't get the expected result. Make a change but just one and retry with another batch. When a good hatch is achieved use those setting and try to repeat.

I'm about done incubating for the year my last couple batches of eggs I going to use those as a test run and do a dry hatch. Let them hatch at humidity they incubated at.

 

[lomine]

I'm skeptical about dry incubation. It seems like the only advantage is not having to add water...

After I candle eggs at lockdown with 40-50% humidity and then 50-60% humidity, I get between 80 and 95% hatch rate. I lost some chicks in my last batch that pipped while I was removing dry chicks, and I've had chicks shrinkwrapped from inadequate humidity. I've also had chicks that pipped internally and then died before they could unzip, but I don't know if they "drowned" or just ran out of air, and to me running out of air could mean not being able to unzip because it's too dry in the incubator. It could mean the chick was too weak to make that last stage, or that my temps were slightly off so they outgrew the egg, many possible reasons. However, the eggs didn't seem to be full of water and the other 35/42 chicks were A-Okay.

If someone reports percentages that match mine, I may give it a try, but it would need to be a sample size of more than a few eggs. So Little Jerry Seinfeld please report back!

What I've learned within the last year is that the 'normal' method often advised for incubating doesn't work for everyone in every situation. (I didn't even think to question it until I had terrible chicken egg hatches.) The dry incubation method has really improved my results with chicken eggs, though I still need to work on some things, but it doesn't seem to work as well with my quail. I believe it has to do with the eggshell thickness of chickens hatched at low altitude versus multiple generations of quail breed at high altitude laying eggs better suited to hatch at lower oxygen levels.

Anyway, I think if you are successful with your current method, which it sounds like you are, there really isn't a reason to change it.

 

[Erkenstein]

I incubate dry for chicken, quail, pheasant, and Turkey. I don't keep total percentages of hatches. Tried the 45 to 55 percent humidity for x number of days. Seemed like I had more sticky chicks and eggs that fluid dried over pip hole before chick could hatch.

Interesting comment about the pip hole drying over. I wonder too if the newborn chicks punting the eggs around in the incubator affects the late hatchers, by pooling moisture over pip holes, disorienting chicks, or weakening them. My quitters in the last batch didn't seem wetter than they should be, but they just seem to have run out of time. I removed dried chicks every few hours, so my original thought was that the chicks that didn't hatch were due to low humidity with opening the incubator, since that would either harden the shell or dry the membrane.

I'm relatively new at hatching, but my understanding was that sticky chicks had more to do with late hatchers due to low incubation temperature.

My humidity level tanks when the tray dries in my hovabator, since the heating element with the fan just burns up moisture. It's nothing like the humidity in the room although maybe if I pulled the vent plugs it would equalize and keep some humidity flowing into the bator. I've got a set of eggs cooking now, so I'll keep track. Thanks for the input!

 

[feedman77]

Interesting comment about the pip hole drying over. I wonder too if the newborn chicks punting the eggs around in the incubator affects the late hatchers, by pooling moisture over pip holes, disorienting chicks, or weakening them. My quitters in the last batch didn't seem wetter than they should be, but they just seem to have run out of time. I removed dried chicks every few hours, so my original thought was that the chicks that didn't hatch were due to low humidity with opening the incubator, since that would either harden the shell or dry the membrane.

I'm relatively new at hatching, but my understanding was that sticky chicks had more to do with late hatchers due to low incubation temperature.

My humidity level tanks when the tray dries in my hovabator, since the heating element with the fan just burns up moisture. It's nothing like the humidity in the room although maybe if I pulled the vent plugs it would equalize and keep some humidity flowing into the bator. I've got a set of eggs cooking now, so I'll keep track. Thanks for the input!

I pulled the vent plugs on my tabletop incubator and tossed them. I personally like a good air exchange thru the whole process.

Most of my sticky chicks were because of too high of a humidity early in the process and egg not losing enough moisture.

Good luck on your hatch.

 

[pinoyathletics]

Well this is more an experiment with dry hatching for me. While I do not have 214 of 250 quails hatch like Feedman 77 that is an 85% hatch rate or decent hatch rate.

Erkenstein i had drowning issues due to humidity being high, and late deaths. Checking my logs.

Last time i had 38 fertile eggs / one under developed as i put that in incubator in Day11, 23 hatched and the other 16 that didnt hatch had fully developed chics inside that had drowned late in the process. Most of these eggs came from a different buyer to this next set. There was 27 of 30 fertile.

This time i had 56 eggs in the incubator.
20 of 32 of mine being fertile after candling,
14 of 24 of the new batch i ordered being fertile (i am not too happy about this, and once the brooding has been complete, i will be asking for some partial refund. Based on the number of total infertile eggs. If chics develop from the batch i bought and dont hatch thats on me not the seller).

So i have 34 eggs in the incubator using dry method, and have locked down on day 13.75. Last time i incubated i locked down on 12.75 and 13.5 (2 sets of eggs). This could possibly be why some drowned as i raised the humidity early. I have now raised the humidity to 65-70 from 25-30. with warning beep if it drops under 55. Auto turner used but now removed.

So i have 34 eggs, last time i had 58% hatch rate, cause of lots of late drown death.
So i need at least 20 to hatch (less if there are more infertile, about 5 of the eggs i didnt throw i was about 50/50 about) to beat what did last time. Id be happy if i got 25 to hatch out of 34 thats 73%.

I have locked down the eggs now on 13.75. Last time i used the non dry method my eggs all hatched on Day 19 and 20 (if we consider day 0 day 1). So they were like a day late than normal.

 

[RosieR]

Well this is more an experiment with dry hatching for me. While I do not have 214 of 250 quails hatch like Feedman 77 that is an 85% hatch rate or decent hatch rate.

Erkenstein i had drowning issues due to humidity being high, and late deaths. Checking my logs.

Last time i had 38 fertile eggs / one under developed as i put that in incubator in Day11, 23 hatched and the other 16 that didnt hatch had fully developed chics inside that had drowned late in the process. Most of these eggs came from a different buyer to this next set. There was 27 of 30 fertile.

This time i had 56 eggs in the incubator.
20 of 32 of mine being fertile after candling,
14 of 24 of the new batch i ordered being fertile (i am not too happy about this, and once the brooding has been complete, i will be asking for some partial refund. Based on the number of total infertile eggs. If chics develop from the batch i bought and dont hatch thats on me not the seller).

So i have 34 eggs in the incubator using dry method, and have locked down on day 13.75. Last time i incubated i locked down on 12.75 and 13.5 (2 sets of eggs). This could possibly be why some drowned as i raised the humidity early. I have now raised the humidity to 65-70 from 25-30. with warning beep if it drops under 55. Auto turner used but now removed.

So i have 34 eggs, last time i had 58% hatch rate, cause of lots of late drown death.
So i need at least 20 to hatch (less if there are more infertile, about 5 of the eggs i didnt throw i was about 50/50 about) to beat what did last time. Id be happy if i got 25 to hatch out of 34 thats 73%.

I have locked down the eggs now on 13.75. Last time i used the non dry method my eggs all hatched on Day 19 and 20 (if we consider day 0 day 1). So they were like a day late than normal.

Why do you lock down on day 13? I’ve never heard of anyone locking down that early.

 

[Erkenstein]

Here's an article that discusses problems during hatching. It explains that the chick drinks the embryonic fluid and can hatch dehydrated if there isn't adequate humidity. It links sticky chicks with dehydration:

http://www.melbournebirdvet.com/dead-in-shell-aviary.aspx

In this resource, though, sticky chicks are associated with too high humidity. However, it connects dead-in-shell internal pips with low humidity or improper ventilation:

https://extension.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html

This one talks about high humidity leading to chicks drowning, but it doesn't seem to me like 40-50% humidity would prevent adequate air cell formation. It also discusses that chicks need more oxygen at hatch and that restricting ventilation at hatch to increase humidity can suffocate chicks.

https://ashburtonfanciers.weebly.com/faq.html

For my current batch, I think I'll try improving the ventilation during hatch, but keep to my current humidity program. I don't like having fully developed chicks fail to hatch.

 

[pinoyathletics]

Lock down is Day 14, but since i had to leave the house i locked down at 13.75 a few hours before the start of Day 14. Incubator counts first day as Day 0. So its actually 14.75 if you start from 1.

Erkenstein what is the optimal humidity?

 

[Erkenstein]

For me, 40-50% for incubation and 50-60% for lockdown/hatching. JMF recommends 50% and then 60%, so that is from what most people consider the authorities on quail.

Funny how everyone agrees on temp but not on humidity! There are some interesting discussions on the hatching forums about measuring humidity under broody hens etc. This is how we geek out.