Dry hatching quail

[Micket]

The last time i tried hatching quail eggs. I put 20 eggs into my hdd incubator temperature 37.5, humidity 50%,turned every 2 hrs
The hatch was only 8 chicks
Since then have been told a dry hatch might give better results
Has anyone done this and what was there success rate

 

[Aquira]

Usually, dry hatching is a thing you do if you live in a pretty humid area.

 

[Micket]

I live in the uk the humidity in my house is around 47% most of the time hence i wondered if dry hatching might be a better option

 

[007Sean]

Do you use an independent, calibrated thermometer and a independent 'salt test' calibrated hygrometer? or are you relying g on the instruments sensors?

'Dry incubation' is a misnomer, you still have a %Rh in the incubator...just means you don't have to 'add' water to raise the humidity to the level you want or add very little, that having been said, if your %Rh is around 47% most of the time you wouldn't need to add water. This method works only with an accurate calibrated hygrometer and not the instruments Rh sensor.

 

[ThunderMoose]

Hello I hatch ~100 Quail/week. your temperature setting is the same as mine however I set my Hatcher to 70% humidity. in my experience 50% will make the shell much harder for the day old's to break through. did you have any that pip'd but did not fully hatch?

 

[Micket]

Afterwards I checked the remaining eggs quite a few had fully formed chick's but sadly didn't hatch

 

[Timothy Menezes]

I had the same thing happen. They couldn't break out and perished in their egg right at the end. 47% is fine until lockdown. Crank it up to 70% at lockdown so the egg shells soften up for the unzipping of the eggshell

 

[007Sean]

I had the same thing happen. They couldn't break out and perished in their egg right at the end. 47% is fine until lockdown. Crank it up to 70% at lockdown so the egg shells soften up for the unzipping of the eggshell

70% Rh is too high, Coturnix quail eggs do better at around 50%, ....if you go above 65%, you start running into trouble with 'stuck chicks', curled toes due to the amount of time it takes them to zip.
Stuck chicks is not the same as 'shrink wrapped'. A stuck chick is the result of too high humidity. Everytime the chick tries to turn in the zipping process, it falls back to the original point of starting to zip because of the humidity being too high, acts like a lubricant when too high....thus, you get 'stuck chicks'.

 

[ButtonNomies]

Probably not a good idea in the UK atm ... our weather is up and down with the season change doll.
Make sure uve got an internal hydrometer and I dont let my humidity rise above 60% during hatching. Its at a constant 40% during incubation.
Buttons are a lot more finicky tho with finding the sweet spot xx

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Oh I didn't know you were talking about button quail, I don't know anything about those or about hatching in the UK.

For here in the USA with coturnix quail it's fairly standard practice to shoot for 45% for the first 14 days and crank it up for lockdown. Usually 65 to 70%c

They do change things for high elevation states such as Utah, or humid states in the south such as Florida.