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

 

[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.

 

[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'.

 

[Aquira]

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

 

[Micket]

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

 

[MontiSage]

I have found that many breeders advocating for a "dry hatch" don't mention their ambient, natural relative humidity. That leads to confusion and lower hatch rates because "normal" humidity for one person may be completely different for another person.

One of my hatching egg sources reminded me that quail are typically a desert bird. They thrive in lower humidity. That's why I stopped chasing a magic RH number by adding water.

My hatch rates went up when I just set the eggs and left them alone. No added water. My unmanipulated incubations typically run 21-25% RH. The first chick* to hatch naturally brings the humidity up in the incubator. I allow hatched chicks to bring humidity up to about 60%. Then I open vents to exchange air and control humidity, as I never want humidity to be as high as 65-70% RH.

*The interesting thing to me is that the first chick always hatches on its own in a <30% RH environment. Because of this fact, I'm going to experiment with holding RH below 50% for the whole hatch to see if my hatch numbers come up a little more.

 

[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

 

[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?

 

[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

 

[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