First button quail hatch help on day 17.

[Cheepcheeps]

Hi there,

First time button quail hatcher here and lockdown nerves are really kicking in. We bought a batch of 12 from eBay, sadly only 2 were viable and grew. Candled just before lockdown and all was looking good. We are on day 17 now and we have seen nothing. No wobbles, no cheeps, no pips. Needless to say we are very worried here, humidity has stayed constant around 75% and temp 37.5.

Am I worrying for no reason? Please share your stories to help ease out nerves here. How long shall we wait till we try candling to check on them?

 

[Nabiki]

Give them time yet. Your humidity is a bit high. I would lower it to 60% or so.

Are you relying on the readings of your incubator? If so, your temperature and humidity are likely not correct. You should have at least two calibrated thermometers and a calibrated hygrometer inside to measure what the conditions really are. The readings on the incubator are very rarely correct.

If your temperature was a bit low, your hatch will be late. If your temp was a bit high, hatching will be early.

 

[Cheepcheeps]

Give them time yet. Your humidity is a bit high. I would lower it to 60% or so.

Are you relying on the readings of your incubator? If so, your temperature and humidity are likely not correct. You should have at least two calibrated thermometers and a calibrated hygrometer inside to measure what the conditions really are. The readings on the incubator are very rarely correct.

If your temperature was a bit low, your hatch will be late. If your temp was a bit high, hatching will be early.

Thanks for the reply, I will lower the humidity now. We do have another thermometer hygrometer but I didn't calibrate it. I have a second one calibrating now.

 

[Kiki]

Your humidity has been this high throughout?

 

[Cheepcheeps]

Your humidity has been this high throughout?

Oh no it was around 45% for the rest, only upped it on the first day of lockdown.

 

[Cheepcheeps]

I know your not ment to during lockdown but should I pop the top off the incubator to decrease the humidity? Will the drop in temperature be bad for them?

 

[Nabiki]

Your humidity will drop very quickly with just a second or two of cracking the lid. Your temperature will barely drop if it does at all.

 

[007Sean]

The core temperature of the eggs takes quite awhile to drop....same is true for the egg to get back up to incubation temperature.
A quick taking the top off the incubator is not going to adversely affect the embryos.

 

[Cheepcheeps]

Thanks for the replies all. Had both successfully hatch yesterday and I couldn't be happier!!