First Quail Hatch: would love advice

[daisychick]

Ok So I took the plunge and got some Coturnix eggs and am attempting to hatch them in my new Brinsea Eco. The incubator has worked like a dream. Steady temps at 99.5 to 100 the entire time. Humidity about 35% the first days and I upped it to 50% for lockdown. I live in a really dry region so that is about as good as I can get. I had one little squirt hatch out yesterday at noon. That was day 17, start of day 18 (I set them at noon on Dec.13th). It hatched fast and ran around great and seems to be healthy as can be. So I waited and waited for more and nothing. I let the lone chick dry off in there and then I quickly snatched it out of there and temps and humidity didn't change at all. So here I am waiting and watching and nothing else is even trying to hatch.

Question #1: I thought once 1 hatched the rest would pop out too right away. Is it normal for it to be spaced out over a few days with these guys???

Question #2: What in the world am I going to do if I just have 1 lone chick????


Question #3: I did read about the float testing and I will do that after a few days. What is a good time frame to wait before I dig them out and test them???


Wondering if I did something wrong??

 

[mhwc56]

it about drives a person crazy waiting doesn't it !? Just tell yourself you have an "early" chick , not a bunch of "late" ones .

Usually, if you set a hatch at ..noon.. they will start hatching around that time on the hatch date too.
Also, i was very recently told that with quail eggs you really don't want to use the float test as you can easily drown the chick inside ! They take so little time to hatch to begin with ,just hang in there and be patient.

anyway, don't worry yet about the hatch. I just had a batch of eggs that took 4 days from 1st chick to last chick to hatch. Apparently they do that to teach you patience or some such silliness....

 

[Fat Daddy]

I just hatched 23 out of 51 eggs set.(mailed eggs) The first pip was at 7 AM on the 20th. First hatched at 4:30 PM the 20th, last hatched 7:30PM on the 22nd. There were several that quit and didnt make it after they pipped too. Sit tight and watch'em... Hope'in the best for you and your chicks. Bill