I had 97 bobwhite quail eggs in the bator (first time I used this bator). They started hatching 3 days early and still in the automatic turner. I turned off the turner and quickly added water to the troughs.
The next morning I woke to find a chick wedged between the turner and the side of the incubator. It wasn't going to be able to get out itself, so I slid open the top of the incubator and helped it out quickly with a pencil. My basement is very humid which is where I'm keeping the bator and I saw that the humidity held.
I had to open the bator a couple more times quickly to add paper towel to the crevice so more chicks wouldn't get stuck.
The two outer most racks is where all the hatching took place. I noticed lots of pips to the eggs on inside racks.
There was tons of activity during the morning hours yesterday. The last two to hatch were very slow and then two zipped and gave up.
Since then everything seemed to stop. The hatched chicks dried out and the humidity dropped a bit. I had a wet bulb temp of 87 degrees F. So a used a tube through the vent to add more water to the troughs and also to wet the paper towel I had put in there. The wet bulb temp went up to 91 degrees after that. This was last night around 10:00 pm.
I woke at 4:00 am and saw no change. Now at 9:00 am still no change. The only activity I see is one working a bit on zipping which had stopped last night. I'm afraid the membrane has dried and it won't be able to hatch.
I have 25 hatched and about 70 more eggs in the bator. I'm terrified that I may have lost the rest of them because I opened the incubator a few times, yet very briefly, just sliding open one edge.
The 25 I have in the bator now are dry and fluffy. The first to hatch will be 48 hours old tonight. I wonder when I should remove them to the brooder.
Have I lost the rest? Should I help the one that's still working on hatching? At what point do I say that's it? Maybe till tomorrow morning? I feel awful!!! I know I shouldn't open the bator, but I wasn't expecting them to hatch in the turner. I'm very disapointed and worried! Someone please give me advice. THank you.
The next morning I woke to find a chick wedged between the turner and the side of the incubator. It wasn't going to be able to get out itself, so I slid open the top of the incubator and helped it out quickly with a pencil. My basement is very humid which is where I'm keeping the bator and I saw that the humidity held.
I had to open the bator a couple more times quickly to add paper towel to the crevice so more chicks wouldn't get stuck.
The two outer most racks is where all the hatching took place. I noticed lots of pips to the eggs on inside racks.
There was tons of activity during the morning hours yesterday. The last two to hatch were very slow and then two zipped and gave up.
Since then everything seemed to stop. The hatched chicks dried out and the humidity dropped a bit. I had a wet bulb temp of 87 degrees F. So a used a tube through the vent to add more water to the troughs and also to wet the paper towel I had put in there. The wet bulb temp went up to 91 degrees after that. This was last night around 10:00 pm.
I woke at 4:00 am and saw no change. Now at 9:00 am still no change. The only activity I see is one working a bit on zipping which had stopped last night. I'm afraid the membrane has dried and it won't be able to hatch.
I have 25 hatched and about 70 more eggs in the bator. I'm terrified that I may have lost the rest of them because I opened the incubator a few times, yet very briefly, just sliding open one edge.
The 25 I have in the bator now are dry and fluffy. The first to hatch will be 48 hours old tonight. I wonder when I should remove them to the brooder.
Have I lost the rest? Should I help the one that's still working on hatching? At what point do I say that's it? Maybe till tomorrow morning? I feel awful!!! I know I shouldn't open the bator, but I wasn't expecting them to hatch in the turner. I'm very disapointed and worried! Someone please give me advice. THank you.
