- Aug 12, 2012
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I feel your pain! I had such tribulation with my first hive of bees and found that over-manipulation was detrimental to the outcome. But, when you're overly excited, that happens. Sometimes, you just have to "let go and let God", as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous. You have received some good advice so far, from tender-hearted folks; we're all tender-hearted here. I've no recent experience with quail eggs, but know that hatching times are somewhat determined by heredity. So, if you intend to breed your hatchlings, later on, you might want to know which hatched first, so that you can favor breeders that produce early hatchers; just a thought.
Here's some info. for you to consider, now, since you've been opening your incubator so much; this comes from an incubator mfgr. and I've posted the link to the original. Good luck!
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Humidity and Hatching
The humidity levels required as the chick emerges are different from those earlier in incubation. For the last day or so of incubation humidity levels need to be much higher than earlier on. By this stage the weight loss of the egg should be 13-15% and water loss for the last 24-48 hours will not significantly affect this. The high humidity levels are required to prevent the membranes of egg drying too fast as the chick hatches and becoming tough and difficult to tear. In natural incubation the membranes cannot dry quickly because the parent bird is sitting on the egg but in an incubator drying
membranes can be a problem. The actual level of humidity is not too critical for hatching but needs to be at least 60% RH. Humidity levels drop rapidly when the incubator is opened and take much longer than temperature levels to re-establish. Try to avoid the temptation of opening the incubator too often when chicks are emerging to maintain high RH levels.
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/humidity.html
Here's some info. for you to consider, now, since you've been opening your incubator so much; this comes from an incubator mfgr. and I've posted the link to the original. Good luck!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Humidity and Hatching
The humidity levels required as the chick emerges are different from those earlier in incubation. For the last day or so of incubation humidity levels need to be much higher than earlier on. By this stage the weight loss of the egg should be 13-15% and water loss for the last 24-48 hours will not significantly affect this. The high humidity levels are required to prevent the membranes of egg drying too fast as the chick hatches and becoming tough and difficult to tear. In natural incubation the membranes cannot dry quickly because the parent bird is sitting on the egg but in an incubator drying
membranes can be a problem. The actual level of humidity is not too critical for hatching but needs to be at least 60% RH. Humidity levels drop rapidly when the incubator is opened and take much longer than temperature levels to re-establish. Try to avoid the temptation of opening the incubator too often when chicks are emerging to maintain high RH levels.
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/humidity.html
just had 10 seramas out of 11 eggs 
