Hatch Thread! (Celadons, Banded Blacks, Silver/Andalusians)

[dracquailys]

More updates! We have pips! I’m thinking I’ll see someone out by the time I wake up, maybe two, but I’m curious what everyone else’s bets are.

Some moved a lot because the dresser the incubator is on got bumped (whoops).

 

[dracquailys]

No one is out yet, but only 3 of 12 haven’t pipped yet! Number 1 seemed to be wiggling a lot and is super determined to get out so I do think today is its day. I heard it chirp from inside a little as well. More cracks have developed. No one has done any zips yet.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

LOL I tried and I couldn’t

And oh my, yeah that is… not good. Makes me feel a lil better about my first hatch 5/18

I’m using this incubator, I love it: https://a.co/d/ir40ilZ

My first hatch was 12/24. Of these, 2 got out and disappeared into the woods, and a whole bunch died due to animal attacks or illness. I was left with 5. I had to sell them, because I was tired of the three roosters fighting and over breeding the hens. I sold the hens too, because I wanted little chickens, and thought it would be better to have an actual bantam breed.

 

[dracquailys]

My first hatch was 12/24. Of these, 2 got out and disappeared into the woods, and a whole bunch died due to animal attacks or illness. I was left with 5. I had to sell them, because I was tired of the three roosters fighting and over breeding the hens. I sold the hens too, because I wanted little chickens, and thought it would be better to have an actual bantam breed.

Oh wow I'm so sorry, that's awful!!! Every experience helps us learn even though some can be quite painful.

I want to get into bantams eventually but I'd like to get a proper aviary before I do. I am considering button quails in the meantime, away from my coturnix. The colorful egg variety always gets me! Coturnix are great but there are only celadons and the regular type except for fleeting differences.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Oh wow I'm so sorry, that's awful!!! Every experience helps us learn even though some can be quite painful.

I want to get into bantams eventually but I'd like to get a proper aviary before I do. I am considering button quails in the meantime, away from my coturnix. The colorful egg variety always gets me! Coturnix are great but there are only celadons and the regular type except for fleeting differences.

Before I gave up and sold my 5 remaining quail, I did get a couple eggs from the females. One egg that was rather interesting to me was a brown spotted egg, with a slight greenish hue. I think it’s from the quail who hatched out of an almost entirely brown egg, and the green color could be that I got some celadon eggs from the same place I got her egg, so perhaps she was half celadon layer. (She looked like a Gold Italian Coturnix)

 

[talkinboutchickens]

LOL I tried and I couldn’t

And oh my, yeah that is… not good. Makes me feel a lil better about my first hatch 5/18

I’m using this incubator, I love it: https://a.co/d/ir40ilZ

Oh no! I'm sorry you only got 5 babies! Was there a drastic fluctuation in the temp or something like that which would make many die?
My hatch wasn't all that good either. 12/24. Idk what went wrong and why
OOOOOH that's a sweet incubator I want it!!!!
That's cool that it comes in gray and green. I would probably get green.
I really like the shape.

 

[dracquailys]

Oh no! I'm sorry you only got 5 babies! Was there a drastic fluctuation in the temp or something like that which would make many die?
My hatch wasn't all that good either. 12/24. Idk what went wrong and why
OOOOOH that's a sweet incubator I want it!!!!
That's cool that it comes in gray and green. I would probably get green.
I really like the shape.

I think a lot of factors came into play - when I got the eggs, I didn’t have a proper candler and I also used a Temu incubator (it was $30 so I didn’t want to commit to anything more just yet, lol). I think many were cracked on arrival because multiple became rotted. I only saw that after I bought a proper candler and checked out the remaining eggs. This also led to me opening the incubator multiple times to clean it. The eggs also had a lot of poop on them and everything told me not to clean them so I didn’t, also more mess. It was bad. I don’t want to bad-mouth the breeder, but I will say that Thieving Otter was a monumental difference in quality. No poop, no cracks, really smooth process this time around. The Temu incubator was actually pretty impressive for $30, it had an automatic rotation and I think a fan? But the water system wasn’t the best for my situation, personally. I think someone more experienced could get away with using it, but it was much harder to regulate the humidity than the current one I have. The one I linked I can control the humidity extremely well since it has vents too. So, long story short, bacteria, cracks, humidity, and also maybe some football probably made that hatch harder than it should’ve been.

I’m based in FL so humidity was a concern for me in terms of regulating it because it can spike really easily, so the new one blew me away in that aspect! And the built-in candling and day counting system is cool. Still have a separate thermometer/hygrometer inside though. Got it in green too, I think it’s super cute! I put stickers on the outside of mine LOL.

 

[dracquailys]

So here’s the first hatch results!

9/12 hatched total. It seems we have another all-white baby too. The babies are super strong and had absolutely no issues getting out, hatching very quickly from one another, and were out in an hour and a half from first hatch. They hatched around 10:30 PM EST last night.

We had 2 duds (candled, no activity) and 1 that passed due to an unabsorbed yolk sac. That was the one that had actually pipped but broke through completely, so I think it dried out inside (not shrink wrapped, but the remaining membrane inside was tough) and caused it to lack the moisture needed to absorb the egg. I tried to intervene since everyone else was out, I followed this thread ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/unabsorbed-yolk-sack-help.463890/ ) and tried to make the wet diaper with paper towels, but unfortunately it was just far too weak and didn’t make it.

So, on a less morbid note, I moved the other eggs (silvers/andalusians) into the main incubator and will be happily getting rid of the old one. Culled 3 duds and 2 got cracked because of my own mistake so those were all promptly fed to my kitties which were very happy about that, LOL.

This time around my brooder is a pet play pen lined with a compostable liner and atop it is an Eticat coffee litter. I saw someone mention this in a group and thought it would be a great alternative to diatomaceous earth/pine shaving mix for my situation since it’s rainy season where I live and I really want to avoid mold. I also noticed the last time I used diatomaceous earth, the chicks tried to eat it, so… not doing that anymore haha. We’ll see how this fairs, definitely more experimental so I’ll let y’all know how it holds up!

The chicks have a little twine ball to play with and a water pan with rocks that aren’t visible, but the whole thing kind of reminds me of Dune and it makes me giggle seeing them adventure around.

 

[dracquailys]

Some baby pics. Not all the babies are shown because some look too similar and I couldn’t tell who I had taken a photo of already lol.

Enjoy!!!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I think a lot of factors came into play - when I got the eggs, I didn’t have a proper candler and I also used a Temu incubator (it was $30 so I didn’t want to commit to anything more just yet, lol). I think many were cracked on arrival because multiple became rotted. I only saw that after I bought a proper candler and checked out the remaining eggs. This also led to me opening the incubator multiple times to clean it. The eggs also had a lot of poop on them and everything told me not to clean them so I didn’t, also more mess. It was bad. I don’t want to bad-mouth the breeder, but I will say that Thieving Otter was a monumental difference in quality. No poop, no cracks, really smooth process this time around. The Temu incubator was actually pretty impressive for $30, it had an automatic rotation and I think a fan? But the water system wasn’t the best for my situation, personally. I think someone more experienced could get away with using it, but it was much harder to regulate the humidity than the current one I have. The one I linked I can control the humidity extremely well since it has vents too. So, long story short, bacteria, cracks, humidity, and also maybe some football probably made that hatch harder than it should’ve been.

I’m based in FL so humidity was a concern for me in terms of regulating it because it can spike really easily, so the new one blew me away in that aspect! And the built-in candling and day counting system is cool. Still have a separate thermometer/hygrometer inside though. Got it in green too, I think it’s super cute! I put stickers on the outside of mine LOL.

Wow who knew that a Temu incubator could be better than one off Amazon LOL!!!
I'm sorry about your experience with all the broken and dirty eggs! Yuck! That was def the breeder's fault. Did u get a refund?
Since you already have high humidity, you could try the dry hatch method. Idk if it works with quail eggs because I only breed and hatch baby chickens. So basically instead of adding water you just let it be and that's about it. I only got 12/24 but it wasn't because of the method, it was because I got several yolkers. But I also had several quitters