Hello from a newbie and a quick question

[MidMOQuailDude]

Hello to all from Mid Missouri! First off, thank you for a wonderful source of information and this seems like a great group of people! I've been reading on the forum for a few weeks while preparing for my first Coturnix Jumbo Brown hatch. As recommended by several, I ran the incubator (Hova-bator Genesis w/ turner) a few days before receiving the eggs to make sure everything worked. During the trial run, it held right between 99.7 and 100.0F with a 42% humidity with the outer waer channel filled. I received the eggs on schedule and after allowing them to warm to room temp for about 12 hours, I placed the eggs in the incubator. The incubator temp has now (after several hours) stabilized at nearly the same temp as before but I'm noticing the humidity seems to be holding steady at around 65%. First, is this normal to see an increase once eggs are placed within and second, is this too high/should I do something to lower it?

Any input is appreciated,
Tim

 

[Haveandtohold]

Hello to all from Mid Missouri! First off, thank you for a wonderful source of information and this seems like a great group of people! I've been reading on the forum for a few weeks while preparing for my first Coturnix Jumbo Brown hatch. As recommended by several, I ran the incubator (Hova-bator Genesis w/ turner) a few days before receiving the eggs to make sure everything worked. During the trial run, it held right between 99.7 and 100.0F with a 42% humidity with the outer waer channel filled. I received the eggs on schedule and after allowing them to warm to room temp for about 12 hours, I placed the eggs in the incubator. The incubator temp has now (after several hours) stabilized at nearly the same temp as before but I'm noticing the humidity seems to be holding steady at around 65%. First, is this normal to see an increase once eggs are placed within and second, is this too high/should I do something to lower it?

Any input is appreciated,
Tim

It's pretty normal to see a slight spike in humidity when you first put eggs in but it usually goes back to the lower test range after a bit. If it doesn't do this on it's own you might have a cracked egg. That's just my experience though.

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

I just looked the eggs over and I can't see any cracks but I guess that doesn't mean there are none. Is this going to adversly affect the hatch and should I look more closely for the possible cracked egg or should I just let it ride?

 

[dc3085]

I just looked the eggs over and I can't see any cracks but I guess that doesn't mean there are none. Is this going to adversly affect the hatch and should I look more closely for the possible cracked egg or should I just let it ride?

You do not want your humidity that high during incubation. Make sure your vents are wide open, if it still doesnt go down you may need to cut back how much water you have in the bator. I agree with the second poster in that you most likely have a cracked egg. Try to get humidity down to 50-55%

 

[James the Bald]

You also want to minimize the amount of time that you open and close the incubator. Each time you open the incubator, moisture escapes, and it increases the possibility that the membrane(s) dries out and "shrink wraps" the embryo inside the shell sufficating it. The membrane is semi-permeable and air and moisture permeates through it, and if it dries out (closing the pores), it prevents oxygen to get through.
Another thing newbys do (myself included) is open the incubator and remove the first several chicks that hatch. As the chicks hatch, they will run about once they dry out and explore everything, knocking eggs around and trampling newly hatched chicks. Resist the desire to open the incubator and put them in the brooder to feed and water them. Chicks can survive on the yolk for 24 hours, so they can remain inside the incubator with no harm. Open the incubator only once to remove all chicks at the same time. They will be hungry when you take them out, so prepare to have water and food for them in the brooder.
James

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

Thank you very much for the info! I think I did possibly have a cracked egg, I ended up with one egg that was split either from already being cracked or it looks like it was big enough that it could have also been "scissored" by the turner as it moved... either way, it was cracked and mostly split when I saw it. I managed to get it removed and, after following some other direction that I found in other searches, got the humidity down to 48%. Temp and humidity are now holding steady, I'm hoping the half-a-day at 65% humidity didn't hurt them, looking forward to having a bunch of babies in a couple weeks!

 

[dc3085]

Thank you very much for the info! I think I did possibly have a cracked egg, I ended up with one egg that was split either from already being cracked or it looks like it was big enough that it could have also been "scissored" by the turner as it moved... either way, it was cracked and mostly split when I saw it. I managed to get it removed and, after following some other direction that I found in other searches, got the humidity down to 48%. Temp and humidity are now holding steady, I'm hoping the half-a-day at 65% humidity didn't hurt them, looking forward to having a bunch of babies in a couple weeks!

No it didn't hurt them. You have some play room since in nature there is weather and the incubator has to leave to eat. If you have the little giant or hovabator turner it will crack large eggs. You can place them in the outside row on either far side and they won't break, so basically you can only do 20 bigger than normal eggs.

 

[dc3085]

Sometimes eggs fall out of the holes if they're too large and they bind the turning racks so they can't turn, just fyi.

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

I can't speak for the egg that got broken because I don't remember for sure but I did have several other eggs that are larger and appeared to be closer to the opposing turning rails than the others. I moved these to the outer rows as suggested and it looks like everything is working well. I'll definitely remember this in future hatches. Being able to only hold 20 in the outer rails should be a non-issue in the future because I don't plan to have any huge hatches after I get my breeder stock established and then I'll just be hatching enough to gradually rotate out the breeder stock and enough to grow up for meat. I haven't tried it yet but if a person chose to, could they space the quail rails in the turner as if they were the goose egg rails to create a span of 5 turning trays with more spacing instead of 6 with the usual spacing?

 

[dc3085]

I can't speak for the egg that got broken because I don't remember for sure but I did have several other eggs that are larger and appeared to be closer to the opposing turning rails than the others. I moved these to the outer rows as suggested and it looks like everything is working well. I'll definitely remember this in future hatches. Being able to only hold 20 in the outer rails should be a non-issue in the future because I don't plan to have any huge hatches after I get my breeder stock established and then I'll just be hatching enough to gradually rotate out the breeder stock and enough to grow up for meat. I haven't tried it yet but if a person chose to, could they space the quail rails in the turner as if they were the goose egg rails to create a span of 5 turning trays with more spacing instead of 6 with the usual spacing?

If you adjust it you can only put 4 trays because of the way the holes are spaced. But still 80 quail eggs is usually enough for most backyarders.

Good Luck!