Help! Humidity keeps dropping in incubator

[Nabiki]

How did you go? I think my humidity gauge is also not accurate and I’ve added a heap of water but still only 34%

30% humidity is good for hatching Coturnix quail in my experience. I did my first two hatches at 50-60% and only got about a 50% hatch rate and a lot of curled toes. After I started hatching at 30% humidity I got much better results. When they start to hatch, it usually goes up to about 45%.

My last hatch was 80% hatch rate (from shipped eggs) and I haven't had curled toes for my last 5 hatches.

 

[OzQuailNewbie]

30% humidity is good for hatching Coturnix quail in my experience. I did my first two hatches at 50-60% and only got about a 50% hatch rate and a lot of curled toes. After I started hatching at 30% humidity I got much better results. When they start to hatch, it usually goes up to about 45%.

My last hatch was 80% hatch rate (from shipped eggs) and I haven't had curled toes for my last 5 hatches.

Excellent phew! I thought I’d ruined them. Thanks for commenting

 

[namead]

Alright I received my quail eggs today and have had the incubator running for about 5 hrs. I opened up the container that the eggs came in and they have been sitting in egg cartons for just about as long. My incubator showed between 50-60% earlier but is now at 22%. I added water/cold and don't know if when I add water should it be cold or hot.

 

[namead]

30% humidity is good for hatching Coturnix quail in my experience. I did my first two hatches at 50-60% and only got about a 50% hatch rate and a lot of curled toes. After I started hatching at 30% humidity I got much better results. When they start to hatch, it usually goes up to about 45%.

My last hatch was 80% hatch rate (from shipped eggs) and I haven't had curled toes for my last 5 hatches.

Curled toes? Is that when they can't stand after hatching?

 

[namead]

When the chicks hatch how long should I keep them inside before letting them go outside in the cold weather?

 

[Nabiki]

Curled toes? Is that when they can't stand after hatching?

FYI, this thread is 10 years old, so you may want to start your own thread.

However, curled toes is when their feet are like little fists and they can't uncurl their toes to walk properly on them. They can often be fixed by using tape or bandaids to make shoes for them.

How soon they can go outside depends on the weather. If it's cool, but not say, below 50F, they can probably go outside at about 3 weeks. If it's really cold, freezing or below, I wouldn't put them outside before six weeks.