Help with bobwhite quail egg lockdown!

[Critter Crazed]

Hey guys! This is my first time hatching bobwhite quail and I have a quick question!

I just candled them all as today is day 20 and there was movement/complete opaqueness in 28/33 eggs (yay!). However, I noticed that only about 10 out of the 28 were almost completely opaque and the others still had quite a bit of open space left in them (even though I saw movement in them all). They filled the egg about 3/4 full. Is this normal for bobwhite quail? Should I delay lockdown? I just remember my chicken eggs filling up more space before lockdown.

Thanks so much for any feedback!!

 

[firestomp]

Hey guys! This is my first time hatching bobwhite quail and I have a quick question!

I just candled them all as today is day 20 and there was movement/complete opaqueness in 28/33 eggs (yay!). However, I noticed that only about 10 out of the 28 were almost completely opaque and the others still had quite a bit of open space left in them (even though I saw movement in them all). They filled the egg about 3/4 full. Is this normal for bobwhite quail? Should I delay lockdown? I just remember my chicken eggs filling up more space before lockdown.

Thanks so much for any feedback!!

I just hatched out a bunch, 64 of 74 hatched. I do day 21 as lock down and up the humidity to 70%. When hatched, I take the babes out when dry, 5 hrs or so, no more than 12 hours later or they will starve. I just leave the rest alone keep taking them out as they go, you may even get them at day 25 or 26. I have a hovabator and it is easy to monitor temp and humidity.

 

[Critter Crazed]

I just hatched out a bunch, 64 of 74 hatched. I do day 21 as lock down and up the humidity to 70%. When hatched, I take the babes out when dry, 5 hrs or so, no more than 12 hours later or they will starve. I just leave the rest alone keep taking them out as they go, you may even get them at day 25 or 26. I have a hovabator and it is easy to monitor temp and humidity.

Thank you firestomp! I'm going to put a few more sponges in there to up the humidity. It's been at 40-50%. So maybe I should wait until tomorrow night for lockdown? Everything I had read said day 20 so that's why I planned to tonight

 

[feedman77]

Either day will be fine for lockdown.

Raise the humidity to 70 plus. I take mine out when dry. I show them food a water when I move them to the brooders. But they can go up to 3 days off their yolk sac.

How you take the babies out is up to you.

Good luck on your hatch

 

[Critter Crazed]

Either day will be fine for lockdown.

Raise the humidity to 70 plus. I take mine out when dry. I show them food a water when I move them to the brooders. But they can go up to 3 days off their yolk sac.

How you take the babies out is up to you.

Good luck on your hatch

Okay thank you! I'm just so excited for my quail babies!!

 

[firestomp]

Thank you firestomp! I'm going to put a few more sponges in there to up the humidity. It's been at 40-50%. So maybe I should wait until tomorrow night for lockdown? Everything I had read said day 20 so that's why I planned to tonight

If you don't have a good hatch, don't get frustrated and stop. Try to keep the humidity around 60% until lock down, day 20 is fine, but that humidity is critical at the end, try to get 70%. It helped my hatching a great deal. I'm still learning, as an off topic, use high protein non medicated chick starter. I put it in a ninja blender and make it like corn meal. Put some pea gravel or marbles in the waterer to keep from drowning. You will likely have losses to day 3 or 4, after that the rest will do fine. I lost 8 total out of this hatch of 64. Any crippled ones I put down, it's not fair to the animal. They will be very fast in just days, cover that brooder, they will fly quickly, trust me on this. I use a net and a red head light to remove them from the brooder (mine is large) makes it easier on all of you when moving them. Good luck, let me know how it goes.

 

[Critter Crazed]

If you don't have a good hatch, don't get frustrated and stop. Try to keep the humidity around 60%, day 20 is fine, but that humidity is critical. It helped my hatching a great deal. I'm still learning, as an off topic, use high protein non medicated chick starter. I put it in a ninja blender and make it like corn meal. Put some pea gravel or marbles in the waterer to keep from drowning. You will likely have losses to day 3 or 4, after that the rest will do fine. I lost 8 total out of this hatch of 64. Any crippled ones I put down, it's not fair to the animal. They will be very fast in just days, cover that brooder, they will fly quickly, trust me on this. I use a net and a red head light to remove them from the brooder (mine is large) makes it easier on all of you when moving them. Good luck, let me know how it goes.

Was my 40-50% okay through the incubation period? I saw varying percentages so I assumed just keeping the water tray full and an extra wet sponge in the incubator would be okay. And thanks! I have 28% protein gamebird chick starter that I'll grind up for them and netting to put over my brooder!

 

[firestomp]

Was my 40-50% okay through the incubation period? I saw varying percentages so I assumed just keeping the water tray full and an extra wet sponge in the incubator would be okay. And thanks! I have 28% protein gamebird chick starter that I'll grind up for them and netting to put over my brooder!

I honestly don't know, I used the information with the incubator, and from a wonderful woman at Stromberg's. The feed is great, hard to get in many areas. I have one store that will order it for me in the next town. I am no expert at all, just pretty lucky with my program I do use.

 

[firestomp]

Was my 40-50% okay through the incubation period? I saw varying percentages so I assumed just keeping the water tray full and an extra wet sponge in the incubator would be okay. And thanks! I have 28% protein gamebird chick starter that I'll grind up for them and netting to put over my brooder!

Is it a still air incubator you have? The only experience I have is with a circulating air system and it is all digitally controlled, the fan runs constant, the heat cycles as needed and is settable for anything, including reptile eggs.

 

[feedman77]

Humidity is a trial and error thing. What works for me may or may not work for you.

Personally I dry incubate. Try to keep mine at 20 to 35 percent. If I tried a higher amount 45 to 50 I had fully formed but dead chicks. But that is what I found after a lot of trials and poor hatches.

Like firestomp said don't give up if hatch is not what you expect. If it's good try to repeat what you did. If not make a change and try again. Til you find a set of parameters that work for you.