help with my first qail hatching!

[calcifer]

Hi I have read a few post on hatching Coturnix quail but they each seem to be a little different, this is my first hatching experience so please excuse stupid questions. I started my eggs at around 10 am on may 31 so I think tomorrow morning will be the 13th day, I have no illusion that I will have a high hatch rate this being my first time and will be happy if 5 out of 40 eggs hatch.
I have tried to keep the temp between 99.5 and 100.5 and humidity between 40-50%. ok so what do I do now? I know I am suppose to amp up the humidity and leave them alone for the next 4 days but other then that I have no clue. can anyone guide me through these last few days? here are the questions that first come to mind.

1. Will a cup of water in the corner and a wet sponge all 4 days?
2. Should I put cloth on the bottom of the incubator so there feet don't fall through the metal holes? if so wont that mess with the humidity?
3. What do I do if one egg hatches on day 16 and the rest don't intill day 18? should I put water and food in the incubator and/or quickly take the chick out after 12 hours and then wait for the rest?
4. if a chick makes a hole but doesn't seem to be able to get out should I help it after 24 hours?

thanks

 

[calcifer]

Quick update. I think I just probably destroyed my chances of having any eggs hatch, I had a problem with the incubator and it went up to 104 degrees for about 45 min and then 96 for a little while when I tried to fix the problem.

 

[kuchchicks]

I am doing my first quail hatch also but you are a bit ahead of me. Try using cheesecloth in the bottom. Humidity will not be affected by it since its so thin. Wet sponges are nice because the chicks will not drown like they can with bowls and its easy to add/remove them. I do plan on removing my chicks as they hatch. If your humidity is high enough and you remove the chicks quickly then your humidity should quickly rebound. I do help my chicken hatch...as for quail since they are SO small i will probably help if needed but will be nervous. There is not much room to work.

As for your temp swings...do not give up hope. Chicks seem to be resiliant. And what you described was not a huge length of time. It may not have been enough to change the core temp. Dont give up. Let me know how it goes!

 

[gpop1]

when quail hatch there a little slow to get going then they seem to quickly zip around the incubator. Best not to have any exposed water in the incubator that they can drown in.(cut a sponge the same size as the container works). we normally remove them once they start speeding up or they run around like idiots knocking other eggs and seem determined to kill themselves or other un-hatched eggs. 104 is dangerously high but I wouldn't panic if it was just 45 minutes. As for the 96 that's nothing at all to worry about. Most of the quail I have hatched don't seem to wait long between piping and zipping.