I really need to advice!!

[sabrinaTmartens]

I have 8 chinese painted quail eggs in my incubator. They came from a quail hen who had too many eggs to sit on, so i put 5 in the incubator, and a few days later the other 3 because she left them go cold during the night.

They have been in the incubator for 8 days now( not including today), and the hen sat on them for definetly over a week as well. at first i thought they only needed a couple of days to hatch, but appearantly they needed more time.

Three days ago i candled them and they were all black with a round air pocket on the round end, they looked ready to hatch, but still no pips.

Yesterday i thought they were al dead so i water candled them quickly, but they all definetly moved in the water.

How long after the egg appears black( and you can't see through it anymore), should they start to pip?

I am becoming so worried
I think they might not hatch at all

Could someone please give me some advice maybe? Thanks!

 

[darkbluespace]

I have 8 chinese painted quail eggs in my incubator. They came from a quail hen who had too many eggs to sit on, so i put 5 in the incubator, and a few days later the other 3 because she left them go cold during the night.

They have been in the incubator for 8 days now( not including today), and the hen sat on them for definetly over a week as well. at first i thought they only needed a couple of days to hatch, but appearantly they needed more time.

Three days ago i candled them and they were all black with a round air pocket on the round end, they looked ready to hatch, but still no pips.

Yesterday i thought they were al dead so i water candled them quickly, but they all definetly moved in the water.

How long after the egg appears black( and you can't see through it anymore), should they start to pip?

I am becoming so worried
I think they might not hatch at all

Could someone please give me some advice maybe? Thanks!

If she was letting them get cold then it probably slowed down development. If they were alive yesterday that is certainly good news! Give them a little more time and wait for internal pips. I had some eggs I was sure would hatch on day 19 and they ended up hatching on day 21-22. It made for a few long days of waiting. Hopefully they are all good and just needing more time. I know how hard it is to be patient!

 

[sabrinaTmartens]

I very quickly candled another egg just now and i saw the little baby pecking it's way through either the membraan or the shell ( i saw it's beak moving in the air pocket) and i heard a peep en a little bit of pecking as well for the very first time!

I am so happy! Hopefully when i wake up tomorrow i will see at least one pip!

Maybe i was just worrying for nothing after all! Thanks for your advice!

 

[darkbluespace]

Yay, I'm glad there is movement!! I had to Google Painted quail... so pretty!! Let me know how they do!

 

[sabrinaTmartens]

I will! They are absolutely beautiful, at first we wanted a natural hatch where the mother hatches out the eggs, but after 5 failed nests with over 20 eggs, we only had 1 baby that survived, because she kept leaving the eggs too early.

I also really enjoy watching and learning from the incubating proces! I will let you know if they hatch

 

[sabrinaTmartens]

Friday evening the first two eggs pipped, and later 3 more followed. 24 hours later i was getting worried because nothing else was happening. One egg had a hole but after 4 hours still wasn't making any progress.

Then all of the sudden, one of the other eggs started zipping, and was out of the egg within 10 minutes! Absolutely incredible to see, the second, third and fourth egg followed in 2 hours, and when i woke up there were two more tiny fluffy balls!

2 egg still haven't hatched, so i will just wait patiently.

They are almost ready to go into the brooder! Thanks for your advice!

 

[darkbluespace]

That is wonderful! I heard they are bout the size of bumble bees when they hatch... is that true? I am really happy for you! I really hope you'll post photos!!

I am having some pips last night and today so I am hoping for some new babies too!

 

[sabrinaTmartens]

They are very very tiny! They are absolutely the size of a big humble bee, and so freaking cute as a button!! I find it a bit scary to hold them between my fingers, because of their size you feel like you could easily squeeze them to death.

I now have 8 baby's, out of 8 eggs, so that is pretty amazing. We had to completely assist the last 2 eggs because they had been pecking for over 54 hours with no progress. The first one was on his feet pretty fast and the other was so weak he was close to dying. He still couldn't sit up or walk after 20 hours and kept laying on this side, so i gave him some sugar water, carefully gave his feet a little exercise/streching and sat with him many hours talking to him and encouraging him to keep trying( i know it sounds like i am a crazy girl but every time i talked he peeped back to me, and tried to get up, so okay maybe i'm a bit crazy in that area haha). This morning when i woke up he was taking little steps, and now he is with his little Brothers and sisters. Absolutely amazing! Yesterday we thought he was going to die for sure.

Here are some photo's, they all like to climb on my hand when it is nappy time, pushing each other off. All combined they are about the size of a baby chicken.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I think I need some if those in my life!

 

[darkbluespace]

They are so adorable and amazing!! Congratulations on such a wonderful hatch... I am just so happy for you!

Glad that last little guy is doing well now. I have not hatched quail yet... but I am going to have to try it sometime! I am glad to know about the Chinese Painted quail because they are so beautiful!

When I have chicken eggs that have pipped but don't zip after 12 hours, I have been helping them at that point and finding that they are often slightly mal-positioned and can't zip. After about 12 hours they have absorbed their yolk and are ready to come out and are healthy and vigorous. When they get left in so long they do get weak and have more problems. Hatching is just such an amazing experience and I am just learning so much every time!

I love your babies!!!