i'm afraid my eggs won't hatch, help me calm down a bit :D

[IceHax]

so, i had 30 coturnix quail eggs initially, they'd been shipped from the other side of the country, but they all arrived here fine it seemed. i let them settle and then put them in my incubator. They have now been staying in there for 13 days (day 14 has just started) at 37.7 °C and 30-40%RH. my incubator has an automatic turner which has been turning them every 2.5 hrs. I have just finished setting them up for the lockdown, and 14 out of those 30 had a bird inside, but, here comes the part which started making me suspicious, i couldnt see any visible movement in any of them. I removed the turner and laid them on the hatching grid which came with the incubator and filled all the water canals, the humidity is now between 55 and 65%RH. are they gonna hatch in your opinion? i need to calm down a bit, so i came here to ask y'all and see what you think about this . And one last thing, i don't seem to be able to keep the humidity constant for more than 2 days and a half, after which i usually have to add water, but in lockdown you aren't supposed to open the incubator, D: what should i do?

 

[JaeG]

They've run out of room to move much and as long as they were looking nice and pink/red inside they should hatch for you no problem (but I know exactly how torturous the waiting is). A dead chick sinks towards the narrow end of the egg and looks very black. There will be a watery gap between it and the air cell with no veins visible.

Some people add a piece of aquarium tubing so they can siphon in a bit more water when necessary. But 'lock down' isn't really 'don't open' until the eggs are pipping. Opening it before that stage won't affect them in the least. Make sure your vents are open as those little chicks need lots of fresh air to help them along.

 

[IceHax]

They've run out of room to move much and as long as they were looking nice and pink/red inside they should hatch for you no problem (but I know exactly how torturous the waiting is). A dead chick sinks towards the narrow end of the egg and looks very black. There will be a watery gap between it and the air cell with no veins visible.

Some people add a piece of aquarium tubing so they can siphon in a bit more water when necessary. But 'lock down' isn't really 'don't open' until the eggs are pipping. Opening it before that stage won't affect them in the least. Make sure your vents are open as those little chicks need lots of fresh air to help them along.

for some reason, i just noticed i'd actually thought of this before starting the incubation, so i actually have a hole where i could plug my humidifier into, if necessary . But for now i'll stick with the water canals only , yeah the wait really kills me ahaha, but thanks for that, that gave me a boost in confidence for sure! i'll keep y'all posted on the status of the eggs, if everything goes right they should be all out by the end of the weekend!

 

[JaeG]

And we love photos of cute, new, fluffies so hopefully you'll be able to share some with us. Quail babies are so adorable.

 

[IceHax]

hmm, i now have another question: i initially set my incubator's termometer to match another termometer i was pretty sure was right. with the same settings, the incubator reads 37.7 °C while the termometer says 36.5? i am not sure if i should leave the temperature as is or set the termometer to match my second one again, but the quails seemed to be doing just fine the last 14 days and they all seemed to be healthy and ready for lockdown last night...

 

[IceHax]

update: just put in a third thermometer i know being pretty accurate, i'll check it out once it warms up and see what it says

 

[IceHax]

another update, the thermometer is showing 36 as well, but i dont think i can trust it enough (it has 1°C sensibility) now i have 2 thermometers showing one 36 and the other 36.5 degrees while the incubator's one is showing 37.7°C, what do i do? i'm kinda desperate at the moment

 

[IceHax]

also, the chicks looked lively up until now, so i am not sure if they've actually been at 36.5 for the entire incubation... what do i do? is this gonna make them hatch later if they hatch at all? and if yes, how longer will it be?

 

[Helloworld]

so, i had 30 coturnix quail eggs initially, they'd been shipped from the other side of the country, but they all arrived here fine it seemed. i let them settle and then put them in my incubator. They have now been staying in there for 13 days (day 14 has just started) at 37.7 °C and 30-40%RH. my incubator has an automatic turner which has been turning them every 2.5 hrs. I have just finished setting them up for the lockdown, and 14 out of those 30 had a bird inside, but, here comes the part which started making me suspicious, i couldnt see any visible movement in any of them. I removed the turner and laid them on the hatching grid which came with the incubator and filled all the water canals, the humidity is now between 55 and 65%RH. are they gonna hatch in your opinion? i need to calm down a bit, so i came here to ask y'all and see what you think about this . And one last thing, i don't seem to be able to keep the humidity constant for more than 2 days and a half, after which i usually have to add water, but in lockdown you aren't supposed to open the incubator, D: what should i do?

Aquarium tubing, water, syringe and sponge. Lay tube on top of sponge and put about 10-15 ccs at a time through tubing that fits through vent hole.

We use an aquarium air pump to move air in our still air incubators too.

 

[JaeG]

Incubators, even forced air ones, will have colder and warmer spots. They may be just a little late if it’s been a bit cool. I usually hatch at 38 and my incubator isn’t that good so I get temperature swings, but quail are very forgiving. When are they supposed to be due?