Internal pip 2 days ago. No external yet. Intervene?

[tumnus]

Lol! Looking is fine, just giving you warning...

Like Pyxis said, they can take up to 2 days from their external pip to hatch (and that is in average conditions)... low temps and wonky air cells may stretch that out a bit more... you do still want to keep an eye out for external pip and track time...

Glad you have the quail though! Ducklings should hatch within a similar timeframe once they start, but they're definitely not the popcorn quail hatches are!

I've pretty much started the 48 hour countdown from making the safety holes. If they're not out by noon on the 29th, I may need to start looking at the subsequent steps for assisted hatch.

Appreciate all the tips and assistance here today. When they hatch, I'll post photos!

 

[Ravynscroft]

I've pretty much started the 48 hour countdown from making the safety holes. If they're not out by noon on the 29th, I may need to start looking at the subsequent steps for assisted hatch.

Appreciate all the tips and assistance here today. When they hatch, I'll post photos!

Good luck and keep us updated!

Need more help, just holler!

 

[tumnus]

With temps being inconsistent and low, still air should be 101-102, be ready for a long wait... low temps lead to delayed hatch, they may need quite a bit of time to absorb yolk... with safety holes done, they'll get plenty if O2, so no worries there... keep yourself busy, this may take a while, lol...

I don't really know which thermometer I should be trusting right now. I have the standard mercury thermometer that came with the incubator, a digital, and one of those dial thermometers. The digital and dial says 91-93 degrees. The mercury thermometer says 100 on the dot, and it's next to the eggs about egg-level (not touching them). So no idea if the temperatures have been high or low or what.

Have not been doing a good job of not excessively checking on the eggs, in case you were wondering.

 

[Pyxis]

I don't really know which thermometer I should be trusting right now. I have the standard mercury thermometer that came with the incubator, a digital, and one of those dial thermometers. The digital and dial says 91-93 degrees. The mercury thermometer says 100 on the dot, and it's next to the eggs about egg-level (not touching them). So no idea if the temperatures have been high or low or what.

Have not been doing a good job of not excessively checking on the eggs, in case you were wondering.

Sounds like you might want to calibrate one of those to check its accuracy. The mercury one is probably your best bet.

To calibrate your thermometer, fill a glass with ice and leave it out to melt until the glass is half water and half ice. Put your thermometer in the glass, give it a couple minutes to get to temperature, and check it. It should read 32 degrees Fahrenheit. If it does, great! Your thermometer is accurate and you can use it to set the temperature in your incubator.

If it's not right, not to worry, you can still use it. A little math is in order. First, you need to find out how off it is. For example, if it says 33 degrees instead of 32, you know it's reading one degree higher than the temperature actually is. Therefore, when you put it in your incubator, you want it to read one degree higher than the temperature your incubator is supposed to be set at. So in a forced air incubator, you would want it to read 100.5 instead of 99.5, because when it is reading 100.5 degrees, it means the actual temperature in the incubator is 99.5 degrees.

The same is true if it were reading low, so for instance if the thermometer reads 31 degrees instead of 32. In this case, you would want it to read one degree lower than the temperature you need your incubator to be, for the same reasons as above.

 

[casportpony]

Sounds like you might want to calibrate one of those to check its accuracy. The mercury one is probably your best bet.

To calibrate your thermometer, fill a glass with ice and leave it out to melt until the glass is half water and half ice. Put your thermometer in the glass, give it a couple minutes to get to temperature, and check it. It should read 32 degrees Fahrenheit. If it does, great! Your thermometer is accurate and you can use it to set the temperature in your incubator.

If it's not right, not to worry, you can still use it. A little math is in order. First, you need to find out how off it is. For example, if it says 33 degrees instead of 32, you know it's reading one degree higher than the temperature actually is. Therefore, when you put it in your incubator, you want it to read one degree higher than the temperature your incubator is supposed to be set at. So in a forced air incubator, you would want it to read 100.5 instead of 99.5, because when it is reading 100.5 degrees, it means the actual temperature in the incubator is 99.5 degrees.

The same is true if it were reading low, so for instance if the thermometer reads 31 degrees instead of 32. In this case, you would want it to read one degree lower than the temperature you need your incubator to be, for the same reasons as above.

 

[Pyxis]

Thanks It never hurts to check a thermometer even if you think it's accurate. Better safe than sorry You don't always get lucky and get an accurate one, lol. It's totally luck of the draw. My digital one is .5 off and I only know that from calibrating.

So no idea if the temperatures have been high or low or what.

If you calibrate and it turns out the mercury one is accurate, and your incubator is still air (no fan) then the temperature would have been a degree and a half low throughout incubation, so I would expect the ducklings to hatch a little late.

 

[tumnus]

Thanks It never hurts to check a thermometer even if you think it's accurate. Better safe than sorry You don't always get lucky and get an accurate one, lol. My digital one is .5 off and I only know that from calibrating.



If you calibrate and it turns out the mercury one is accurate, and your incubator is still air (no fan) then the temperature would have been a degree and a half low throughout incubation, so I would expect the ducklings to hatch a little late.

Sounds like I have a little project as soon as this hatch is done!

 

[Ravynscroft]

X2 everything Pyxis said!

Mercury thermometers are *usually* quite accurate, just not really safe for general use anymore, lol...

Always a good idea to calibrate thermometers, especially if issues happen during incubation...

 

[tumnus]

A little progress to report today. One of the four eggs externally pipped overnight which is pretty encouraging. Nothing from the other three. I'm prepared to intervene but hoping this one can be an adult about this and just hatch on its own.

 

[Ravynscroft]

A little progress to report today. One of the four eggs externally pipped overnight which is pretty encouraging. Nothing from the other three. I'm prepared to intervene but hoping this one can be an adult about this and just hatch on its own.

Good news! Just be patient... they don't all external pip at same time either... others still active, peeping?