Leaving the eggs in the turner til hatch?

[spookyevilone]

Hiya.
I have staggered eggs, because they were pulled from under a broody button quail that stopped being broody. Some are 1 week old, some are closer to 2 weeks. It's a forced air LG with a new autoturner, and an IV drip line onto a sponge - so it's now at the "do not need to open for any reason at all".

My worry is the staggering - when I moved the eggs from the tray they were in to the auto turner.. I was an idiot and forgot to mark which ones are which. I now have no idea which eggs are due to hatch this week and which aren't. I'm worried to pull any.

If I leave all of them in the turner, will they be ok? I'm assuming yes, because other people have had accidental hatchers in the turner, but I also know I'm supposed to pull them and put them in the hatcher three days before the due date. The mesh on the bottom of the 'bator is covered with shelf lining, that's what the little tray the eggs were in was resting on and I just left it in there. The turner moves slowly and has the chicken trays in it, so there should be enough room under it for button chicks..

How critical is this for buttons? There's not that much room in the egg, so I can't imagine it would be too far from the air cell even if the egg was at its side when it pipped.

(Lesson learned: Mark the date on the @#!@#% eggs when they're pulled.)

-Spooky

 

[CindyS]

Im not sure but even though the turner moves slowly it could pinch the quail. It might be better to turn the turner off. How far along are the latest eggs? If they are in the incubator that has higher humidity for the hatch, that might not be too good either, its not good to have a staggered hatch with 1 incubator.

 

[spookyevilone]

Quote:
I have two - a 'bator and a hatcher. Incubator humidity is currently at 35%, hatcher is at 65%.

The latest eggs are about a week old. The oldest is about 2 weeks. Problem being, I don't know which are which.

-Spooky

 

[KellyHM]

I think you could leave them in the turner since some people hatch in cartons, but I would turn the turner off when you get close to hatch time for the first batch. We know how wobbly chicks are when they first come out and I've heard of them not knowing to get out of the way of the turner and getting crushed.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
first of all,,,,,RELAX.....

I hatched hundreds of button quail just as you described. they come out of the eggs just fine and they hide under the turner.. I have never had one get caught because the turner is so slow.. I did have one wiggle under the wire mesh floor.
he survived.. I rotated eggs for 2 months.. I removed the babies once or twice per day, as they hatched.. I tried marking them, but there were so many that it would take a full time clock watcher to tell when one was due.

I have quail racks, but I did not use them.. I added a couple of quail eggs to a batch of chicken eggs one day.. then as the chickens started to hatch and I kept adding about 4 eggs a day (3 eggs to a compartment) till one day there were no chicken eggs and a full bator of quails.. 3x42 = 126 and rotating..LOL

you will be fine..

I ended up giving quails to anybody who bought guineas or chicks from me..

..jiminwisc.........

 

[spookyevilone]

Quote:
LOL! Thanks. I'm trying. I had to set up the 'bator to be a no-touch zone because I was fretting so much.

Thanks for the reassurance. Back when I did other egg hatching, it was in a homemade wooden 'bator and I don't remember turning the eggs at all, ever. I think my parents did that.. or else they didn't and we just got lucky.

I'm a little hyper about hatching the darn things.

-Spooky