My first batch of quail eggs.

[GhislaineDel]

Yay!

 

[dc3085]

Any bleach is fine, just make sure to wash it again with plain water after. When it comes to disinfecting things for game birds the sun is your best friend that UV ray is the best antibacterial out there. I put all my brooders or anything that I need to have disinfected in the sunlight for about a day after i bleach them out.

Edit to add: bleach the boxes out inside or in the shade and don't leave your bleach bottle in the sunlight. UV and oxygen both break down sodium hypochlorite (the active ingredient in bleach). After you have bleached them and washed them out with water is when I put them in the sunlight for the day.

 

[Striker911]

I'm a week behind you! Put my eggs (29...had 30 but cracked on trying to figure out the Brinsea bar system...) into the incubator on the 7th so, this time next week, I'll be on lockdown (and you'll have had yours hatch!) Good luck with it! I'll be checking this thread to see how you're doing. (Sharing the excitement.)

Sweet. I hope you have a good hatch. Its so hard to just watch and not want to get involved lol.

I can see an egg moving! Not sure if I'm seeing things so will get a second opinion... Amazing!

Movements good. So far I have 3 with cracks. Two I noticed yesterday and another today. Any time now.

 

[Striker911]

I hear chicks in the incubator

 

[Striker911]

We have quail! Only five so far. I did have to help one but the other 4 made it without help. The one I helped was the first one that had been trying to get out. Its shell was cracked for over 24 hours but I think one of its legs is messed up.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/striker911/009_zps77a6dc05.jpg

 

[dc3085]

I'm curious as to why the chicks are all huddled together? Is that their brooder you have them in? If they are in the brooder and huddling like that it is too cold and you need to turn the temp up.

When humidity isn't just right they can end up with curled toes, this also happens often to chicks that stay in the shell too long. Should straighten out in a day or two but if it is too severe you may have to make snowshoes(cut little chick foot sized triangles from business cards) for the little guy and tape his toes to them with a band aid <--only do this snowshoe trick if the chick is having trouble walking.

 

[teradragon]

Zomg so cute. I like the blonde one. I have nothing yet :-( not even a pip!

 

[dc3085]

Sometimes it can take 30 hours from pip to hatch. I avoid helping chicks out of the shell as the act of breaking out is what stimulates their circulation. People inexperienced with hatching an egg can unintentionally sever the veins still attached to membrane of the egg causing the chick to bleed to death. Also their yolk sacs sometimes may not be fully absorbed either and this can have many detrimental side effects. Many times given more time the chick you thought needed your help would make it out on their own. Especially if they have cleanly pipped around the top of the shell. If they are out of position in the shell you will see them breaking large holes in the side of the egg or pipping from the wrong end. These chicks would be the ones that need help out of all them.

 

[Striker911]

I'm curious as to why the chicks are all huddled together? Is that their brooder you have them in? If they are in the brooder and huddling like that it is too cold and you need to turn the temp up.

When humidity isn't just right they can end up with curled toes, this also happens often to chicks that stay in the shell too long. Should straighten out in a day or two but if it is too severe you may have to make snowshoes(cut little chick foot sized triangles from business cards) for the little guy and tape his toes to them with a band aid <--only do this snowshoe trick if the chick is having trouble walking.

That was in the incubator. For the most part they had been running, and they moved all the un hatched eggs to one side. So I got the brooder and put them in, removed the shells, and put the un hatched back in the center. At this point I have 9 left to hatch, but I don't see any movement : (. So I hope the 5 we did get will make it. Next time I will have a much better incubator. I seen temps from 94-108F. I was constantly checking it, even in the middle of the night. So I have about 5 on my amazon/ebay watched list I will look into.

As far as temp goes, at set up I had 5 thermometers in and they all had been within 2 degrees, except for the factory one that was 9 degrees higher than the rest. When the other four read 99 the stock one read 108. As far as the incubator. Its a little giant, and I am not real happy with it. Sometimes I would nudge the temp down on the dial and it would go even higher.

Almost forgot to add. The one I helped out is doing okay now. So far they have been hanging out in the fish tank. They get around pretty good.

 

[Striker911]

Zomg so cute. I like the blonde one. I have nothing yet :-( not even a pip!

Thanks lol. It was an awesome exp. The hardest part is the wait, but you should have yours soon. Once I seen the first couple eggs with cracks in them I could not keep my eyes off them. Then over 24 hours later the first one came out. The last 5 days I seen a lot of movement from the ones that hatched. That's why I am kinda worried that the last nine wont make it. No movement, and no marks on any of them.