My First Quail Hatching

[KRFlashner]

Congratulations on your hatch! How many chicks did you end up getting?
I put mine in lockdown yesterday, but I'm worried they might have been fried - I took their temp with the ear thermometer before putting them in lockdown and several of them were around 103 F - I have no clue how long they've been that hot. The incubator read 100 F. Lowered the incubator temp to 99.3 F and this morning the eggs read around 98 F.. I have 37 eggs in there that seemed fertile at day 8, so hopefully some of them have survived.

It's funny you said that! In the beginning of our incubation I completely trusted the incubator. Then I read on here to check with another thermometer and it was soo off! I remember the night between day 15 and day 16 waking my husband up crying because I was convinced I'd killed them. lol I was so upset with myself for not knowing that I needed a hydrometer, I didn't double check the temp for the first two days. I was sure I'd killed them all. lol Then Day 16 in the middle of the night (hubby got back from the city late and woke me up saying I should come down stairs. There was one little fluff already out and pretty fluffy with a second one unzipping. In the end we had 24 batch but one didn't make it. (It was my fault. I screwed up and I feel really bad about that but in the middle of the problem I found the thread I should have known about that probably would have saved the little guy) So we have 23 little fluffs that are already super cute and running. I love that their newest trick is that they quickly flap their little wings when they run.

 

[DK newbie]

Ohh, I'm so looking forward to it! Yes, it's crazy how much you worry about those eggs! I've been reading the quail section of BYC for a couple of years now though, so I've read enough stories to know that even if I do mess up I'm still likely to get at least a few chicks with 30+ fertile eggs. Starting when I get home tomorrow I expect to spend the majority of my time staring at the incubator I timed it when I set the eggs, so they were likely to hatch during the weekend so I'd be home to watch
Loosing only 1 from a batch of 24 is pretty good too. If I do manage to hatch any I hope I'll do that good as well

 

[Erkenstein]

You have probably already started to see the droppings since your last post, right? Everywhere?

Ha!

 

[DK newbie]

I have 5 babies in the incubator now and several pipped eggs, so I didn't fry them all ^^ Though they were a little early so the temp has probably been a bit high.
..and one of them has pooped in the incubator already.