PLEASE HELP - button quail chick chirping in egg

[evieblk]

Hello all, i am at my wits end as our button quail mama decided to leave her other 7eggs cos she has got 5chicks with her (she left the nest). I have put them in a quick DIY "incubator". Last night i heard chirping from 1egg. It has been 24hrs now, i dare not listen to see if it is still chirping or not tonight. It has been 24hrs now, should i help the egg ? I am so confused and worried. I dont know how long our custard has been incubating as the eggs were not all laid before she started sitting on them. PLEASE help. I am so bad at candling so havent attempted to try that. Thank you kindly..... (worried)
Last edited by evieblk (Today 7:55 pm)

 

[joe125]

Just let it ride. Helping quail of any species out is folly! Button quail bust outs are supper duper folly.

Just keep the temp around 100 deg. F., and the humidity as high as you can, and let nature take it's course. If they don't hatch, then refine your incubator and incubator skills, and set, incubate, and hatch your future button eggs, and bad mouth that brood stopping hen. As highly touted as buttons are for being broody....anyone that raises them with any good results, incubates them themselves.


Best of luck to you!

 

[Flawedatdesign]

Yup as I posted in your other thread let nature take it's course

 

[evieblk]

Thank you! Well, i couldnt let the poor thing die. Mama abandoned all her 7eggs, i couldnt do the same... So thought i should update what i did

after I turned off the computer.

After stressing and worrying and reading & posting on BYC, I took the 7eggs and attempted to candle them, there it went again - the chirping! It has been chirping for over 24hours. I read somewhere that chicks chirp to communicate with their mama hen, and she pecks back. While our custard was hatching her first few eggs, i was able to watch what she did. So i guessed that she heard the chirping, and she was pecking on the egg, cos after 1minute, a chick popped out and she kept "drying" it.

Well, back to this egg, this time i could find out which one it was cos it was loud at one point and i saw a very tiny crack. I could hear some tapping, then suddenly it went really faint. I jumped online again and read what the others did with a chicken egg, so i did the same.

I laid the tiny egg on warm plastic filled with warm water, and gently started chipping away the shell only, the membrane (i think thats what it is) was white and really dry *saw the pics from the other post*. i had warm water in a tiny glass container and started to gently dab warm water on the dry spots/areas with the pointy end of a cotton bud. Chick was getting really tired by now, as was only breathing. Then my husband came to help me with LED torch which was so helpful and kind. I would pick away tiny bits of shell at a time, while he watched, and each time there was a dry membrane, he was there to dab it gently with warm water. When the membrane was wet and shell was "loose" , chick would move hard once, then stops dead still.

After over an hour, I slowly allowed it to pushed itself, but it just didnt have the energy. It was getting really late. I thought it was going to die. At one point there was some blood, bright red and i stopped that area all together. I moved on other areas. Luckily we had enough warm moisture on the membrane, and i started to slowly pushed the shell & membrane away. It slipped off, except the cord was still attached. I continued to dab with warm water on it and left it. Chick was still alive, it was barely moving. I dried it up so gently (as if to copy custard). Hubby had prepared another container for it to rest under a heat lamp, and i laid a soft material on it. The container was left in a DIY brooder.

After an hour i checked on it, and our goldie had somehow crawled out of the container and was busy feeling the wood chips and large saw dust pieces under it. It was among our other little chicks.

We are so glad that it is alive!!!

It is very strong, happy and started eating and drinking. It was following the other chicks around. After further observation, I decided to put it with its mama today, and she is taking care of it. 7 chicks under her wings. I have put them all in a box of their own with hay, food, water, cucumber, hard boiled eggs and millet. I have also put a heat lamp in the box with them as I can see little feet sticking out and heads popping in and out. For a 1day old it is as large as its 3days old siblings. Possibly overgrown its shell?

Due to the change from mama to incubator at the end of its term (we are guessing) - we dont know how far long are the 6eggs. I honestly dont know how to candle as it is all touch and go for us!! But we are pleased to announce that so far we have 9 very cute button quail chicks (2goldie, 5reddish with stripe, 2dark with brown stripe - we dont know what are their proper names for their colours). I will check the remaining 6eggs tonight, as while turning them (not sure if i should be turning them??!!!) i heard a faint chip..........

i am not looking forward to another "overgrown" chick (is it even possible?) and will observe the situation before doing anything. If only custard didnt leave those eggs!!!

Funnily enough I did tell her off today!!!

I was telling her that she should appreciate that this one chick didn't die because of her bad decision. I was talking to her when she was in the box. She didnt have a choice but to listen. She tried to come towards me while i was putting food and refilling water, tried to have a go at my hand, and i told her with a stern voice, NO!

It has been funny! But she always comes when i have a yellow spoon with hard boiled eggs on it!

Thank you for replying to my post. Appreciate it......

Will update on other 6eggs. First time experiencing laying, hatching, incubator, brooder, OP you name it! I didnt expect it of our button quails! I guess you could say forced to learn

LOVE IT. Only experience we had was when a tiny duckling came up to our ranchslider one afternoon in the middle of winter this year, chirping its heart out with no mama or others in sight!!! My husband and I couldnt believe it - that was the first ever duckling we have come close to. It was at least only 2days old. SO SMALL. We love it. That is another story....

 

[evieblk]

Quote:
sorry i dont mean to sound rude, but more ignorant and would like to know what do you mean by "Helping quail of any species out is folly! Button quail bust outs are supper duper folly."
why is it a folly? Please let me know so i may understand better.

cheers

 

[Stellar]

Quote:
sorry i dont mean to sound rude, but more ignorant and would like to know what do you mean by "Helping quail of any species out is folly! Button quail bust outs are supper duper folly."
why is it a folly? Please let me know so i may understand better.

cheers

What Joe means is helping a quail out of a shell isn't a good idea. They are small, one doesn't know if they absorbed all the nutrients and if yanked out of the shell they could bleed to death. Also there is likely a reason its not out of the shell:too weak and it weakens the gene pool if it survives. Usually they don't survive after hatch or have problems (curled toes for example) which can lesson their survival a bit.