Please help, hatch day tomorrow, advice needed

[niffles]

Ive recently started breeding button quail (selected for tameness and handleability) and so far the experiment is working very well and I have two generations of very sweet little birds <3. My 3rd generation of quail is due tomorrow. Out of the clutch, only two eggs showed signs of movement on lockdown but one of the eggs air cells is painfully tiny. I candle today and the cell is EVEN SMALLER but the chick is still moving. Because the cell is so small Im sure the chick will not be able to hatch. The other egg is developing normally and I am considering pipping the small celled egg tomorrow once the normal egg has pipped. Is this a good idea? What if anything should I do?

 

[TwoCrows]

The egg with no air cell....that is no doubt a perfectly formed chick ready to hatch. If the bird has broken thru the inner membrane, it will fill out the entire egg. Eggs you know are alive, with larger egg cells are generally chicks that have not yet pierced the inner membrane.

Make sure to keep your humidity up, about 10 or 15% higher than during incubation, don't open the incubator unless you absolutely have to, and have the brooder all set up and ready with food and water. When transfering the babies, dip their beaks in the water so they know where it is, sprinkle food on the brooder floor and tap your fingers at the food so they will eat. Use chick waterers or tiny stones in a jelly jar lid or regular water font with marbles so the babies don't drown.

Good luck with your hatch!

Oh, and welcome to BYC!

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh...but I didn't answer your question....do not touch that egg.

 

[niffles]

Thanks so much, I will leave it alone and see what happens!

 

[niffles]

big baby pipped last night, dead in shell this morning , He was just too big. The other chick just busted out of his shell and is peeping away.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am so sorry about the big baby. These things happen. But at least one of them hatched out well!