Quail eggs came in update and a little rant

[learning2homestead]

Well the quail eggs came in as yall read in my other post but I think I screwed up. What happen is they came in on the 4th and I was heating up my incubator and I think I got water in the control panel when adding water to it, now the LCD screen doesn't work. Well I didn't have time to wait for a new incubator to come in so I had to run to the tractor supply to go get a new incubator. I got the pro series and it wasn't till last night before I could put the eggs in with the incubator having to heat up and such. now I am bummed because it has been 2 days before the eggs could go in. Then when I woke up today I went to check on the eggs and the temp on the LCD screen shows 100 with a 62% humidity and my backup temp guage(got from Walmart) showed the temp as 104 and the humidity at 59%. so now with all that together with the temp and the delay in getting them into the incubator I probably have killed any chances of any chicks hatching. I didn't take them out I have them still in the incubator, it hasn't been a full 24 hours yet. so we will see. sorry for the little rant. I am so frustrated and upset. hopefully it will be ok. thanks for listening to my rant.

 

[DK newbie]

I've never incubated anything myself, but I've read many stories like yours - and almost all of them end with at least some healthy chicks. So don't give up hope!
Actually it's often recommended to wait at least a day before you set shipped eggs - waiting for two days might not be a problem at all. And if the temp was only 100, it might not affect your hatch rate at all. I guess 104 might, but that depends how long the temp was that high - the internal egg temp might not have had time to get that high.

 

[dpenning]

I agree with DK Newbie. Keep going, you may be surprised. I had set a batch and went out of town, came back expecting them to be hatching within a day or so but they didn't hatch for 4 more days. These are resilient little buggers. Good luck!

 

[feedman77]

100 is fine that's where I set my incubators.

Depending on the type of thermometer you had for a 2nd. It could have up to a 3 to 4 degree difference. That's about as close as room thermometers calibrate. Also depends when it take it's readings.

I wouldn't fret much yet. I believe you will be ok

 

[Rustyspokes]

For such a short duration don't stress over it. Incubating so few eggs this past summer I decided to try out Hovabator Genesis. It worked flawlessly on several hatches of chicken eggs (BCM using dry hatch method) but lo and behold, second night after starting up the 50 quail eggs the temperature was 105. Ideally you want the probe or whatever you want to use to gauge temperatures somewhere as close to the center and about the top of the eggs. If you are using an automatic turner you'll also need to adjust the temp after removing it for lock down. The turner motor generates a bit of heat on its own.

I had set mine up with a few digital temp/humidity probs, an old Lyon wet bulb and an even older GQF temperature gauge that I knew were close to accurate (with all the rain at the time I had a lot of time on my hands and like to piddle with stuff lol). A short time after lock down the humidity readings of all the digital probes were way off base. Kaput!

If you want to candle, slide the top about half way off, enough to comfortably nab an egg at a time and check how they are progressing.

Consider this first try as a learning lab. It usually is anyway ; )

 

[learning2homestead]

Thank you all for your encouraging words. I will not give up and this won't be my last hatch. I am so glad I found this place with wonderful people that helps each other. I appreciate it very much.

 

[cottontail farm]

If it makes you feel any better I run my incubator at 102 and have good hatches. Sometimes the temp will fluctuate up to 104. In that case I just open the lid for a bit and wave my hand to move some cool air over things before fussing with the wafer. I have a cheap hova bator and still get good results. I think they have to be at a super high temp for a long time to do real damage.

 

[Ulaidian]

I think 39.5C is the killer temp, but that is the egg embryo itself.. it always takes time for an egg to heat up (and cool down), so a temporary hike is not going to be too bad.
Like the others said, just go with it, have a look and see how the hike might have happened, and most important, put it down to experience. I have a whole list of 'well I won't bloody do that again!'

 

[learning2homestead]

Ok well I just candled some of my eggs and the ones that I candled, a few of them are clear, some look clear with a redish tint to them, I could see blood veins in some of them so hopefully in 14 more days we will see how they turn out. Thank you all for the encouraging words. I will keep you updated

 

[Rustyspokes]

Thats the good thing about working with numbers. Outside of a catastrophic failure if you get a few duds your still in the game. But a lose when working with species that lay at best two eggs a season will really put holes in your bucket. Quitters never win. You'll do well.