Quail eggs fully developed not hatching

[Crandox]

So I’ve now moved two sets of quail eggs into my Hatcher, in the first set 7 hatched out of about 12 eggs, 2 pipped but never hatched, and 1 was fully developed and never pipped. In the second batch it’s the end of day 18 now and only one out of 12 has hatched, and I don’t see signs of pipping on the other eggs. I candled all the eggs and they look very highly developed, 90% look fully developed and that I’m sure of. The humidity in the Hatcher is 65% steady, and the humidity during incubation was ranging from about 30-45%. Temperature in Hatcher is about 99.3 degrees, temperature during incubation was about 99.5. Both hatches have been unusually late. If it helps the air cells in at least half of the eggs look small, 15% of egg or less, but I have no idea how to tell if the air cells are adequate or not. My hygrometers and thermometers are calibrated to the best of my ability and I have been using an outside accurate hygrometer on both incubators in addition. So what exactly is going on can someone tell me please?

 

[007Sean]

We're the eggs shipped? If not, were they from your parent stock? If they were from your stock, what % protein and brand feed were they fed. What make is your incubator?

Humidity during incubation may have been a tad high, if they are Coturnix eggs, 30% seems to work best for Cot eggs, for hatching it should be around 50 to 55%.
From what you describe the air cells looking like, I'd have to say the humidity was higher than your sensors were telling you it was....small air cells mean they didn't lose the right amount fluid, too large an air cell would mean humidity wasn't high enough, and therefore, loss too much fluid.
Also, you say that both hatches were unusually late?...that's an indication the temperature wasn't were it should have been....a little low. My best guess is your thermometer(s) and hygrometer was off on the calibration and not reading a true value.

 

[Crandox]

We're the eggs shipped? If not, were they from your parent stock? If they were from your stock, what % protein and brand feed were they fed. What make is your incubator?

Humidity during incubation may have been a tad high, if they are Coturnix eggs, 30% seems to work best for Cot eggs, for hatching it should be around 50 to 55%.
From what you describe the air cells looking like, I'd have to say the humidity was higher than your sensors were telling you it was....small air cells mean they didn't lose the right amount fluid, too large an air cell would mean humidity wasn't high enough, and therefore, loss too much fluid.
Also, you say that both hatches were unusually late?...that's an indication the temperature wasn't were it should have been....a little low. My best guess is your thermometer(s) and hygrometer was off on the calibration and not reading a true value.

Calibration is so hard and infuriating I was working on calibrating the incubators like five times for an hour each because I think I accidentally make the calibration worse than the factory settings and then I have to reset it and start all over again it drives me crazy. I’m afraid to calibrate again because I’m afraid I’ll make it worse again, oh well this sucks nothings hatching. My only plan is it do dry hatches from now on, so I’ve stopped adding water to the main incubator, we’ll see how that goes.

 

[Crandox]

We're the eggs shipped? If not, were they from your parent stock? If they were from your stock, what % protein and brand feed were they fed. What make is your incubator?

Humidity during incubation may have been a tad high, if they are Coturnix eggs, 30% seems to work best for Cot eggs, for hatching it should be around 50 to 55%.
From what you describe the air cells looking like, I'd have to say the humidity was higher than your sensors were telling you it was....small air cells mean they didn't lose the right amount fluid, too large an air cell would mean humidity wasn't high enough, and therefore, loss too much fluid.
Also, you say that both hatches were unusually late?...that's an indication the temperature wasn't were it should have been....a little low. My best guess is your thermometer(s) and hygrometer was off on the calibration and not reading a true value.

The eggs are from my own adult birds, I feed them 14% game bird maintenance feed. Also the hens just started laying, these eggs are like their 3rd or 4th eggs. And my egg incubator is a standard Chinese incubator, I don’t remember the brand but it has two levels and is designed to hold up to 120 chicken eggs.

 

[Kayles Quail Farm]

Are you going by the readings for temp. and humidity on the incubator or did you place a hygrometer in the incubator? ALL incubators lie. I have to set my incubators to 100.1 or .2 to get it actual temp to 99.5. I usually have my temp set at 99.5 to 99.7 and during incubation I keep humidity at 30% to 35% and during lockdown I keep it between 60 to 70% and I always get between 65 to 90% hatch rate. I would try waiting about a week or so and try again. Being that your birds just started laying, it might take a little while before they are successful. Also, what is your ratio of male to female birds? I keep a 1 male to 5 female ratio in all of my cages.

 

[Memoli]

I'd like to see some eggtopsy photos if you do before you throw away the eggs.
Also I prefer to wait until my birds fully mature to collect hatching egss from them and keep a good ratio of males to females like 1 / 2 or 1 / 3.
Good luck...

 

[007Sean]

Calibration is so hard and infuriating I was working on calibrating the incubators like five times for an hour each because I think I accidentally make the calibration worse than the factory settings and then I have to reset it and start all over again it drives me crazy. I’m afraid to calibrate again because I’m afraid I’ll make it worse again, oh well this sucks nothings hatching. My only plan is it do dry hatches from now on, so I’ve stopped adding water to the main incubator, we’ll see how that goes.

If I may make a recommendation, get this:

It's 'plug & play', you can get it on Amazon. It will run you about $31 + tax/shipping or if you have PRIME, shipping is free.
I use then on my cheap foam bators, holds temp exactly where you dial it in.
I set mine at 101°F and the bator will be at 100°F, your settings will be different for your location and ambient conditions of the room you have it set up in.
ETA- it has two electrical outlets, so you can also run the hatcher along with the bator at the same time with this unit. A neat reliable thermostat.

 

[007Sean]

The eggs are from my own adult birds, I feed them 14% game bird maintenance feed. Also the hens just started laying, these eggs are like their 3rd or 4th eggs. And my egg incubator is a standard Chinese incubator, I don’t remember the brand but it has two levels and is designed to hold up to 120 chicken eggs.

14% protein is not enough, a minimum of 20% and 24% protein would be best.
14% isn't really enough to be considered 'maintenance feed'....more towards 18 to 20% would be considered 'maintenance feed' for gamebirds.
They need more time for their reproductive system to become fully mature. Increase their protein with a complete and balanced feed ration and give them some time and the situation should improve.