Quail hatching - fully formed but not hatching

[cwollen]

I've been hatching quail and chicken eggs for over a year. I've never had great luck with quail. Currently hatching our own eggs. At the end of each hatch round I open up all the eggs and 75% of the unhatched eggs are fully formed chicks that never started pipping out. I've experimented with dry hatching and incubating with a solid humidity during the first 14 days and then increasing the last 3 days. Always have the same outcome---fully formed that never start pipping out. Suggestions on what i'm doing wrong..

 

[Nabiki]

What are your temperature and humidity at? Coturnix quail seem to do better at low humidity (around 30%)

 

[cwollen]

What are your temperature and humidity at? Coturnix quail seem to do better at low humidity (around 30%)

The dry hatch was around 22% humidity until the last three days when I increased to 55-60%

 

[Nabiki]

It's hard to say for certain, but I usually hatch mine at closer to 40% humidity. My first hatch was at around 55-60% humidity and I had less than a 50% hatch rate and I had a lot of curled toes.

@Kiki would probably know better than I.

 

[cwollen]

It's hard to say for certain, but I usually hatch mine at closer to 40% humidity. My first hatch was at around 55-60% humidity and I had less than a 50% hatch rate and I had a lot of curled toes.

@Kiki would probably know better than I.

Thanks! I'll try a lower humidity at hatching.

 

[mdees88]

And the first thing @Kiki will ask..... are you using a calibrated thermometer/hygrometer?

Common causes are low average humidity during incubation, improper temperature, and lack of ventilation during the hatch.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-05.html
I average a 75% hatch rate on total eggs set and over a 90% hatch rate on fertile eggs at lockdown (with shipped eggs). I've been running my humidity at 50% the entire time and upping it to around 65 during lockdown. I have had a few curled toes so this hatch I'm running 40% and around 60 at lockdown. Never had an issue with them dead in the shell without pipping. You'll find many people run different humidity's and still have pretty good results so you need to find what works for you.

Myshire Farm recommends 99.5 degrees F, 35-45% humidity days 1-14, and 55-65% humidity during lockdown....

 

[Kiki]

Is the humidity gauge salt tested?

 

[JaeG]

Humidity is a very individual thing. I'm at the opposite end of the scale where I incubate at an average humidity of 60% for the whole 18 days for quail. Since doing that I've only had one with a curled foot and I helped that one hatch (because our son begged me not to let it die). And his is more of an ankle deformity - I couldn't straighten it at the ankle to set it and fix it, so he's just our pet, Curly. Before switching to a high humidity throughout there was always at least one baby per batch that had to have its toes straightened. So experiment and see what works for you.