Quail Hatching HELP!!!

[ninjapoodles]

I have some of Tori's quail eggs in my incubator, and today is day 14. As many of you know, things have been hectic around my house the last couple of weeks; more so than usual, even!

We just got home from work, and while Alex was getting his stuff together for his hunting trip this weekend, he heard peeping. Two of the eggs are zipped, and at least one quail is completely hatched! We can't tell whether there's still a baby inside the other egg, or if it has also hatched and is underneath the turner.

I turned off the egg-turner (today was the day they were supposed to come off the turner, I think), but I'm afraid that if I open the incubator to retrieve the hatched baby, it will jeopardize the unhatched eggs.

WHAT DO I DO? The baby (and possibly a second) is underneath the turner most of the time, occasionally scrambling up on top of the other eggs and then tumbling back down through the holes to the screen below.

This is in an LG still-air incubator.

 

[monarc23]

ahh that is a delema!


well if the lg wire below isn't covered in something so the chicks can't get their legs hurt falling through. I'd take em out...and also move the eggs out of the turner.

I"ve removed chicks before (quail to be exact) that hatched while eggs were still in there unhatched and didnt ahvea problem. Hens leave their hatching chicks for a few moments so it's no different. If the humidity changes up it andif the temp goes down for af ew moments that is fine as long as it goes back up ofcourse.

i take that back, if the chicks are due ot hatch today i wouldnt remove the eggs from teh turner, but i stil would take the two out so they dont get their legs injured...as quail are tiny and their legs fall through the tiny holesin the wire (and can get splay leg).

 

[coffeemama]

If the baby doesn't seem injured, I'd leave it for a while. I had a chick hatch on my turner last time, and I waited until it was fluffy and no other eggs were zipping to get it out.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I would just leave the turner in I had the same thing happen when mine hatched early. They did fine and they all hatched with in a few hours.

 

[ninjapoodles]

The wire mesh does NOT have anything covering it--I was caught off-guard by the early hatch. I'm sure a tiny leg could get through.

TWO are out and dry, one has just hatched now, and more eggs are rocking.

Should I wait until there are no wet chicks, and then transfer the hatchlings?

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
many people will gasp at this but i've taken chicks that just hatched out and put them in the brooder away from livlier chicks and they did fine....obviously they did...they're something like 12 weeks old now and adorable

. They actually dried faster in the brooder than staying in the humid incubator (in MY experience).

I'm in no way tellin you what to do though, do what you think is best and safest for them all for sure.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Are they good without food or water for the same length of time as baby chicks?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quail hatched on day 14? That means the temp was high.


I take the quail trays out of the turner, put down the wire mesh and
some shelving rubber (as learned from Speckledhen) and let them hatch.


In all reality, as long as you unplug the turner, they should be fine. Big
deal if they go underneath the turner or get wet in the water wells.


If it was me I'd pull out the turner, put down the wire, and let them
hatch in the trays. It's almost identicle to the egg carton method.


As for Monarch taking them out early, well yeah, I've done that too and
they are fine. The only problem with opening the incubator is how it
affects the birds yet to hatch, not the ones who have already hatched.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
yep

 

[ninjapoodles]

Thanks, guys! I feel a lot better now.

Now, if only my early-risin', deer-huntin' hubby wasn't sleeping right now in MY incubator room! I guess the good part about that is that now, I'll HAVE to leave the incubator alone for at least a few hours, right?