quail in lock down with low humidity

[Jus1]

Hello, I am brand new to this forum but I have been doing extensive research for 2 months on raising jumbo coturnix quail. I incubated 107 eggs. The 1st part went super smooth. The humidity stayed between 50 and 55%, the temp at 97-99°, they were candled 2 nights ago and we found only 9 eggs of the 107 didn't developed. Now they went into lockdown 4 hours ago and now I can't get the humidity above 65%. I know this is bad but I don't know what to do. I have 2 rubber ice trays for their water this time where as before I had a styrofoam water channel. I filled only 1 ice tray because I knew it would be easier to add water to the 2nd via the air holes at the top. Since it wasnt getting above 60% humidity I slowly started to add water to the 2nd tray. It's now full of water and won't go above 65% humidity. It's a homemade incubator made with expanded polystyrene board with a black light. We have a inkbird temperature control so the temperature automatically comes on and off when the box reads too low or high. I thought I had taken all the precautions and was fully prepared for lock down, but I was clearly wrong. Advise on getting their humidity up please. I don't want to loose the little guys. Also all holes are currently plugged except 1 for air, so plugging them long enough to get it raised is obviously not a option

 

[JaeG]

60-65% will be fine and it will go up some more when they start hatching. You may need a little more air flow as fresh air is very important for hatching chicks. Good luck - they are very docile and sweet babies.

 

[Jus1]

I read in this forum that was too low. I even saw someone say they had to hand hatch their eggs with the humidity running at this percentage. I have just now walked in to open 2 more holes and the humidity is decreasing. It's now sitting on 63%

 

[JaeG]

It sounds like something else going on with their hatch as 60-65% is pretty standard, and with the number you are hatching the humidity will rise as they all start popping out. If humidity is too low in the first phase of incubation the chicks lose too much moisture and can't rotate to unzip so perhaps that was a factor. It really is an experiment to work out what parameters work best in your unique climate. I've hatched my own Button quail eggs at 75-80% the whole incubation period and still had 100% hatch (I'm very bad about doing staggered hatches). Yet that could be disastrous for someone else. My Coturnix did ok at that humidity too and there was only one in my very small batch that didn't hatch (yet it had a big air cell and pipped internally).

I always find hatch time stressful and I always worry nothing's going to hatch. Doesn't matter how many times I hatch the little cuties!

 

[Jus1]

I am certainly no expert. They were wiggling like crazy last night and today before locking them in, so I got them this far. Now I'm reading the condensation on the viewing windows may be an issues? The humidity keeps going down and is now at 58%. I had 0 issues in the beginning so I'm super stressed. I could care less about money or time I put in, now I just worry if they will suffer

 

[JaeG]

It is stressful, I know. Condensation happens when the warm air in the incubator hits a surface that's cold, such as plastic or glass.

It's surface area that matters where humidity is concerned so wet sponges, paper towels or cloths can help but don't put them where they are in contact with the eggs as they'll end up wicking water out of the eggs and drying them out too fast.

Wiggling eggs means they are turning and getting into the right position to hatch so they'll go quiet for awhile before pipping internally, then they'll sit like that for around 24 hours or so before externally pipping. Again it's around a 24 hour wait while they finish absorbing the remains of the yolk and the blood that's been running through the membrane before they move onto unzipping which should happen in less than an hour. So you've got a bit of time to figure this out.

 

[Jedstar]

Hello, I am brand new to this forum but I have been doing extensive research for 2 months on raising jumbo coturnix quail. I incubated 107 eggs. The 1st part went super smooth. The humidity stayed between 50 and 55%, the temp at 97-99°, they were candled 2 nights ago and we found only 9 eggs of the 107 didn't developed. Now they went into lockdown 4 hours ago and now I can't get the humidity above 65%. I know this is bad but I don't know what to do. I have 2 rubber ice trays for their water this time where as before I had a styrofoam water channel. I filled only 1 ice tray because I knew it would be easier to add water to the 2nd via the air holes at the top. Since it wasnt getting above 60% humidity I slowly started to add water to the 2nd tray. It's now full of water and won't go above 65% humidity. It's a homemade incubator made with expanded polystyrene board with a black light. We have a inkbird temperature control so the temperature automatically comes on and off when the box reads too low or high. I thought I had taken all the precautions and was fully prepared for lock down, but I was clearly wrong. Advise on getting their humidity up please. I don't want to loose the little guys. Also all holes are currently plugged except 1 for air, so plugging them long enough to get it raised is obviously not a option

Nice profile pic. Try get another humidity gauge and see if it reads the same. 65% that should be enough. They say 60 to 70