Shipped Quail Eggs-Arrived Ice Cold

[007Sean]

Glad your having a decent hatch! I didn't think that they would have been totally frozen! Depending on how they are packaged can make a big difference in the core temperatures of the eggs.
A 50% hatch rate is about par for shipped eggs.

 

[Nabiki]

View attachment 4069685

First 6 are dried off and snuggled up on the heating pad! #7 just hatched and is enjoying a very short time as an only child till the others hatch or it joins the siblings in the brooder. I think considering them being practically frozen when I got them, 7 is more than I expected! Pretty sure #8 is pipping too!

Congratulations on the hatch! It goes to show how stubborn life can be, doesn't it?

I really don't recommend a heating pad. Chicks can easily overheat on them or worse, lose their toes and feet because it's too hot.

 

[HybridChickenMama]

So one has given up, I think we’re gonna lose 1, so we are still technically at 6. And out of 3 left, I saw pipping and movement so I’m hoping for the best.

 

[HybridChickenMama]

Congratulations on the hatch! It goes to show how stubborn life can be, doesn't it?

I really don't recommend a heating pad. Chicks can easily overheat on them or worse, lose their toes and feet because it's too hot.

The way I have it set up is the smaller one is technically under the glass of my brooder and there’s a puppy pad taped to the floor so it doesn’t move. Also have a cool side and the main heating element is above them, trying to sandwich them in with warmth. It’s what I did with my chickens except on low lol

 

[Nabiki]

The way I have it set up is the smaller one is technically under the glass of my brooder and there’s a puppy pad taped to the floor so it doesn’t move. Also have a cool side and the main heating element is above them, trying to sandwich them in with warmth. It’s what I did with my chickens except on low lol

If you have a heat lamp, you don't need the heating pad. I've seen pictures of chicks with necrotic toes due to heating pads. They don't always know how to get off of it. Chickens and quail are actually very different.

 

[harmohen]

Did your hatch go well?

Ended up with 11 chicks that hatched on Day 25 - crazy! 1 has splay leg, not sure how he will do. We did have 1 dead in shell, and 4 pipped but never made it out. Learned a lot. I've got 4 new eggs in the incubator as of yesterday, and am keeping a 50watt reptile warming bulb over it to ensure temps over 98 degrees.

 

[HybridChickenMama]

Ended up with 11 chicks that hatched on Day 25 - crazy! 1 has splay leg, not sure how he will do. We did have 1 dead in shell, and 4 pipped but never made it out. Learned a lot. I've got 4 new eggs in the incubator as of yesterday, and am keeping a 50watt reptile warming bulb over it to ensure temps over 98 degrees.

Good luck! One of my quail babies looks like it was born with splay leg, been keeping it in the glass throughout the day off and on but it’s a stubborn little thing. I have planned on keeping it as long as it’s having a good life.

 

[HybridChickenMama]

If you have a heat lamp, you don't need the heating pad. I've seen pictures of chicks with necrotic toes due to heating pads. They don't always know how to get off of it. Chickens and quail are actually very different.

I’m aware of the differences. The temps on top of the 2 pads is reading at 85-90 degrees which is probably a bit cool and the brooder is right at 93 degree since the cool side has screen. The lamp is solely for light so they can see. I don’t use heating lamps with my quail or chicks. I live in a wildfire zone in Colorado and never wanted to tempt my luck. But there’s a second heating pad wrapped in a towel over the top of the brooder. Haven’t had a single issue besides the one who was born with splay leg. Happy little fluff balls running and jumping and eating and drinking.

I was unfortunately injured in a car accident in December and lost my job. And since it basically cost me the ability to return to any career I have ever had, I am going back to college. Which means I’m home with my small farm and they are in the same room with me. I am constantly checking on them, probably obsessively.

 

[kabuky]

I’m aware of the differences. The temps on top of the 2 pads is reading at 85-90 degrees which is probably a bit cool and the brooder is right at 93 degree since the cool side has screen. The lamp is solely for light so they can see. I don’t use heating lamps with my quail or chicks. I live in a wildfire zone in Colorado and never wanted to tempt my luck. But there’s a second heating pad wrapped in a towel over the top of the brooder. Haven’t had a single issue besides the one who was born with splay leg. Happy little fluff balls running and jumping and eating and drinking.

I was unfortunately injured in a car accident in December and lost my job. And since it basically cost me the ability to return to any career I have ever had, I am going back to college. Which means I’m home with my small farm and they are in the same room with me. I am constantly checking on them, probably obsessively.

I am SO HOPING you had good luck!! I put my new hatchlings on a towel (for footing) and under a heating plate. I sadly learned that heating plate plus heat lamp cooked a few of my hatchlings (and of course, they were the expensive Mountain quail). Love the mountain quail but they are so expensive to get a decent flock and usually have such a poor hatching rate with shipped eggs. I hatch the mountains at the same time as valleys as the valleys teach the mountains how to eat (mountains don't always know how to eat after hatching).