Should I give up on these eggs?

[amandacv86]

My female button quail escaped from my aviary while I was not paying attention for a split second. She was sitting on 9 eggs. I tried to save them by making this setup:



It worked ok but it was very difficult to regulate with the differing day and night temps.(I figured since I'm incubating I might as well put some coturnix eggs in there too.

After waking up Saturday morning with it down to the 70's(lamp was off kilter and not shining down) and coming home from being out no more than 2 hours and it being at 104.9, I modified my setup.





This works way better. It's a lot easier to keep the temps at 99-100,and there's no question if there's enough humidity. I am wondering what I could use to keep the water from looking so gross, and could there be too much humidity?

My button was sitting on her eggs for 1 week exactly before she got out. Am I correct that I should only turn for 7 days then stop?

I was thinking of cutting a square into that container and hot gluing a piece of mesh on it to allow air flow but the lid can close to protect the chicks more when they start hatching. Do I even need to worry about that?

I'm basically wondering if I should give up after they got down to the 70's and up to 104.9 in the same day. If these eggs are no good, would I be able to set some more eggs in the same setup? I've tried to candle with my LED flashlight, and I can't see anything.

Thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

Wow, what an elaborate set up! If I were you, I would continue with the hatching process. You have gone to great extents here and you never know what is going to hatch. Even though your temp dropped to 104.9 on that first day, that only means that the development will be delayed for the time it took to get it back up to temp.

As long as you are ALWAYS keeping the temp steady between 99.5 and 100.5, you should be fine. Watch your humidity as well and make sure you can keep the humidity up during lock down as well, 10% or so higher than you did during incubation.

They should go into lock down on day 13.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh...and yes, you will need to let some air inside there. Even just a tiny hole in the top somewhere will let in enough oxygen. I would do that now.

 

[amandacv86]

Thanks! There is a small gap where the cord for the aquarium heater goes through, so I don't think I have to worry about oxygen if a small hole is ok. I had everything on hand so the whole setup was free, except I'll need to buy a new lamp soon for when they start hatching, for the brooder.

The coturnix eggs are about a week behind. Is there a possibility of any issues from that? Will I need to have two separate brooders?

I have an aviary with 4 cot hens, one rooster, and my zebra finches in on section,and another hen, male button quail, and my parakeets on the other. The female button quail was sitting on two coturnix eggs with her own which I swapped with two from the other side to see if she would hatch them out. So two cot eggs could hatch with the buttons if she was in fact incubating them. My one coturnix rooster pecks on the other hen's neck really bad so I have to keep her separate.

Thanks again

 

[TwoCrows]

The only thing you will have to be aware of when mixing hatchlings with one week olds is, that the heat will need to be adjusted for the hatchlings. In other words, the week olds heat will remain the same as it did when they hatched and not lowered until the hatchlings are one week old, and then every week after that. The week olds will be 2 weeks at that point, but if you brood together, this is what you have to do.

As the cots grow, make sure they do not bully the buttons in the brooder but being that the Buttons are hatching first, they will have a bit of a head start on the Cots.

But I think you have it all together and definitely keep us posted on the button hatch!

 

[amandacv86]

Thank you and yes I will!

 

[Nichrome]

Watch this video and see how the chinese painted treat the one week old coturnix!

 

[amandacv86]

Haha I was half expecting to see something bad, but that is CUTE!

I hope at least half of them hatch.

 

[chrishw]

Hi, I'm a bit of a nOOb myself but remember that even the mother leaves the eggs for quite a bit here and there to feed herself. If it works in nature...

On the other hand, going up 104.9 is a bit high but depending on the sta ge of development and for how long??? One fellow around here always said he kept his quail eggs at 102 and they hatched 2 days earlier, 103 for 3 days early but i'd take that with several grains of salt.

I'm of the opinion that most thermometers are usually +/- a couple degrees even *if* you calibrate them. How many times did our grandparents calibrate their thermometers?

So, dont worry! If it doesnt work this time try it again.

 

[Nichrome]

My last batch of CPQ where hatched by the broody mother. At on point, 4 days before hatch day, the hen was not sitting on the eggs at all! The weather was very hot but I was worried. 4/6 eggs hatched