Small air sacs? Large number of infertile...getting some nerves

[Kiki]

First...cut the string if it's too long.
DO NOT pull on it at all.

Heat plates don't work well for quail do you have a regular old light bulb in a table lamp around?

I am thinking your humidity has been too high throughout which might be why they aren't hatching.

I open my incubator and take freshly hatched quail out while others are still matching all day long. It would not hurt to take the one quail out quickly.

It is going to complain whether it is in the incubator or in a warm brooder... Just because it's by itself so be prepared for complaining.


Make sure the waterer has rocks or something in it so the quail cannot get in the water and drown. Quail babies are dumb.

Make sure the floor of your brooder is flat with nothing the quail can get underneath or behind and get stuck.

 

[Kiki]

Quail chicks are fast.
Be quick and careful when you get it out.

 

[enigmachick]

First...cut the string if it's too long.
DO NOT pull on it at all.

Heat plates don't work well for quail do you have a regular old light bulb in a table lamp around?

I am thinking your humidity has been too high throughout which might be why they aren't hatching.

I open my incubator and take freshly hatched quail out while others are still matching all day long. It would not hurt to take the one quail out quickly.

It is going to complain whether it is in the incubator or in a warm brooder... Just because it's by itself so be prepared for complaining.


Make sure the waterer has rocks or something in it so the quail cannot get in the water and drown. Quail babies are dumb.

Make sure the floor of your brooder is flat with nothing the quail can get underneath or behind and get stuck.

Drat, I was afraid of that, I don't have a heat lamp but I can definitely find a lamp and normal bulb. I've got the plate set so low I'm not sure they can even get under it, I'm not sure what else to do...I've got the room uncomfortably warm as well .

I did a dry hatch until lockdown, didn't add water until day 14/15ish, usually the humidity was around 25%-30% I'd say. Since lockdown it is usually 63-67%. Is it too high?

This is a hard judgment call for me, I don't want to stay up all night with this chick if it can be avoided but clearly it'll either be upset in the incubator or I'll be terrified it's dying of cold in the brooder . It seems distressed with constant chirping but if I take it out I may risk the others too...my incubator is awful about humidity, it loses it immediately when the lid opens. I can try adding some hot water immediately afterwards... ugh judgment calls

 

[NatJ]

I've got the plate set so low I'm not sure they can even get under it, I'm not sure what else to do...I've got the room uncomfortably warm as well .

Can you set the brooder plate with one side very low, and the other side higher?
That way some part would be the right height.

(I've never used a brooder plate, and never raised quail, but I've seen that suggested in various places.)

This is a hard judgment call for me, I don't want to stay up all night with this chick if it can be avoided but clearly it'll either be upset in the incubator or I'll be terrified it's dying of cold in the brooder . It seems distressed with constant chirping but if I take it out I may risk the others too...my incubator is awful about humidity, it loses it immediately when the lid opens. I can try adding some hot water immediately afterwards... ugh judgment calls

I've hatched chickens but not quail.
I also like my sleep.
So I would just turn out the lights, go to bed, and leave the chick in the incubator. I know that works for baby chickens, and I'm pretty confident it would work for your quail as well.

(Especially since Kiki recommended a different heat source-- it would be best if you were awake to monitor that for the first few hours, to make sure you provide the right amount of heat, so I wouldn't want to set it up right before bedtime.)

 

[enigmachick]

This chick is going to give me gray hairs! I was going to leave it in as I can see 3 pips, one zipping, however now its chirping has changed and it's literally going hoarse, that's the only way I can describe it! I thought there must be another chick in there because it sounded so much weaker and ...hoarse than its first robust chirping.

Now I have no idea what to do, I don't know if it would be warm enough in the brooder alone, I don't know if getting it out will endanger the pips and I don't know if this chick is needing water. It's a very obvious and noticeable change in voice, it has been extremely active, running, pecking the incubator, pecking the other eggs, I wonder if it used up its reserves very quickly

 

[Nabiki]

It's time to take this one out of the incubator. It will be quick, so it's not going to harm the other chicks.

Once it's in the brooder (and use a thermometer down at chick level here too), if you can give it a quail sized stuffed companion, that might help it quiet down.

 

[FloorCandy]

For your heat plate, I’ve found with small chicks, put a small wash cloth under the center of the plate, this will lift the chick higher, and the cloth holds the warmth better than bedding, paper towels, or shelf liner. I haven’t seen your plate so I don’t know the size discrepancy between chick height and the plate, but if it’s still too high, put bedding in the brooder, push the legs of the plate down into the bedding, so the bedding is closer to the plate, put shelf liner or a cloth over the chips for the chick to have good traction for strengthening its feet and legs. You want the chicks to be able to touch the plate with their backs.

As for counting the days to hatch, if day 1 was Wednesday the 6th, lockdown is 2 Wednesday’s after, so the 20th. Hatch day is 3 days later, so yesterday was day 18 (hatch day). Since your temp was low, it could stretch a couple extra days.

Your humidity is way high, I try to keep it below 55 after lockdown, and below 35 the rest of the time.

 

[enigmachick]

You guys are amazing, I'm so thankful for all the advice. We took that one out quickly and put it in the brooder, it calmed WAY down and has eaten quite a bit, I tried to put its beak in the water but I'm not sure I've seen it drink anything yet.

I had no idea how fun quail babies are, they act like puppies!

Five more have hatched (I've only actually seen one come out they do it so quickly!) I do have one though, I watched it zipping last night probably from around 2:15-2:45am and it looked like it was doing fine but this morning it's made almost no progress, lots of chicks are hatching around it but that one is losing some momentum it looks like. I can see the membrane on the zipped area is dried out but I don't know enough to know if it's in trouble or not. I'm hoping it's just resting and will be fine but how long before I should intervene?

 

[enigmachick]

For your heat plate, I’ve found with small chicks, put a small wash cloth under the center of the plate, this will lift the chick higher, and the cloth holds the warmth better than bedding, paper towels, or shelf liner. I haven’t seen your plate so I don’t know the size discrepancy between chick height and the plate, but if it’s still too high, put bedding in the brooder, push the legs of the plate down into the bedding, so the bedding is closer to the plate, put shelf liner or a cloth over the chips for the chick to have good traction for strengthening its feet and legs. You want the chicks to be able to touch the plate with their backs.

As for counting the days to hatch, if day 1 was Wednesday the 6th, lockdown is 2 Wednesday’s after, so the 20th. Hatch day is 3 days later, so yesterday was day 18 (hatch day). Since your temp was low, it could stretch a couple extra days.

Your humidity is way high, I try to keep it below 55 after lockdown, and below 35 the rest of the time.

You're absolutely right, the plate was too high even all the way down, I put two burp cloth type towels in there and putting my hand under I can feel how warm and cozy it is, the one in there seems to love it now very quiet and happy (just wish it would drink).

 

[enigmachick]

First...cut the string if it's too long.
DO NOT pull on it at all.

Heat plates don't work well for quail do you have a regular old light bulb in a table lamp around?

I am thinking your humidity has been too high throughout which might be why they aren't hatching.

I open my incubator and take freshly hatched quail out while others are still matching all day long. It would not hurt to take the one quail out quickly.

It is going to complain whether it is in the incubator or in a warm brooder... Just because it's by itself so be prepared for complaining.


Make sure the waterer has rocks or something in it so the quail cannot get in the water and drown. Quail babies are dumb.

Make sure the floor of your brooder is flat with nothing the quail can get underneath or behind and get stuck.

I set up a lamp with bulb shining at the general area, such a good idea, the chick seems very relaxed walking around and then tucking under the brooder plate again.

It's so funny, last night it would cry loudly (exactly like a puppy) and look out, I would either go over or just talk to it and it would calm right down and go back under