SO many fully developed quail chicks not hatching

[jbobs]

I can never really manage to get my humdiity above 60 anyway and havn't had an issue before with that being too low, it was just with this brand new bator that I built and tried for the first time. I actually incubated them to day 14 in my Roll x and used the coolerbator as a hatcher, so if I'd used the cooler for the whole incubation period i might have ended up with even less. And one of the chicks I pulled from the shell couldn't right himself when he dried off. Ironically enough one of the vets in the building said it looked like oxygen deprivation in other newborn animals...

 

[JHorn91180]

The problem IS ventilation. Everyone, especially people new to hatching are so concerned with maintaining high humidity during lockdown, that they often leave too many vent plugs in, and therefor cut off the oxygen supply to the unhatched chicks. One poster answered his/her own question by stating that the higher number of eggs, the less success. That right there tells you that there are too many chicks competeing for limited oxygen. Pull out all the plugs, and don't worry about humidity dropping down to 55 or 60 during lockdown. Oxygen is way more important during those last 3 days than 70% humidity. Try it on your next hatch and thank me later.

Wow that makes complete sense. Not had this problem but good to know when I begin doing larger batches. Thank u. I would have never thought of that

 

[quailrcool]

I just read your conversation. Im having the same problems and would appreaciate any details that may be important.

My problems are...



Chicks dyeing after two weeks. Lethargic, diarrhea, dead.
First egg from 2nd batch barely chipped out and dyed in the shell

 

[TwoCrows]

I just read your conversation. Im having the same problems and would appreaciate any details that may be important.

My problems are...



Chicks dyeing after two weeks. Lethargic, diarrhea, dead.
First egg from 2nd batch barely chipped out and dyed in the shell

Chicks dying after two weeks can be a few problems. So you need go over everything closely...

First, what type of quail are you raising? Is your temp correct for 2 week old chicks? Describe your brooder set up....are there drafts...is the lid to the brooder open? What type of bedding are you using? How many chicks and what size of brooder are you using?

Can they access the food and water ok and are you crushing up the food so they can eat it? Do they have to compete for food?

Is the color of the diarrhea black or red? This could be cocci. Whitish or clear color diarrhea could also be over heating. Hatching from an uncleaned incubator can breed bacteria from hatch.

So give us some more info so we can get down to the root of the problem.

As for chicks that never made it past the pip stage, this is generally a humidity issue. Although it can also be a cool temp in your incubator or not enough ventilation at pip stage can cause this to happen as well.

 

[Nichrome]

I am having exactly the same problem but I have only a few eggs in the bator

 

[igotchickens]

As the original poster, I wanted to reply. I have gotten the problem under control and am experiencing 80-90% success now.

One of my problems was that I was using a digital thermometer/humidity reader which I have since realized is very inaccurate. Get the analog (dial) ones from the reptile section at Petco. The humidity on the digital one was reading lower than it actually was, so I was adding too much water trying to "get it right" when in reality it was just fine.

Also, the digital thermometers would say the temperature was too low by a degree or two which meant I would turn UP the temperature. In warmer temps, the chicks were getting too big too fast and didn't have a lot of room in there, also drowning in the too high of humidity especially during lockdown.

Also, I learned not to open my bator until 16-24 hours after the first chicks hatched. When I do, I take it into the bathroom and run the shower until it steams the room up. Then I take the lid off and take all the chicks and empty shells out. Usually by this point I have about 15 out of 100 eggs left that have not hatched. (Some of those being infertile or early quitters).

Second, I was trying to keep the humidity at 40% the first 13 days. I have since switched to 30%. During lockdown, I was aiming for 65%. I have found way better success with 55%. I keep the temp just under or at 100 but no higher - using 3 different thermometers.

I do not keep the plugs in AT ALL.

I use a Hovabator, for reference.

 

[Nichrome]

Well done my friend! Funnily enough if you see y post in another thready you'd notice we had very similar problems. Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated!

 

[igotchickens]

I must add that this is supposedly a 'dry incubation' method, and also, during the first 13 days sometimes the humidity drops all the way down to 20% or less. It's not a big deal to us when that happens, we just put enough water in to up it back to 35%.

During hatch, the humidity shoots itself from 55% up to 70% by all the chicks hatching out.

 

[jysoky]

to much humidity cut back 10%

 

[Anniekins]

I have often wondered on the homemade bators how people know how many ventilation holes to make and how big should they be?