Too Early for Feb Hatch-A-Long Thread??

[starri33]

Final tally for February, 4 out of 6 and I had to help the last two.. everyone seems to be doing fine this morning

 

[aliciaplus3]

ok so far 5 black turkeys

 

[wolfwalker]

Interesting. I had two F.I incubators with those turners and had little luck, also tried them in the hova-bator, with which I share your frustration, ran a GQF cabinet for a few years with better luck but still not great on shipped eggs. Last year I sold it and the backup and went to smaller tabletop RComs; they have quite a range of turning settings, but the eggs are on their sides, which seems more natural to me, and I've had decent hatches in them. Have not tried shipped eggs in them yet but overall I've been pleased with how well they hold temp and humidity. I have a little Brinsea mini I've used just as a hatcher when I've had smaller sequential settings to keep hatching mess out of the main incubators, and it's done fine for that, would probably be fine for an entire hatch I just haven't used it for that, it's so dry here I have to fill the water reservoir every day, where the RComs can go the better part of a week early on.

Now I want to try shipped eggs in the RComs with your tweaks on humidity and turning and see if it improves my success. Do you have humidity at 70% the first week for all eggs or just shipped?

Just shipped. Especially if they come from a lower elevation that is significant.

 

[starri33]

Meet Houdini and friend, Houdini got his name from escaping the bottom of the incubator while I was putting his friend in the tote.. climbed right over the side and was walking the counter. Houdini is the little yellow one

 

[PioneerChicks]

@SoftSilkie Your experience with Valor May have saved one of my chicks. Usually I wouldn’t intervene but one of my chicks was pipping all crooked. Her butt and leg were above her beak which seemed to be trapped by the dry membrane. I moistened the membrane and then pulled it away so her head could come out. About 15 min later the rest of her came out. If I hadnt read about Valor I probably wouldn’t have helped and maybe she wouldn’t have made it. Thank you.

I'm glad your chick made it! I think Valor unknowingly may have also saved my future tough hatchers by given me experience and reducing my fear of assisted hatch.
How is the chick now, @Willowspirit?

 

[FortCluck]

Meet Houdini and friend, Houdini got his name from escaping the bottom of the incubator while I was putting his friend in the tote.. climbed right over the side and was walking the counter. Houdini is the little yellow oneView attachment 2028408View attachment 2028409View attachment 2028411

These are the cutest chicks ever!!! They make me want to get naked necks!

 

[Floydie]

When is it safe to move the chicks over to shavings? Kitchen roll gets manky quickly. Blergh... But I dont want them eating the shavings and getting ill.

 

[FortCluck]

When is it safe to move the chicks over to shavings? Kitchen roll gets manky quickly. Blergh... But I dont want them eating the shavings and getting ill.

Mine start on shavings from day 1 and I've never had them try to eat the shavings. I get the pine flakes from TSC. I also use the pine pellets. Both work great.

 

[Floydie]

I have big sacks of woodshavings as I use them for the rabbit and guinea pigs. Id read somewhere that quail chicks will eat the shavings and get bunged up. I'll move them over to shavings tomorrow then.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

When is it safe to move the chicks over to shavings? Kitchen roll gets manky quickly. Blergh... But I dont want them eating the shavings and getting ill.

For quail you really only need to wait long enough for them to be able to maneuver across the pine shavings. Since you have button quail I think that may take a week...they're just so tiny, lol. I don't actually know for sure though, I kept my standard quail on puppy wee pads (for I think it was actually 5 days?) and then switched to pine pellets.