Wet incubating eggs

[Jus1]

I was advised to start this thread and seek answers. Today is day 18 of incubation for my jumbo coturnix quail, lock down was 3 days ago. We are using a homemade incubator. Just a styrofoam chest with a black light. Last incubation went ok I guess. It was my 1st and I had 39 eggs hatch of 100. This time I didn't notice the stryofoam water channel we used last time had a leak. All the eggs were wet for possibly 2 days. We got them dry and put back, we had 1 egg hatch 2 days ago but he still had yolk sac attached. Sadly he passed an hour ago as he never absorbed it. We had another egg hatch yesterday but we had to hatch him ourself after 12 hours of no progress. We have 2 more eggs I found with a pip but no signs of life beyond the pip. Is our hatch possibly ruined? I should probably mention too, that after the 1st egg started hatching I pulled corks for him to have air, when I did so we noticed a very bad smell that was from the rubber sink mat we tried in this bunch but not the last. We removed it because we were afraid it was toxic and put the shelf lining we used before back in

 

[JaeG]

The fact that the chicks are making it to the external pipping stage means their air cells were big enough and excess humidity wasn't a factor - if the air cells are too small the chicks run out of oxygen before they can pip externally and suffocate (rather than 'drown').

Proper ventilation is really important at the hatching stage so perhaps you didn't open up the vents early enough and that's the reason your pippers didn't make it any further. It can be very hard to pin down a reason though. Many people permanently keep the vents open so there's no risk of forgetting.

There's no reason to give up yet and unless you have more that have pipped externally you can candle them to see if any others have pipped internally. You'll see their little shadow beak in the air cell and they should be moving, wondering where that bright light came from. Try to rotate the egg as little as you can if you do candle so the chick doesn't get moved around and potentially end up in the wrong position. If the foetus looks lumpy and black and sunken towards the narrow end of the egg, or that beak isn't moving (your light and slight movements can make it look like there's a little movement) the chick has died. I like to use damp hands to candle at this stage just in case I come across one that has pipped externally - I figure the damp hands keeps up the humidity around them.

It can take up to 36 hours for a quail chick to be ready to hatch from the external pip stage (I've had a few like that), though 24 hours is the average. They spend the time from externally pipping to unzipping absorbing the remains of their yolk.

If these are eggs you have bought from someone else it could be a case of bad nutrition in the birds that laid the eggs. Or it may have been the material the sink mat was made from did give off some fumes but it really is difficult to pin down what's going on and your best move is to try again and try to get everything as close to perfect as you can, then make adjustments from there to suit your climate/situation.

Hopefully at least one more chick hatches because there's nothing worse than a single quail chick - they really do cry for a friend.

 

[Jus1]

Oh we have noticed him/her crying a lot. We give him/her love several times a day. As soon as we walk in the room he/she comes running to the side. When we stick a hand in now he/she climbs in on their own. The others didn't make it. Only 2 hatched and this little one is all that survived

 

[JaeG]

They are such sweet babies anyway, but that one will be especially sweet. A little mirror may help a bit and a I use soft, fluffy dishcloths for my Button quail chicks to snuggle under so that may help too, or a soft toy.

 

[Jus1]

Thank you for the advise. I immediately went and put the washcloth I hold him in with him, and a mirror. I'll still be sure to give him/her tons of love in between, too cute and sweet to resist.

 

[Jus1]

JaeG, he slept through the night thanks to you're advise. He was so sound it worried me because every morning he hears us and starts crying, then we go into the room for 1st day love and he run to the side waiting to be picked up and snuggled. Today, no crying and when I walked in the room no running. He was tucked under his washcloth fast
asleep

 

[JaeG]

Awww, that's awesome!