What did I do wrong?

[PrincessPeach27]

Not sure if this the right forum or not, but I want to make sure I learn from this experience. I incubated quail eggs and on the day they hatched we had a power outage. The power ended up being out for roughly 8 hours in total. During that time, the clear plastic on the incubator ended up covered in dew from the humidity. I didn't quite know what to do and I wasn't home most of the day, I arrived back home a couple hours before it came back on. 4 quail had hatched from their eggs during the outage and remained in there until the next morning because I wanted to be sure they were warm and had their feathers fluffed up. When the power was back on the incubator showed the temperature had dropped to 82 degrees and the humidity was just over 100. This was only my second time hatching anything and first time ever having quail. The next day shortly after moving to the brooder box, one died. Then another started having trouble walking and had curled toes. I taped the toes flat and he still couldn't walk. He hadn't eaten anything by the second day and I was manually dunking his beak to ensure he was drinking water. Then he passed. By the third day, the other two that seemed fine were dead. One in the morning and one at night. I used a heating plate (which I used successfully for the chicks I hatched before) for the warmth, and had it angled and relatively low since they were tiny, but there was also plenty of room in the brooder for them to go to cooler areas if needed. So I guess what I'm asking is for speculation as to what went wrong and tips for next time. Did the power outage cause the deaths or the heat plate or both? Thank you for your help.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You posted in the right place.
Given the circumstances there likely was little you could have done. I'm pretty sure the power outage caused them to get chilled. When something like that happens, I use a blow dryer and the heat blowinig on them usually perks them right up.
You'll also want to get some poultry Nutri-Drench and keep it on hand. There are dosing (dilution rate) instructions on the label based on age. Use a dropper on their beak. It contains vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and molasses for energy. It hits the bloodstream almost immediately.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Last summer a storm blew a baby robin out of the nest , eyes open but just a bit of down. I put him on a small board under the tree and hoped mom would see him. It got cold overnight and was still wet, baby was chilled and nearly catatonic by morning (also illegal to intervene), died soon after. Cold is hard on these little guys, sorry for your loss!!