Worried I screwed up on hatch day

[Masaj Mahrhad]

My eggs are hatching today. I began with 32 eggs with a hope of a 70% hatch rate. This morning I could hear them chirping through the egg shells when i opened the incubator to check on them. After work, 4 had hatched. Now I'm up to 7, and it is now 10:20pm.

3 days ago, I removed the rollers from the incubator, and placed the eggs at the bottom of the incubator on a foam rubber mesh (like the ones lined in kitchen drawers). Cranked up the humidity and added water. because they were placed at the bottom, I realize that some of the eggs were too moist and rather cold for 3 days. My mistake was I didn't add the deck to elevate them a little bit higher and away from the water. Which is why I'm afraid I ruined my eggs and will have a sub par hatch rate. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assure these eggs hatch. My temperature is 99.5 F and my humidity is 75% right now.

 

[Debbie292d]

My eggs are hatching today. I began with 32 eggs with a hope of a 70% hatch rate. This morning I could hear them chirping through the egg shells when i opened the incubator to check on them. After work, 4 had hatched. Now I'm up to 7, and it is now 10:20pm.

3 days ago, I removed the rollers from the incubator, and placed the eggs at the bottom of the incubator on a foam rubber mesh (like the ones lined in kitchen drawers). Cranked up the humidity and added water. because they were placed at the bottom, I realize that some of the eggs were too moist and rather cold for 3 days. My mistake was I didn't add the deck to elevate them a little bit higher and away from the water. Which is why I'm afraid I ruined my eggs and will have a sub par hatch rate. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assure these eggs hatch. My temperature is 99.5 F and my humidity is 75% right now.

If your incubator has a fan in it, it should maintain the temp for the entire incubator no matter where the eggs are in it. I have a Brinsea 56 and that's what I do is pull out the racks, lay down that rubber kitchen shelf liner stuff and set the eggs on it. I've done both quail for my neighbor, chicks for me, and duck eggs for a different neighbor in there that way, and all was fine. I wouldn't go higher than 75% humidity though.

Wishing you a good hatch!

 

[Masaj Mahrhad]

If your incubator has a fan in it, it should maintain the temp for the entire incubator no matter where the eggs are in it.

I'm afraid that might not be the case for me. Although my incubator has a fan, when I examined the unhatched eggs, they were cold on the bottom, and sitting in a lot of absorbed moisture from the rubber mesh.

I don't now what 3 days of being cold on the bottom can do to an unhatched egg. I quickly elevated them on a shelf that comes in my incubator that I forgot to install. This shelf will keep them off the very bottom, and away from excess moisture.

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm afraid that might not be the case for me. Although my incubator has a fan, when I examined the unhatched eggs, they were cold on the bottom, and sitting in a lot of absorbed moisture from the rubber mesh.

I don't now what 3 days of being cold on the bottom can do to an unhatched egg. I quickly elevated them on a shelf that comes in my incubator that I forgot to install. This shelf will keep them off the very bottom, and away from excess moisture.

They shouldn't have been drastically cold, but just maybe a few degrees lower than they should have. I know several of us have had issues with eggs where the temp was way off due to the incubator. I ran my first batch at 97.5 instead of 99.5 for three weeks until I bought a thermometer/hygrometer and checked it when they didn't hatch. They did, but three days later. I'd hope yours would still hatch, but a couple days late. If they indeed were sitting in wetness, then I don't know. Too much humidity can drown the chicks.

 

[Nabiki]

Hopefully the temperature drop will simply delay their hatch, but you'll find out in a few more days. I'm more concerned that if they were actually damp that the chicks may drown. 75% is also too high for humidity and may also affect your hatch rates. You want closer to 60% humidity for coturnix quail at lockdown.

 

[Masaj Mahrhad]

Well the good news is I’m up to 9 hatchlings with 2 more eggs fracturing with quails trying to break free. The excess moisture from before has dried out. Now what temperature and humidity should I set it at to maximize hatches?

 

[Nabiki]

For coturnix quail, you want 37.5 C and about 50-60% humidity at lockdown. During incubation you want 37.5 C and about 30% humidity

 

[CliftonQuail]

Well the good news is I’m up to 9 hatchlings with 2 more eggs fracturing with quails trying to break free. The excess moisture from before has dried out. Now what temperature and humidity should I set it at to maximize hatches?

37.5 C is 99.5 F, so you should be good there based on your first post. Do you have calibrated temp/humidity sensors in addition to the incubator sensors? Many incubators can be wildly inaccurate.