Chaos Gremlin Tries to Hatch Eggs (again)

[Schwaddles]

Already heading into this at a significant disadvantage. I posted a few months ago about late button quails, which all unfortunately failed. Packed up the incubator and resolved to try again down the road. The person I got the eggs from last time said her buttons were starting to collect eggs and get weird about them again, so she thinks they might be viable. They were sat on for about 3 days as far as I know and then the quail seemed to give up, so no idea if that gap will ruin the hatch.

Washed out the incubator in warm water and disinfected it last night. Got all the pieces together. I arranged to pick the eggs up this morning and popped out to the pet store to get a reptile thermometer. The incubator I have is the highest grade cheap-easium and has an inaccurate thermometer, so I wanted to make sure it was the proper temperature. Got a decent one.

Already hit a snag when I tried to put the lid on AFTER I got the eggs. Was about to warm up the incubator and then I realized the plastic on the bottom had warped. Probably my fault since It was stored a little on its side but I didn't think it would be that messed up. Didn't have anything heavy on it or anything, but here I was having a meltdown trying to get it to fit. Husband had an idea to use a heat gun to warp it back into shape.

Success!

While he did that I candled the eggs and saw life in 4/5. Wasn't sure about the fifth, but I think it's empty. I'll leave it overnight and see. Got the incubator up and running and have the thermometer in. Adjusted the temp on the top so that the new thermometer I got is at the appropriate range (and yes, the incubator temp reader is about 2-3 degrees off yippee).

So it looks like the eggs are about 3-ish days along, but I'm no expert. Any recommendations on candling or dating them so I know when to stop turning? I want to try and learn from my past mistakes and hatch some little buttons. Will the lack of temperature for the hours they were not incubated be a significant issue?

 

[Debbie292d]

How long of a gap was it? Mom's get off the nest usually at least once a day for a few minutes, sometimes up to an hour and there's never any harm done. I've heard a couple folks here say they thought their hens abandoned them as they were gone as much as 4 hours.

Besides, as long as they didn't get too cold in between, they can sit in limbo but it's not a written rule that I know of as to how long. You see movement in some, so there we go! Four days I know doesn't work as I purchased hatching eggs and received one half grown in the batch. It was dead.

I would count the 3 days sat on as 3 days incubated, and go from there.

 

[Schwaddles]

I'm not sure if I'm honest. I think the eggs were cool for an hour at the bare minimum, but beyond that I'd have to ask.

I did one more candle last night when it was darker and I could see development in all five! I don't think one will be viable because the embryo was smaller than the rest and it had...weird vessels inside. We'll see. Going to just leave them be until the approximate Day 9 and if it has expired I'll just remove it. The other four look very promising though.

Will update soon as I'm much more hopeful today!

 

[Schwaddles]

So a bit of an update here. One of the eggs stopped developing at about day 2. That was the "weird vessel" one. It had a blood ring when I candled last Friday, so I removed it. The other four looked to be still developing just fine, so they are all still in there. I only ever open the incubator to adjust the position of the eggs (the turner I don't think was designed for button size so they keep scooting toward the end). I keep positioning them back in relatively the same place to try and keep the temperature consistent. I only do this about once a day and I try to keep as much heat in as possible.

Last night the water ran low without me knowing so the humidity dropped significantly. I'm hoping this isn't an issue as we aren't at lockdown yet. Got the humidity back up though. Lockdown is this Friday, so I'll do one more candle then to see if they are still alive and have a chance of hatching...fingers crossed.

 

[Debbie292d]

So a bit of an update here. One of the eggs stopped developing at about day 2. That was the "weird vessel" one. It had a blood ring when I candled last Friday, so I removed it. The other four looked to be still developing just fine, so they are all still in there. I only ever open the incubator to adjust the position of the eggs (the turner I don't think was designed for button size so they keep scooting toward the end). I keep positioning them back in relatively the same place to try and keep the temperature consistent. I only do this about once a day and I try to keep as much heat in as possible.

Last night the water ran low without me knowing so the humidity dropped significantly. I'm hoping this isn't an issue as we aren't at lockdown yet. Got the humidity back up though. Lockdown is this Friday, so I'll do one more candle then to see if they are still alive and have a chance of hatching...fingers crossed.

Humidity dropping for a few hours shouldn't harm anything. It's an overall average, unlike temp is.

 

[Schwaddles]

Humidity dropping for a few hours shouldn't harm anything. It's an overall average, unlike temp is.

That's a relief. I can say the temp has stayed pretty consistent this time so I'm a lot more reassured.

 

[Schwaddles]

I candled them all and they were dark and I believe I saw movement in all of them. I tried to be as gentle as possible, put some shelf liner down and now they are in lockdown. The only thing I'm unsure of is the air pocket and whether it's big enough. At any rate, not much I can do at this time other than keep humidity up and temp constant.

I attached a pic of about how big the pockets were...hopefully that's okay for a button.

Still, we've come further this time and I'm very happy with that!

EDIT: Aaaand stressing again because the temperature dropped overnight. Our house thermostat was set to 18C (holdover from summer) so it was cold in here this morning as winter is crashing through this weekend). Upped the temp on the incubator and wrapped some towels around it until the temp comes back up.

 

[Schwaddles]

All four have pipped! One has had the pip for approx 24 hours now. Not sure if that's concerning, but one was at about this time last night. Next one was at about 9am this morning and then I noticed the last two around 5pm today. So soon... we'll see how it goes! Really excited.

 

[Schwaddles]

They did it!!! (Well almost). About 630am the first one hatched. Came out to check and an egg was missing. Looked for it and found the egg and a little chick tucked in the corner. Next one hatched 20 mins later and I got to watch. Found my brain and got daughter and husband to come watch the third which hatched almost immediately after.

Then there is the fourth. It actually pipped second but still hasn't hatched. It's been about 30-36 hours since it pipped. When the other chicks hatched I could see the egg moving and the pip got bigger, but it hasn't tried to emerge yet. I scooted the 3 out when they were dry and I'm keeping humidity and temp up to give it a chance to come out over night.

If it doesn't hatch tonight should I check to see if it's still alive with a candle or try and help it?

Attached some photos of the chicks! The banana was for scale. I took it out after I snapped the pic.

 

[Debbie292d]

They did it!!! (Well almost). About 630am the first one hatched. Came out to check and an egg was missing. Looked for it and found the egg and a little chick tucked in the corner. Next one hatched 20 mins later and I got to watch. Found my brain and got daughter and husband to come watch the third which hatched almost immediately after.

Then there is the fourth. It actually pipped second but still hasn't hatched. It's been about 30-36 hours since it pipped. When the other chicks hatched I could see the egg moving and the pip got bigger, but it hasn't tried to emerge yet. I scooted the 3 out when they were dry and I'm keeping humidity and temp up to give it a chance to come out over night.

If it doesn't hatch tonight should I check to see if it's still alive with a candle or try and help it?

Attached some photos of the chicks! The banana was for scale. I took it out after I snapped the pic.

Sorry I'm way late to see this. Congrats on the three that hatched! So cute!

How did the 4th one do?

I'd bookmark this link in case you hatch again and have this happen. Usually, if they don't hatch within 24 hours of pipping, it's safe to assume they may need help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/