First Time Hatching Quail - Very Worried

[Keely Noodle]

To get to the point, I'm worried about my friend possibly (non-purposefully) sabotaging the survival of her quails. It's her first time ever hatching anything, and she is hatching some bobwhite quail eggs bought online.
I lent her my incubator which I've used for indian runner duck eggs, all successful. It's a Janoel 10 mini incubator (with separately purchased humidity detector). But she's so worried all the time of something going wrong, not doing something right, ect. She does tons of research and talks to other quail owners but gets stressed when people give different information.

To cut the story as short as I can, bought 8 eggs, candled a week or so in, 3 had obvious veins, 2 wasn't sure. About another week or so in only 3 were definitely fertile so there are just 3 left in the incubator now. During the first week she was worried about the humidity being too high/low so I think she did mess around with it a bit. And she may have candled them a couple more times than probably needed because she was worried about a detached air cell or something (but apparently it's fixed itself). Throughout this time I have been trying to reassure her that things will be okay, because I was worried she might handle them too much, causing the hatch rate to go down.

She put them in lockdown a couple days ago, and apparently 1 has a small crack in it a day early, which is encouraging! However, the incubator has a foam floor to keep eggs insulated, but the instructions say to remove it when you do lockdown, I guess so the eggs can roll about during hatching. We always removed it when hatching ducklings and as said before, all our ducks are happy and healthy. But she just informed me that she's leaving it in there because she's worried about the risk of splayed legs. Now, I'm just concerned that leaving it in there will mean that during hatching, there will be less mobility, making hatching harder on the chicks. Or because of the insulation, it will be too hot for them and they could get dehydrated. Surely them being on a flat surface for a little while until dry, won't cause splayed legs? They're in lockdown so I'm not sure it would even be wise at this point to take the lid off.

Another thing I'm worried about is her brooder plans, I'm letting her borrow our heat lamp as well. But she has been speaking to another quail owner who suggested to her to put a hamster drinker in there, to prevent drowning. This concerns me because it's not designed for chicks, so how could they possibly know how to drink from one? And there's also the possibility of it dripping on the floor. She's so worried about them drowning and honestly, I did research on quail chicks and drowning and that even scared me! I've read things about people who have had quail that have just died for no good reason, or they've started with 80 chicks and are down to 20, some that have drowned despite putting pebbles in the drinker. The impression this gives me is that quail chicks have a very high mortality rate, and I would be so disappointed for my friend if hers were fine one day and died the next. And she would be distraught as well, I really want for her to be happy and have healthy quails.

She has told me she will be watching over them constantly, which is good to hear but she has to sleep eventually! I would just be so grateful if any experienced quail hatchers could let me know if her approach would have any bad effects on the chicks' survival? And if there's anything critical to be aware of to ensure them surviving. Are quail chicks really that delicate that they can just die? Advice (and maybe some reassurance) please!!

 

[Ebony Rose]

She worries too much. Hatching quail is a lot like raising them. Mess with them very little and you'll fare far better. The chicks won't need food or water for the first 24 hours or so as they'll still be quite satisfied with the yolk that they absorbed. A shallow dish filled with plain marbles will prevent drowning... and yes, baby quail will drown themselves if given the chance, but nature would have them drinking from shallow puddles, not some hamster do-dad-thingie.

Quail eggs are incredibly difficult to accurately candle and it's pretty much pointless. An egg is not going to rot and explode in the short 18 day gestation period, so why cool the egg, risk dropping them, risk contaminating them, and allow the humidity in the incubator to escape?

If the incubator does not have an automatic egg turner, then place a small object, like a pencil under one edge of the incubator to cause a slight tilt; change the location you place the pencil three times daily and you've sufficiently turned them. This enables you to leave the incubator closed; again, to maintain constant temperature and humidity. Quail don't need to be overly humid, they do need to lose about 10% of their water weight for a good air pocket for the chicks to pip into when it comes time for them to pip, zip and hatch.

Let her know that morbidity of quail chicks is highest the first 2 days, then the first week... Any chicks that hatch but die in the first couple of days wouldn't have been healthy adults, it's natures way. Keep an eye out from day 3 to 7 for pasty butt. An overly warm brooder contributes to this condition. Have her place the heat source in such a way that the chicks can get full heat if they want it, but can totally get out of the heat if they want that too. Place the water and the groceries midway between the warm and cool parts of the brooding area; do not place the water and groceries under the light (in the warmest part of the brooder) as chicks tend to 'camp' on their food, and if it's too hot where their food is, they'll overheat, possibly get pasty butt, and die.

Let her know that once they pip, it can take up to 24 hours to hatch. Do not assist. Quail do not fare well if assisted. Let her know that once they've hatched she can expect them to mostly sleep for 24 to 48 hours, nothing to be worried about. Hatching is hard work, and they're plumb tuckered out. Let her know that a crying chick, one that pretty much won't stop crying is a sign that something's not right with the chick. It's been my experience that the quail chick that cries like that, dies. Something's not right with them. And let her know that it's not her fault if a chick dies... let her know in advance to expect some from every hatch to just not thrive.

Well, I didn't mean to write a book I guess I had a lot to say about the subject.

 

[Keely Noodle]

A thousand thanks for your reply, I sent her this thread and what you said about putting a pencil under the incubator to turn them was really interesting, I never thought of that.
Just an update, all 3 hatched and have been in the brooder for about a couple days with no deaths, she's still using the hamster drinker but has a bottle cap with stones in underneath so it will catch the water and they can drink from there, with little to no chance of drowning which is good! Fingers crossed this keeps up!