No Movement on Day 17

[SilliestGoose]

Hi all!

I fear this has probably been asked a lot. We have some coturnix quail that are presently on day 17 in the incubator (counting the day we put them in as day zero). I haven't seen any sign of life from them since lockdown- no peeps, no pips, no movement. I have a camera on them that would catch any movement so I can check in on them remotely.

What day do you normally see them start to stir? I was expecting to notice small signs of life by now at least. I incubated them at 99.5-100.0°F throughout incubation (checked with two independent thermmeters/hygrometers for accuracy). About 40-45% humidity that was bumped up to about 60-65% at lockdown on day 14.

My concern is they had a rough transit where they got lost in the mail for a few days (so they were in transit for 8 days). I did candle them a few times, but haven't been able to see anything through the thick shells so I've just been incubating them all regardless. If none hatch, I plan on opening them up and seeing what stage of development they were at (if they developed at all). I'm trying to be patient, but since I'm not sure what my viability is looking like right now it's making me anxious that nothing is happening still.

 

[Nabiki]

I would give them until day 20 before giving up. I'm glad you didn't rely on the incubator readings.

If all of your readings are correct, you should be seeing chicks by morning.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I went nuts waiting for my first batch to hatch, they did hatch day 19/20 (day 0 is day put in), between my impatience, a cold incubator, and shipping the eggs, it was a long wait! Quail pips are tiny and often hard to find, just a little crack or hairline fracture, not those giant holes google shows for chicks! I shine a light at a ninety degree angle to my line of sight and sometimes that will highlight them. Only rarely do you see an egg actually move. As for candling, if you can’t see anything (dark egg) after day 10 or so, that’s a great sign, if it glows green that’s a dud. Don’t try to find veins and embryos your first time out, especially on shipped eggs, my last batch I saw nothing but shadow but my current day 4 eggs I can see an embryo in 80% without trying. The trauma shipped eggs go through seems to reduce their ability to produce marvelous veins, I’ve tried taking pictures of candled eggs with camera, tripod, and shutter release remote and the difference between normal eggs and trauma eggs (shipping, heat, cold, old) is incredible, so don’t worry about that. Try and be patient and know quail are incredibly tough and you can hatch eggs even against unreasonable odds,enjoy!

 

[SilliestGoose]

Thank you! I tried flashing a light to see any pips, and still didn't see much that resembled a crack. If these turn out to not be viable, I'll consider it a trial run and try again but it would be my preference that I get a good hatch out of them.

Ive even resorted to threats of violence to convince them their eviction notice is coming due

 

[SilliestGoose]

Okay I was overreacting we have our first pip! I decided to stop breathing on them every 10 minutes and relax a little. I came back to check before bed thinking it was gonna be crickets again and saw my first sign of life

 

[Nabiki]

Okay I was overreacting we have our first pip! I decided to stop breathing on them every 10 minutes and relax a little. I came back to check before bed thinking it was gonna be crickets again and saw my first sign of life

Now, go to bed, go for a walk, go do something other than watch the incubator.

 

[SilliestGoose]

Now, go to bed, go for a walk, go do something other than watch the incubator.

Don't worry I watched the incubator on my phone while in bed

So far we have 5/14 eggs pipped. All of them look good except maybe this one. Does it look like it's pipped a little too high? The egg is shaking quite a bit so the chick seems vigorous at least (it's the one behind the egg closest to the camera)

 

[GoosesGeeses]

How is it going?

 

[SilliestGoose]

How is it going?

I needed to wait 30 minutes lol. He was the first one to hatch

 

[GoosesGeeses]

Yay!