Should I assist? (Quail eggs)

[CloneFly]

Hello all, I've been incubating Coturnix quail eggs and was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning (day 18 of incubation) to find some of my chicks had hatched. Unfortunately, I had to open the incubator very quickly 2x to retrieve said chicks. (One had curled toes and splayed legs and was super close to breaking something. He wanted OUT!) After several hours (8am-9pm) no one else had hatched, so I had to take them out. I should note that humidity has never dropped below 55° (my incubator regulates at 60-65°)

Its now day 19 and there've been external pips on 2 of the eggs since yesterday, but no sign of movement. I have an additional 2 eggs that are the same age as the rest, but no pips from what I can see... Should I assist? And if so, when?

 

[SmiYa0126]

Do you hear any chirping? Any chance you can play chick chirping sounds? I played that and my chicks popped out like popcorn.

 

[CloneFly]

There's very little movement today; yesterday there was a lot of movement. I've been playing quail chick sounds, but no response so far..

 

[CloneFly]

Should I help them out tonight..? Or should I wait until tomorrow?

 

[SmiYa0126]

Can you candle them to see if they're internally pipped? What I would do is put a small safety hole on the internally pipped end. I use a needle to carefully create one. Check out chick assist video on you tube by "a chick called Albert". It's very informative.

 

[CloneFly]

Can you candle them to see if they're internally pipped? What I would do is put a small safety hole on the internally pipped end. I use a needle to carefully create one. Check out chick assist video on you tube by "a chick called Albert". It's very informative.

Thank you. They're already externally pipped. Should I still make a hole? I also noticed that the babies don't move unless I gently move the incubator so that the eggs rock slightly. They'll kinda move a but after the other eggs have gone still, but that's about it...

 

[SmiYa0126]

Ok, if you're comfortable, I would carefully make the external pip hole a little bigger and see if the external membrane is dry. If it's bright white they could be shrink wrapped. When you pick the eggshell try not to rip the membrane. There's two layers, the layer between the eggshell and the egg and then there's a membrane around the baby. Once you get the eggshell off use coconut oil to moisten the first membrane, of you see red veins the baby is still absorbing and leave it alone for a bit, if the veins are pink or orangish, slowly peel eggshell at the pip hole right to left, like a chick would zip. I peeled every 30 minutes for my hatch assist for an hour, then the chick zipped halfway and I zipped the rest of it and carefully peeled the membrane. Keep moistening the membrane as you work. Post pictures if you can, and tag me in your reply so I get notified right away

 

[CloneFly]

Ok, if you're comfortable, I would carefully make the external pip hole a little bigger and see if the external membrane is dry. If it's bright white they could be shrink wrapped. When you pick the eggshell try not to rip the membrane. There's two layers, the layer between the eggshell and the egg and then there's a membrane around the baby. Once you get the eggshell off use coconut oil to moisten the first membrane, of you see red veins the baby is still absorbing and leave it alone for a bit, if the veins are pink or orangish, slowly peel eggshell at the pip hole right to left, like a chick would zip. I peeled every 30 minutes for my hatch assist for an hour, then the chick zipped halfway and I zipped the rest of it and carefully peeled the membrane. Keep moistening the membrane as you work. Post pictures if you can, and tag me in your reply so I get notified right away

Thank you! I decided to assist hatch earlier this evening and found 2 of my 4 babies already gone... seems they were too weak/didn't finish absorbing their sac. Perhaps I was too late?
As for the other two, I peeled away part of the shell and found them a bit shrink wrapped. I made the holes a slightly bigger and left them for a while... they seemed to be pretty weak. After waiting a couple hours, I noticed the veins receding and peeled a bit more away. The membrane kept drying on her so I peeled away a little bit of it. The baby is a lot more active now and chirping! I'm going to let her finish the rest of the hatch by herself
As for the other egg, about the same. Only difference is that there's a lot of veining and that's something I'm not gonna touch.

Do you recommend coconut oil to moisten the membrane? I've been using distilled water so far... I was a bit worried that the oil might suffocate or otherwise affect the chick

 

[SmiYa0126]

Thank you! I decided to assist hatch earlier this evening and found 2 of my 4 babies already gone... seems they were too weak/didn't finish absorbing their sac. Perhaps I was too late?
As for the other two, I peeled away part of the shell and found them a bit shrink wrapped. I made the holes a slightly bigger and left them for a while... they seemed to be pretty weak. After waiting a couple hours, I noticed the veins receding and peeled a bit more away. The membrane kept drying on her so I peeled away a little bit of it. The baby is a lot more active now and chirping! I'm going to let her finish the rest of the hatch by herself
As for the other egg, about the same. Only difference is that there's a lot of veining and that's something I'm not gonna touch.

Do you recommend coconut oil to moisten the membrane? I've been using distilled water so far... I was a bit worried that the oil might suffocate or otherwise affect the chick
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No I don't think it's anything you did for the other chicks, sometimes it happens . Water could chill them, I've used coconut oil without issues. Sounds like you've got it in hand! The only thing I would recommend for next time is to assist right to left on the egg shell, like your other quail hatched, rather than a big hole like that.

 

[CloneFly]

No I don't think it's anything you did for the other chicks, sometimes it happens . Water could chill them, I've used coconut oil without issues. Sounds like you've got it in hand! The only thing I would recommend for next time is to assist right to left on the egg shell, like your other quail hatched, rather than a big hole like that.

Understood, thank you! I'm really nervous as this is my 1st successful hatch and 1st assisted hatch all in one

I'll probably use some coconut oil, I'm pretty sure we have some laying around! How long should I expect for them to take to officially "hatch"? Egg#1 did bleed a little (maybe 1-2 drops tops) and I've heard that can cause them to delay hatching to regain their strength.
I'm just concerned that if they don't begin to "hatch" when/if it would be a good time/idea to further intervene...
Finally, could I give them a little sugar water or poultry b12 mixed with water in a 1cc syringe? Or would they choke still being in the shell?