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Quail incubating- help!
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Quail incubating- help!
I’m hatching out my third batch of quail and I forgot to put the cover over the area in the middle of my kebonnix incubator that has water in it for humidity 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ ughh I’m so mad at myself…
Should I open it and put the cover on and risk shrink wrapping the unhatched chicks? Or leave it open and risk some of them falling in?
There are 9 eggs; only 1 has hatched. 3 more have just started pipping through but are in the very early stages
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3 Replies
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I would wait.
Rationale: an egg NOT pipped will not shrink wrap if humidity is good and the incubator isn’t open long. Your chicks at risk are the ones who are pipped but not zipped. They could still have some viable membrane vessels that could bleed with an assisted hatch at this stage. (Ask me how I know…) Quail chicks aren’t terribly coordinated until about a day old. I would check before bed tonight to see if the pipped have hatched.
And IF you have a break in the action all either hatched or full shell, without pips, clear out some shells and put your humidity shield on then.
The edge of the humidity well looks high enough that they shouldn’t kamikaze into the water, but Zack from Myshire Farm says quail find new and interesting ways to kill themselves all the time. He also says chicks scuba dive, but they can’t swim.
You are diligent and will use good judgement. All quail owners possess incredible discernment 😁
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The question is how quick does your incubator return to humidity after being opened and how quick can you replace the cover.
I have personally lost more chicks to physical hazards than to being egg bound due to opening incubator but I don’t have any experience with your model.
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We always refilled the water with hot water. It got the humidity up faster. But I have a different model
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