Possible high hatch failure- Jumbo Coturnix

Not ready to call it just yet, but we have 48 quail in the incubator that are now 2-3 days overdue. Only two hatched, both of which yesterday.

We have a few who have pipped, then haven't made progress in 24 hours. Two of the three who have pipped have quit, I'm pretty sure.

We had a really good hatch rate with this incubator last year, and it's one of those cheapies that you can't really make adjustments to. We liked it enough to buy a second for this year when we ended up getting way more eggs than expected. It has a water bottle situation for humidity, and forced air heat. Auto turner built in.

Just worried about the bird babies and bummed. I'll post updates as they come

Last night we lost one of the babies who did hatch, but there are some in the incubator that are making us feel a little hopeful we'll get a few more.

That is really tough, I'm sorry to hear!

I have not raised quail prior, but I totally can sympathize with being bummed with this batch. Do you have an idea where the failure mode might of laid?

Timothy Norton wrote: Do you have an idea where the failure mode might of laid?

Not sure, we did everything the same from last year to this year, except we went to pick them up instead of having them shipped. I don't think that we would have had more failure from that.

Maybe these eggs were a little older? But last years would have been a few days old due to shipping... One of the incubators is new, so we're wondering if it was faulty, but the one from last year didn't get anyone either (yet).

The baby who died was eaten by a cat, so that's totally our fault. He got two last year towards the end, so we put them out a little early and it was fine. We reworked our brooder to reduce loss (put it behind a door), but he figured it out (he opened the door). The cat has been moved outside until the babies are old enough, which he is fine with. We don't like keeping outdoor cats typically, but I'd rather him kill the starlings instead of my livestock.

Other live baby died last night, and we ended up helping an eggs that was so close, but was taking so long. The membrane was dry as a bone, and the baby didn't make it.

Last year, my spouse was messing around with the water dispenser and accidentally flooded it about halfway through. We think that's why we had a successful hatch last year with this incubator, and not this year. We've decided to upgrade our incubators to something more reliable.

Really bummed, but we found someone who has reptiles who wants the developed eggs, so we're feeling a little better. We just don't want them to go to waste.

It's a part of doing this work, there are some really hard lessons to learn.

oh man. what a disappointment.
if it were me, and it were realistic (i know it depends on the place), I would consider talking to the hatchery, along with upgrading your incubator.
Maybe there is something you're missing in the shipping process. Heck, maybe that batch was bad and everyone's complaining. I would go in assuming that I want to check there's nothing different between shipping and picking up, and wanting to get more info about that, and see if someone there at the hatchery would be willing to talk to you for a few minutes about that.

Tereza Okava wrote: if it were me, and it were realistic (i know it depends on the place), I would consider talking to the hatchery, along with upgrading your incubator.

We are lucky that our quail farmer is close by, and has a hatch guarantee. He is very generous, and always includes extra eggs. He is also overwhelmed with hatching eggs right now, so I think he would be happy to replace.

Upgrading our incubator is our #1 priority before getting new eggs. If we're serious about doing quail, we should be using high quality stuff. Whether it's rabbits or quail, when we cut corners it doesn't work out as well as we'd like.

It is such a tough and heartbreaking lesson but I believe that you are taking the correct learnings from it.

I agree with a incubator upgrade if that is going to be something you will get use out of in the future. The ones that essentially have all the bells and whistles needed are not horribly out of price ranges these days.

Sometimes things don't work out. That is okay! I'm hoping to see a post here in the future with pictures full of little peepers.

It is such a tough and heartbreaking lesson but I believe that you are taking the correct learnings from it.

I agree with a incubator upgrade if that is going to be something you will get use out of in the future. The ones that essentially have all the bells and whistles needed are not horribly out of price ranges these days.

Sometimes things don't work out. That is okay! I'm hoping to see a post here in the future with pictures full of little peepers.

Talked to the quail farmer and we both came to the same conclusions. Humidity problem. He said that quail are small and fast, which makes them delicate when they're babies. Dead birds happen, and it's okay. He's giving me some new eggs tomorrow to try again.

He didn't think that changing my incubator would give me more success, just different problems. He said that since I know that this incubator CAN hatch eggs, it would be best to keep it and work with what it has. After I got off the phone with him,I flooded the incubator that still had eggs and one hatched successfully (but then died, I think it was too much messing around with opening it up during hatch. Too little too late.) He gave me some advice on when to flood the incubator for hatching, and we both think that this next hatch is going to work out.

There's a reptile keeper nearby who wants the eggs for her snakes, so hopefully they'll still end up being eaten by someone.

great information. glad you got some new eggs, have a plan, and also have a use for these eggs. hope your next round has some little peepers soon!