Mountain Quail All Set To Hatch

I have 7 out of 12 eggs that are looking good to hatch
between now and Sunday. MQ take 23 to 25 days to
incubate, and this is my second attempt after the first
set of 6 eggs failed.

Each egg came numbered with pencil on the large
end. There were originally 9, and 5 eggs candled
clear. Of the 9 bloodlines, numbers 1-5 are still
viable. I have 3 from bl 5, and one each from bl's
1-4.

Here are the eggs nestled into their hatching baskets.

I have raised the RH to 60% from the incubating
RH of 50%, and the temp up a degree or two. The MQ
do best at 99.5, raised to 100.5 or so for the hatch.
The thermo/hygro reading is altered a bit by my having
the lid up to place baskets and take the pic.

As you can see, I have a variety of basket sizes
and from different materials. The produce basket
came in very handy.( after I made blackberry cobbler)
DH made the first basket using black zip ties from
the electronics store that we had on hand. It measures
about 3 1/2" cubed. DH picked up some colored zip
ties, and I put the remaining baskets together with
those. Each bloodline gets a different color, and I am
going to see how using these work as leg bands to
identify different chicks after they hatch. The corners
were cut from 1/2" dowels.

We used 1/4" hardware cloth for the baskets, and
you can see how small the zip ties are, used to
connect the corners.

We are so eggcited! My DGD will be here
during this time, and hopefully she will get to
see the fun. At 4 years old, she loves to help
feed the chickens and coturnix quail.

I have not seen pictures of MQ chicks anywhere,
and I am looking forward to sharing them with all
of you. Wish us luck!

Fingers crossed!

Super luck!

Truest - I am excited for you, those are beautiful birds, and very exclusive as well. Good luck with your hatch.

I have Gambel's quail due to hatch within the next 48 hours also. I couldn't afford the mountain quail (must be that fancy "scaling" that raises the price), so I had to settle for the Gambel's. I have 8 chukar partridge that are hatching now as we speak, and had 6 jumbo pearl guineas hatch yesterday.

cool, you've been busy!

Thanks you guys! All is still quiet in batorville.
RH is holding fairly steady at 60%. No peeps, pips
runs, drips or errors- yet.

I did get these from DaveL on eggbid, and I was
very happy with his packing, and quick ship. I had
them in 2 days from Ca. I am hoping his birds are
happy and healthy. We spoke about this some before
I took the plunge with him. He keeps his MQ in a
12x12x8 high enclosure with a sand bottom.
I just wish I had the evergreen or long needle pine for
'ambiance'. Guess all I have is nasty cedar. No, in the
branch form is not a bad thing, just when it's chipped.

I have been curious about the chukkar. Have you
hatched these before, Maine? Do you know if the jumbo
pearl mate naturally? Ya know, I'd be willing to bet with
all the birds you've hatched, averaged out, the MQ aren't
so expensive. It is a costly lesson if your hatch fails, for
sure. But I have to agree- they are a really nice bird, and
hoping hoping hoping.

Truest wishing you lots of happy hatching!

MollyD

it won't be quiet for long!

We have 2 count em 2 babies so far! Hoping for
the other 5! They were both nearly dry by the time
I got up. No chatter from the rest, yet. I already put
their leg bands on, and they seem not to notice. One
is a #1, and the other, #2. bl's 3-5 to go.
I have started them out on boiled egg yolk. Will wait
about 3 days before starting the gamebird crumbles.
I have read some breeders have lost the MQ babies
if started on the medicated gb feed too soon. Alas,
it's all I have right now in this area.

how cool! can't wait for the rest!

Yeah!! Number three has just cracked through.
And, it's a #3 bl. It has been at least 15 hours
since the first two hatched, it's hard to be patient.
The first two are now in the brooder, and doing
really well.
Has anyone had any luck with 'pip assist'? If so,
at what stage did you help, and do you think it would
have made it, or why do you think it didn't?

I'll get a photo tomorrow, they look similar to the
coturnix, with slight differences. And, oh so cute!

see i spend the day building a new coop and going to see my fam and i almost missed it,lol. yeah!!! i'm so excited, too kool!!! i'm dieing to see pics, come on little babies!!!!!

well, when i found pip-assist necessary, i called SC...

you need to candle while you help. a fork or a paper clip. i have had better luck with a blunt fork so i dont' hurt them as much when i poke. cnadle to see how big the air cell is, be sure no membranes are covering their nostrils where they have pipped, and that their head is above the air cell. see if you can see the yolk at the bottom. id you can see te yolk is still not in them, don't assist much except making sure they can breathe.

then i sorta tap around the side in a circle from the pip. i always do a little, wait to see if there is any bleeding before i proceed. if there is, then you arehitting veins, and if they are still getting blood through them, they aren't ready to come out yet.

sometiems they get so tired and can't finish, or the humidity had dropped and they get stuck. so it is a good thing then to help them. some you help may not make it thoguh.

dont' leave the bator eopen exposing the other eggs while you do this. holding the egg in your hand with the candler on one end will keep them plenty warm.

congrats and good luck!

tf

Hi truest--I'm getting very good at pip-assist. Only 1 of my Barnevelder made it out without it and they are all extremely healthy My problem was that after the first 6 hatched, they all started panting in the hatcher so I lowered the temp and kept opening it to increase oxygen--this was a bad idea, but I had been informed that it was okay to keep the hatcher at 95 degrees. I think it slowed down the activity of the ones that needed to complete the hatch. I only helped the ones that had either pipped and not made an further progress after 24 hours or in one case had not actually pipped, but I could hear it peeping so I knew it had broken through to the air cell--. The ones that never pipped or cheeped died without absorbing their yolk so I would not have been able to help them. Have you read the silkie site that describes helping?--it is extremely useful--I didn't understand about the need to slowly interupt the blood vessels in the inner membrane so the chicks don't bleed to death. The only one to hatch naturally did so 24 hours late--it pipped and emerged within three hours after I turned the heat back up.

So, in summary: I wait 12-24 hours after the due date depending whether they have started pipping and then stopped for 12 hours or longer, or I can hear them peeping strongly after the others have hatched. I do the minimum needed--chip the shell around the air space and then wait--tear the outer membrane and wait. Carefully tear the inner membrane, stopping everytime there is a speck of blood and waiting for 20 minutes before tearing again. Wait for the chick to push off the top--if it is still clearly alive but too weak to push off the top, I will lift it off. I let the chick push itself out--I think this is good for their legs and feet. I thought the last chick that hadn't pipped would never be strong--but it is just as lively as the others now, though it was very weak at first.

I can understand the theory that a chick too weak to hatch is probably not a strong chick genetically or developmentally--but I think with the incubators being so unlike natural incubation, that often it is just that we have failed to give a normal chick the environment it needs to hatch successfully.

yes, and i think if a hen knew what we know, and could help, she would!

Thank you girls, so much. It is now 24 hours since the
first pipped, and I chipped the top edge of two. I had
heard nothing from the bator until I chipped, and now
hear one chirping. The other looks very wet still- but
it is moving, and I will wait to see how these do with
the help. Can you give a bit more info about the
silkie site? Thanks! I am trying very hard to be patient
with the little buggers. #3 is doing really well!

i'll look now...

here you go, click on Helping Chicks Hatch...

http://www.silkiechickens.com/learn.htm

Oh Joni....so eggciting....can't wait for pictures, but understand that I HAVE to!!!

What did your DGD think?

Hi Cookie! So happy here! 5 are hatched, 2 of
those with 'pip assist(p.a.)'. After 28 hours, I was getting
very concerned for the 2 I helped. I did the right
thing by helping (from a mama's point of view, anyway)
Their yolks were completely absorbed, and they were
beginning to dry out. It has been at least 31 hours for
the remaining 2, I will hope for them, but will see.
The last to hatch with p.a. is in a bit of a bind, literally.
His neck remains at an odd angle, and he keeps flipping
onto his back to line up with his head. I have held him
with his neck in a proper position for short periods of
time, but I don't know how he will do. Anyone else see
this trouble and have them straighten up ok?
Overall I am thrilled, as every one is from a different
family group. They are cute as bottons- wait, cuter!
So far, no one is going overboard with sibling picking.
I have the room very dark, and if picking occurs, I may
go to a heating element instead, and reduce the light
further. When the other 2 join them in the brooder,
well- you know what happens to the tiny ones. Hoping
for harmony!
Thank you TF, for the link. I am busy with an extended
stay for my DGD's, but will have more time this evening
for links and pictures. Hope ya'll stay cool today- it's
pretty brutal out there (another 100* day).

if you look at that link, you will see one for wrenched neck. catscan had one, Riley, who came out fine, and I had Emu and did what cat said, i assume she got the info from the silkie link above... Emu is beginning to look like the rest of the chicks. but you need to start on the VIt E with Selenium oil ASAP...

yep 100 here too...

Hi truest. I don't remember if the silkie site had the Vit E and Selenium cure. Wry-neck is a known problem with silkies. I looked at a lot of sites--but everything I tried failed until I started mixing the Vit E with Selenium (from the vitamin section of the drug store) with his mash and syringe feeding him. After a day or two he was eating it out of a spoon. The turn around was dramatic--the symptoms stopped progressing within hours and he was completely cured within a couple days. Kept him on it for about 8 days--he is fine now--although he has a permanent crick in his neck--you can't see it or tell by how he acts, but you can feel it if you massage his neck. I really thought he was a goner--and he was the first chick I ever helped hatch. Best wishes with your little guy!

G'morning! Thanks so much Cat and TF for the
information on Wry-neck. The little one did not
make it. His neck was so bad he was gasping for air
each time he flipped over, and I could not bear to
watch him suffer. I do know that I will make the effort
to ensure my little flock has a lot of oil seeds in their
diet before they get into breeding age. I think the vit E
supplement is helpful, and I have read a lot about it
being very beneficial to quail in particular. I don't know
if it will make a difference on the front end in preventing
this condition before eggs are even laid, but it couldn't
hurt to try.
So, here we are after the long weekend with 4 healthy
chicks. DGD's had an extended stay and I was just
too pooped and busy to get pictures yet. Will post
some asap. My oldest gd was mesmerized, but a bit
disappointed she could not hold them.

Awww, sorry for your loss, but hurray on the 4 healthy ones. I'll be tapping my fingers till those pictures come...and you KNOW how annoying that can be.... ;o)

Morning Aunt Cookie! I am going to get a pic here
in a bit. Thank you, I am a tired pup, but so happy.
I had a wonderful weekend with the Gd's.

Here they are! It's hard to get them all in one..

Here's another- may be hard to see in the pic,
but their wings are 'clouded' looking, like a
clouded leopard's coat...

Oh My gosh! Aunt Cookie is so proud...what beautiful babies...I want one!!!! So sweet...more please...

Aw shucks- double post here--

Wish I could air mail some to you Aunt Cookie.
They are precious- and I will get some more pics.
You neeed some!

The egg yolk dries out pretty fast in the light, and
I wanted to make sure they had plenty to eat, so I
dropped in some game starter. No problems at
all.
The leg bands look a bit clumsy, but are really light
and aren't causing a problem. As they walk, the
'knob' kind of turns to the rear.

BABIES!!!!!!

Yahooo!!! we got babies!!

Congrats Truest - glad you got some little quail. Hope they do well for you. I got 1 gambel, the other five didn't hatch. Four of them would've had a better chance if I had stayed with this thread. They were completely ready to hatch, and I could hear them in there, but never pipped.

The jumbo pearls do breed naturally. I got the eggs from a friend of mine. He told me yesterday that he had 50 more fertile jumbo guinea eggs for me, but I am shutting down for the season when my last eggs hatch in two weeks. If anyone wants eggs from him, he will sell them for a very reasonable cost. I think he said like $10 a dozen or something. The guinea hens are very tasty too, so I have been told. He had one killed by an owl, and gave the guinea to a friend that ate the bird. Said it was better than any other bird he ever ate. The tick eating is a bonus too!

I never hatched guineas or partridge before now, but I am happy to expand my flock to include them.

M~we were overrun with ticks two years ago after lsing our guinea flock to the neighbors. our flock of nine are 18 months old and no sign of a tick anywhere, or grasshoppers!
sorry about those that didn't pip. i learned the helping method after losing five PB Buckeyes to not pipping...

J~big congratss to you, and lovely poics!
tf
i lost one of my slate blues, got run over, and he was delicious! almost as good as duck!

Sorry about your chukkar, Maine. It's really hard
to let them hatch without helping when you have
so much energy invested (and dollars). I think you
have had a very busy season thus far with much
success and I have to say I have learned so much
in these last few months from you and everyone else.
I think I'll reserve the guinea option to next year, and
am very happy with the chickens bug control for now.
There's a local sherrif's deputy that has offered some
rhode island reds to me after I hatched the MQ, and
I think I will close down hatching operations after that.

Thanks TF for the congrats. I was stressing about
the MQ for some time, and feel a lot better now that
they are here with roughly a 33% hatch rate, and no
one-so far, is picking. I'm also really looking forward
to next year when they start to breed, if I have both
sexes. There was a good deal less stress when I hatched
my homegrown chicks, than when using shipped eggs.