Set my first eggs today!

[MisterGribs]

lovezebs
Better stick to Spongebob Squarepants, then

[lovezebs]

Beauteeeee and the Beeeeast....lol.

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Any pips yet?

I am FINALLY get my next round of eggs on Monday. Apparently there was a mishap with the last bunch and an oven. I've already got the incubator humming along, ready to try for round two. And I've got multiple thermometers in place this time--there will be no horrifying glitches in temp this time, if I can help it!

[MisterGribs]

No pips yet, but they're rocking back and forth and I expect some by tonight!

Hatching from eggs can be insanely difficult. I think the worst part is the waiting! Good luck, you've waited so long to get those, I'm sure your hatch will go well!

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Weeell...? How goes things?

Got my eggs and set them yesterday! One arrived home with the air cell all displaced, so I've got it outside of the turner in a little nest of its own for a couple days. Hopefully that allows everything to settle.

[MisterGribs]

MisterGribs

Weeell...? How goes things?

Got my eggs and set them yesterday! One arrived home with the air cell all displaced, so I've got it outside of the turner in a little nest of its own for a couple days. Hopefully that allows everything to settle.

Out of the 10 I set, I got 7 fertile. One little brown one died in the shell what looks like yesterday, pipped the wrong end. I have 6 more, two have pipped internally and the rest are just late.

And one little baby hatched on time, we named it Happy. It came out all white, and then slowly turned golden! I let it imprint on me and Heta for a tamer covey, and last night it cried and cried because it's still alone in there until we took it to bed with us. Sweetest little bird. Woke up with it nestled under my hand in the little heated box we had it in.

[Babs _Owner]

Well look at that beautiful ball of fuzz!! Congratulations MisterGribs! You've had a lot of ups and downs the last couple of months to get to this "Happy" moment! A very appropriate name.

[lovezebs]

Congratulations on a new bouncing baby fuzz ball.

May Happy bring joy to your heart

[MisterGribs]

I had three (!!!!!) Upside down DIS babies today! What on earth did I do wrong? Stop turning them too soon, possibly? Happy is doing good, and there are 3 more little beaks showing in my incubator, I hope they all make it.

[Babs _Owner]

With this species of bird, isn't it okay to help them out of the shell a bit if they get stuck? I'm not going to try and be an expert on this. I've never hatched quail or chickens.

I'm wondering if the hen sometimes helps with the hatchling. I know finches do at times help the babies hatch. I've seen my societies do it.

Did any of the DIS peep or give you warning they were pipping? If you get four, I would say it's still a success!

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Congratulations on your little Happy! What an absolute cutie!

I have heard of folks that have successfully assisted DIS chicks in hatching. It sounds to me like the survival rate isn't too great, though. I know that I would hesitate to open the incubator at all while others were pipped, since there's risk of shrink wrapping if you drop the humidity too much. But everyone's got their own methods!

[MisterGribs]

You can assist, if you know how to shrink the veins. I didn't get any warning peeps, as they were never able to get any air. One of them was still alive when I tried to get some air into it, but didn't make it. Not sure what I could have done differently, but from what I've read upside down chicks are common, some still manage to get air, some don't.

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

Well, candled the eggs and put them in lock down yesterday... Out of nine, only two had developed to the proper point, with five dead. The other two were dark enough that I couldn't tell either way. Hopefully the hatch rate is dang near perfect or I'm going to have much fewer quail than I originally thought.

[MisterGribs]

I only got two out of mine, too

[Celeris]

MisterGribs

It really is a trickier process than I originally thought! Can't decide if I'm gonna try for a third round if this one flops. (May just try to find a breeder who has chicks available!)