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So here we go. I’ve purchased an incubator from GQF Manufacturing. This one has a fan to keep the temperature evenly distributed. It also comes with an egg turner and 30 Bobwhite quail eggs. They shipped the machine and eggs separately, and I ended up with 35 eggs. The idea is that you can test the machine. So you set up the machine with water in the center part of the plastic tray that goes into the button of the machine. This will generate about 55% humidity, which the eggs need. The turner gently moves the eggs from side to side to exercise the embryo. Without it you would have to turn the eggs 3 times per day to prevent the embryo from sticking to one side of the egg, which will end up deadly for the chick.
The machine comes with a thermometer to check the temperature, but it is quite cheap and useless. It is best to buy a digital one that also reads the humidity. The Springfield 91551 Digital Indoor Thermometer with Indoor Hygrometer works well and can be purchased at Walmart for less then 7 dollars.
After 7 days you can candle the eggs with a bright light. In my case a LED flashlight with 135 lumen output found in the camping isle at Walmart. I’ve added a small cardboard circle over the lens with a smaller hole to focus the beam. This home made candler is really bright, and does not generate heat which could be damaging to the egg. So at day 7 you are checking for blood vessel. If the egg mains clear you have an infertile egg. I’ve ended up with 9 infertile eggs. I did leave them in for an additional week, just to make sure.
At day 14 I did another candling. At that time most of the egg will be a dark mass and you cannot make out any detail other then the air pocket. I’ve discarded the infertile eggs.
At day 20 you stop turning the eggs. Most people will take the eggs out of the turner and lay them into the machine. This can lead to drowning of the chicks in the egg while trying to hatch. since their is still ammoniac fluid in the pointed end. It is best to remove the turner, and take out the rails holding the eggs and place them into the machine. To the right you can see the rails sitting in the machine. But lets go back one step. At day 20 you also have to increase the humidity to 65-70% by filling the outer part of the plastic tray with water. This will soften the egg shell and make it easier for the chicks to hatch. Please note that the humidity will even get higher as the chicks hatch. Nothing to worry about as this will not cause drowning. The machine has a plug on top you can pull, if it gets to high. Lifting the lid and removing empty shells will do the same.
The eggs were supposed to hatch on day 25, but nothing happened. I started to worry, because I had a humidity drop down to 20% on night the week prior. On day 26 I’ve kept on checking almost every hour. I thought I saw cracks by wasn’t sure. In the evening at 9 o’clock my husband went into the kitchen to get some food. He called me because he heard some chirping. I rushed in to see what happened and two had hatched. One was quite loud about it, singing up a storm. I’ve told my husband that they will remain in the incubator over night to dry out their feathers and to keep them warm at 100 degrees. No worry about food, they don’t need it for 24 hours.
They are so tiny and exhausted. Just think about the size of the egg. It is only 1/3 of a medium chicken egg or 1 inch from top to bottom. It’s amazing just to think how they were packed into the egg itself. They first must rotate themselves puncturing the air sack, at that point they will absorb the rest of the yolk. They can actually bleed to death, if they don’t absorb the yolk, since their blood vessels go into it. It’s like the placenta in humans. Once the air runs low in the air sack they must pip the egg (break the egg shell) to get more air into it or suffocate. Some first time hatchers may want to assist them, but that can be deadly. You don’t know how much of the yolk they have absorbed. Plus weaklings usually die within days, so it is best not to do anything. Even if the chick dies in the egg. Piping too big of a whole and the membrane inside of the egg will dry out to fast and turn into leather, which will kill the chick as well. So it is essential that the chick picks a circle of tiny holes, with resting times inside of the egg until it can lift the lid at once. At that time the membrane is out of the way and poses no more danger. After all that work they will rest and eventually get out their head and finally the rest of the body. Now they will need more resting. To the right you will see images of chicks hatching. They may look dead, but be assured all of them are alive and doing well.
We ended up with 17 chicks total. As you can see it is extremely hard on the chick. They have to take many breaks in their hatching process. Can you imagine giving birth to yourself. Their achievement is quite impressive. We were watching and rooting for the first 8, and then we went to bed. The rest hatched in the night and some the next morning. I’ve later inspected the eggs that did not hatch. Half of them died in their eggs and never developed completely, and the rest just didn’t make it out. They were either to weak or something else wasn’t right. That is nature, even if it is sad. A 50% hatch rate is considered normal. This shows that you can do everything right, and still not hatch all of them.
Next you will see pictures they day after hatching. Food and water are being served in small trays. Stones are placed into the water tray to prevent them from drowning in it. This is only needed for the first day. They just wanted to throw themselves into water. I guess some instinct that will stop after 24 hours.
I’ve build a brooder (heated box) for the chicks to live in for the next 5-6 weeks. It’s actually a shipping crate with doors from dog crates on top to keep the cat out. It is lined with plastic foil, covered with newspapers and a final layer of paper towels. The paper towels give them tracking and prevent injuries to their fragile joints. On top to the one side there is a red heat lamp set with a heat sensor in the crate to 100 degrees. This will keep them warm and it will be reduced by 5 degrees each week until they can regulate their own body temperature. It is important to use a red light, since this reduces the birds from picking and injuring each other. It really calms them down. The heat sensor is something that can be found in the terrarium section at the pet store. The lamp just plugs into it. It takes out the guesswork of how high to hang the lamp and you simply turn the dial to the desired temperature.
So for now they:
Eat, sleep and poo, das ist Natur.
According to my husband Paul.
This coming week I will receive my Saxony duck hatching eggs from a US source. A very old, almost extinct German breed. They look like super sized mallards, but very faint in color. I will keep you all posted. I’m also playing with the idea of getting German Embden geese for the meadow. These are very large white geese with blue eyes. I’m looking for the special breeds with the connection to Germany, my homeland.
How about Spitzhauben chickens? Beautiful, but I remember how much I disliked the chickens I had to take care of on a farm while I was a child. Plus you do need medicated food and other chemicals to keep them healthy. They can also get frostbite in winter, because they do not have downs.
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