Incubating eggs

[Alaska Satin]

Sadly the hatchery shipped our hatching eggs we won over the New Years holiday. They are at least 8 days in transit. They never even replied to my inquiries or sent shipping information. Not a word from them. Glad they are free eggs. Won't be ordering from them that's for sure. They don't offer a hatching guarantee which was a red flag for me anyways when I saw that. Most seem to offer some sort of guarantee. I don't expect much at this point but giving it a try anyways off of recommendations from another forum about quail. Some of the eggs are pretty big so had to split them up a bit but everyone is nestled in and hopefully incubating. The 14 eggs on the far right of the picture are from our own young hens. Just a few days of collecting them but put in what I had saved. Figured maybe I would get some to hatch if the shipped eggs are done for. Time will tell. Excited to finally be doing this. Doing a dry hatch as @TamiPac does. I did try the humidity in it but got the same results at TamiPac. Just wasn't able to keep it steady or in the right range. So we'll see how this goes. Thought I would post an update as it's going along.
Happy New Years everyone! Hope y'all have a blessed new year!
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Eight days might not be a problem. I have far fewer laying hens than spaces for eggs in the incubator, so I often keep eggs sitting for 10 days without issue, while I'm collecting enough to start. As long as the eggs were being moved around so the embryos didn't stick to the side of the egg, which they probably were during transit, they might do just fine. If they were shaken or dropped that could be a problem, but it wouldn't be related to the length of time en route.
Here's hoping!

 

[R Buns]

Eight days might not be a problem. I have far fewer laying hens than spaces for eggs in the incubator, so I often keep eggs sitting for 10 days without issue, while I'm collecting enough to start. As long as the eggs were being moved around so the embryos didn't stick to the side of the egg, which they probably were during transit, they might do just fine. If they were shaken or dropped that could be a problem, but it wouldn't be related to the length of time en route.
Here's hoping!

I had read fertility dwindles after 6 or7 days but can be still viable at 10 days so hoping they were collected the day they shipped. Good to know your experience. They did sit for New Years day if I believe tracking and also appeared to sit for 2 days once they reached our state facility. Box didn't look like it was abused but you never know. Doesn't hurt to try right? Running the extra eggs just so maybe I'll know if at least it was a successful incubation or not and not just the shipped eggs being a problem. I was really hoping to get at least one run in before the hatching eggs arrived but we're going for it all in now. I'm hopeful we'll get something good out of it all.

 

[R Buns]

As for humidity.......
I was having issues keeping the humidity steady and ran myself into the ground trying. I did a weeks worth of research and heard so many talking about a "dry hatch". I don't add any water when I start the batch. I just leave it until lockdown and then I fill both little troughs with very warm water and just let it go. I watch the meter on the machine and it usually stays right around 75-77. I just don't stress over it. When the chicks start hatching I take off one of the red plugs on top for a little more airflow for the babies. I found removing both red plugs made the humidity go too low. I don't have to add more water before the hatch is done. I have some quail eggs going on lockdown today. I also add a piece of the rubberish shelf liner with holes in it to cover the plastic mesh because it's too slick for little feet to get any traction and I was having issues with splay leg. I soak the shelf liner in soapy water to clean it in between hatches.

As far as humidity mine is staying around 20% for "dry hatching/incubating". Do you think that's too low? I read up on the dry hatch quite a bit and it looks like that's better suited for higher elevations or humid areas. Neither do we have here. Not sure if you qualify for that or am I worrying for nothing?

 

[TamiPac]

Sadly the hatchery shipped our hatching eggs we won over the New Years holiday. They are at least 8 days in transit. They never even replied to my inquiries or sent shipping information. Not a word from them. Glad they are free eggs. Won't be ordering from them that's for sure. They don't offer a hatching guarantee which was a red flag for me anyways when I saw that. Most seem to offer some sort of guarantee. I don't expect much at this point but giving it a try anyways off of recommendations from another forum about quail. Some of the eggs are pretty big so had to split them up a bit but everyone is nestled in and hopefully incubating. The 14 eggs on the far right of the picture are from our own young hens. Just a few days of collecting them but put in what I had saved. Figured maybe I would get some to hatch if the shipped eggs are done for. Time will tell. Excited to finally be doing this. Doing a dry hatch as @TamiPac does. I did try the humidity in it but got the same results at TamiPac. Just wasn't able to keep it steady or in the right range. So we'll see how this goes. Thought I would post an update as it's going along.
Happy New Years everyone! Hope y'all have a blessed new year!
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I'm really rooting for you having at least some of the shipped eggs hatch!

We've hatched both shipped quail and chicken eggs and haven't had a great experience with either.

 

[TamiPac]

As far as humidity mine is staying around 20% for "dry hatching/incubating". Do you think that's too low? I read up on the dry hatch quite a bit and it looks like that's better suited for higher elevations or humid areas. Neither do we have here. Not sure if you qualify for that or am I worrying for nothing?

We're on the Gulf Coast of Texas so it is very hot and humid. If you're really worried you could put a wet piece of sponge in there instead of monkeying with the water troughs. My humidity in there during dry hatch hovers around 30% and they do just fine.

 

[Alaska Satin]

As far as humidity mine is staying around 20% for "dry hatching/incubating". Do you think that's too low? I read up on the dry hatch quite a bit and it looks like that's better suited for higher elevations or humid areas. Neither do we have here. Not sure if you qualify for that or am I worrying for nothing?

We live at sea level, about 1/4 mile from a river so with kind of middling local humidity. I've never paid overly much attention to humidity for our incubation of either quail or chicken eggs. We have the old-style Hova-Bator styrofoam ones with an automatic turner, and I put a probe inside the incubator with a cord that runs out to a battery-operated temp/humidity display. I fill the main trough with water and add a little every day; I use warm water, so it does not affect the temperature much, and doesn't cause the humidity to spike or drop like hot or cold water does. I honestly rarely look at the humidity reading anymore.

I lost the little red plugs long ago and have never really noticed a difference.

At lockdown I fill all of the troughs, topping them off every day until the first pip. Humidity stays around the mid-70s if I remember correctly. Then I do everything in my power not to open the incubator at all, since it has been my experience that sudden swings in humidity are a lot more destructive than steady low or high levels. I literally do not open the incubator for 24-36 hours while the chicks are coming out. Although, I think too much humidity did drown some of our chicks one time when the humidity was raised too quickly, and water condensed thickly on the top of the incubator, then dripped down onto the pipping eggs.

Hatches from our own flock are never less than 80% and are usually closer to 100%, excepting incubation during events like power outages or spikes, or kids knocking the incubator and eggs across the room... and we still had a lot of those eggs hatch! Like @TamiPac we haven't had much luck with shipped eggs (but getting to Alaska is a pretty long journey!)

 

[R Buns]

I loose quite a bit of heat when I open the unit so my goal is to NOT open it unless necessary. I did see someone online that drilled two small holes in their unit like ours and ran a fabric cord inside and the outside was in water. Basically a wicking system to keep their humidity up without opening the unit. Just can't keep our house warm enough for them without the lid staying closed. I may try the piece of sponge or something this round to try and get to 30% and see how that goes. Or I may just leave it alone and see if our eggs will hatch as is. I'm not sure if there is a huge difference between 20% vs 30% We are basically at sea level and as far from humid as most areas can get. I don't expect much from these shipped hatching eggs but do hope to get some from our own eggs at the least. Thank you both!
@Alaska Satin I can't imagine having something like eggs shipped to Alaska. Alaska sure is stunning though.