I’ve been a little busy lately and haven’t had the opportunity to update. Work has been good, we had a few really nice days of sun and warm, though now we’re back to cloudy and 50. I’ve also been incubating and hatching more eggs. I bought a real incubator and bought a dozen eggs from a lady in Fairbanks that has what sounds like, a pretty large poultry farm.

The incubator is awesome. I bought the fan and the auto turner so I wouldn’t feel tied to the eggs for the next 3 weeks. It was worth the cost and I don’t think I’ll have any problem reselling it, especially if I wait until spring of next year. Anyway, the hatch didn’t go so well. Only 5 hatched and 2 died almost immediately afterwards. It was really sad. After much discussion and hindsight, it appears it was a humidity and temp spike issue.

The two chicks that died both pipped their shells a tiny bit but never had the strength or size to finish the job. I intervened after 24 hours of no progress and lack of movement by all the eggs on day 20. Initially I only opened up the hole enough to allow plenty of fresh air. Then, after waiting another 12 and almost all movement stopping from the 2nd chick, I carefully chipped off the top of the egg. There was no blood and the chick almost immediately started stretching and popped itself out of the egg. Again, no blood at all but there was a large amount of poop in the bottom of the shell. And the naval was completely dried up and disconnected. I really thought this one had a chance and put him back in the incubator to stay warm. You can see in the photo below that the yolk sack is still very much visible and he was incedibly tiny, probably two-thirds the size of the egg; it’s almost like he was a full grown preemie. But sadly, about an hour later when I check on him, he had died.

Being that I can never just give up on things like this, I asked my egg lady to send 6 more eggs. She sent a dozen. Ack! These are due to hatch on the 20th. I bought a new thermometer and hygrometer so I can better monitor temps and humidity. My luck, all 12 will hatch this time. There’s just no way I’m keeping 2 dozen quail – the 4 I have now are enough work for me. I have a feeling 2 of the newest chicks are female, so I’ll have enough eggs for my gift baskets that I’ll be sending out this winter. But then again, my feelings on gender don’t have the greatest track record. I’m batting a flat zero so far. I was convinced Dan was a male with all the crowing she does.

Here’s what the little buggers look like so far. Ugly little things! They haven’t been formally introduced to Danquail just yet. They need to get some size on them first. I did show one to her through the bars this morning and she was immediately curious and intrigued, running up to the bars and peeking around at the baby. I sure hope the transition to co-habitation goes smoothly.