Shadow Source
Songster
(NOTE: THESE SAME PRINCIPLES ARE THE SAME FOR ANY EGGS)
For a few months now I have wanted to hatch quail eggs. I had seen it done before, and I wanted to have a go. I had watched countless videos on how to hatch quail eggs and I found a channel called "Slightly Red Necked", here is a link to his YouTube channel.
Every Thursday night he has a live broadcast and anyone can join in all you have to do is say something in the chat, and he will get around to you. He also has a guide on how to properly incubate quail eggs. (I Highly Recommend You Check It Out)
So two and a half weeks ago I ordered 30 quail eggs from Kansas city quail farms. They arrived in 4 days, and they threw in 2 extra eggs. 3 eggs had cracks in them, so I had 29 quail eggs to incubate. The packaging was very professional, and they obviously knew what they were doing.
I had purchased a Little Giant Egg Turner from my local farm store, and set it up in my Hova 1602n. (It Fit Perfectly With Room To Spare) The egg turner that comes with the 1602n is trash. It rattles the whole incubator, and when I tested it golf balls they were only turned once a day, so I tossed it.
I set my egg turner outside of the incubator, and put my quail eggs in it. I picked up some Original Gold Listerine, and a spray bottle from my local store. I mixed together, 50% water, and 50% Gold Listerine, and poured it into my spray bottle. I sprayed my eggs down like crazy. Not dripping wet, but quite damp.
I waited 24 hours after they arrived before I put them in my incubator. The little giant egg turner turns the eggs every hour, so it turns plenty. I have heard that if you don’t turn your shipped eggs for the first few days it will increase your hatch rate; I have not found that very true. I had a great hatch rate, and I plugged the egg turner in when I put it in my incubator.
So after a few days my humidity dropped below 50% and I added water. I decided to candle my eggs even though I probably would not see anything. To my surprise I did. I candled 5 eggs randomly selected, and they all showed signs of development. I waited until day 14 before I candled again, and out of 29 eggs, 5 were not fertile, and 24 looked like they could hatch. So I put the eggs into lockdown, and immediately saw movement. A bunch of the eggs were “rockin and rollin”, and I could hear little peeps. I had put shelf liner in the bottom of the incubator, to avoid splayed leg.
Fast forward one day, a few eggs had pipped. This was day 15, and so I was excited. I never opened the incubator at all during lockdown (Except to remove chicks). I think this ensures a great hatch, and no one get shrink wrapped. On day sixteen, 3 hatched and many more pipped. That night 7 more hatched, and a few more pipped. I removed all the fluffy chicks, and put them in the brooder that I setup a day before. That day 7 hatched but no one else pipped. On day 18 I took everyone out, and put them in the brooder. I put shelf liner in the brooder, along with the shelf liner in the incubator. I use a brooder plate to keep the chicks warm, it may be expensive, but it has a lower risk to burn down the house.
On day 19 when I was changing the quails water, and I saw a chick that could not get around and it always was flopping and laying on its back. I tried a few methods to help the chick, but this poor chick was very weak. He was the first to pip, but the last chick to come out of his egg. He was in the egg for 48 hours after he pipped.
So fast forward 2 days, I went into the garage and looked into the brooder and found him dead. With these chicks I think it is best to cull them, because they will probably end up dying anyway in pain.
Some people ask what to feed quail. I think it is best to feed them gamebird starter all of their lives. Gamebird starter has 30% protein witch quail need to thrive. I had recently bought some quail from somebody who was feeding a 18% protein feed, and the quail looked lethargic and sick. The second I began feeding gamebird starter, they looked much better. And I have also seen people crush up the quail food. You do not need to crush quail food as long as it is a crumble. Now the game bird starter where I am from is really expensive. It is like $20.00 for a 50 pound bag. But an adult coturnix quail only eats 0.77 ounces per day per bird. So it cost under a penny a day to feed 1 adult quail per day.
So I had 17 hatch out of 24 eggs. I’d say that's pretty good. If you live in a place where you can’t find any quail locally, or you live in an area where everyone has quail, I would always suggest getting your first quail from Kansas City Quail Farms. They have many breeds of Coturnix Quail, they have Bobwhite and Valley Quail, and they also have Chukars. Here is a link to their website. Now there are many variables to ordering hatching eggs, and I don’t guarantee that you will have the same experience that I had.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
For a few months now I have wanted to hatch quail eggs. I had seen it done before, and I wanted to have a go. I had watched countless videos on how to hatch quail eggs and I found a channel called "Slightly Red Necked", here is a link to his YouTube channel.
Every Thursday night he has a live broadcast and anyone can join in all you have to do is say something in the chat, and he will get around to you. He also has a guide on how to properly incubate quail eggs. (I Highly Recommend You Check It Out)
So two and a half weeks ago I ordered 30 quail eggs from Kansas city quail farms. They arrived in 4 days, and they threw in 2 extra eggs. 3 eggs had cracks in them, so I had 29 quail eggs to incubate. The packaging was very professional, and they obviously knew what they were doing.
I had purchased a Little Giant Egg Turner from my local farm store, and set it up in my Hova 1602n. (It Fit Perfectly With Room To Spare) The egg turner that comes with the 1602n is trash. It rattles the whole incubator, and when I tested it golf balls they were only turned once a day, so I tossed it.
I set my egg turner outside of the incubator, and put my quail eggs in it. I picked up some Original Gold Listerine, and a spray bottle from my local store. I mixed together, 50% water, and 50% Gold Listerine, and poured it into my spray bottle. I sprayed my eggs down like crazy. Not dripping wet, but quite damp.
I waited 24 hours after they arrived before I put them in my incubator. The little giant egg turner turns the eggs every hour, so it turns plenty. I have heard that if you don’t turn your shipped eggs for the first few days it will increase your hatch rate; I have not found that very true. I had a great hatch rate, and I plugged the egg turner in when I put it in my incubator.
So after a few days my humidity dropped below 50% and I added water. I decided to candle my eggs even though I probably would not see anything. To my surprise I did. I candled 5 eggs randomly selected, and they all showed signs of development. I waited until day 14 before I candled again, and out of 29 eggs, 5 were not fertile, and 24 looked like they could hatch. So I put the eggs into lockdown, and immediately saw movement. A bunch of the eggs were “rockin and rollin”, and I could hear little peeps. I had put shelf liner in the bottom of the incubator, to avoid splayed leg.
Fast forward one day, a few eggs had pipped. This was day 15, and so I was excited. I never opened the incubator at all during lockdown (Except to remove chicks). I think this ensures a great hatch, and no one get shrink wrapped. On day sixteen, 3 hatched and many more pipped. That night 7 more hatched, and a few more pipped. I removed all the fluffy chicks, and put them in the brooder that I setup a day before. That day 7 hatched but no one else pipped. On day 18 I took everyone out, and put them in the brooder. I put shelf liner in the brooder, along with the shelf liner in the incubator. I use a brooder plate to keep the chicks warm, it may be expensive, but it has a lower risk to burn down the house.
On day 19 when I was changing the quails water, and I saw a chick that could not get around and it always was flopping and laying on its back. I tried a few methods to help the chick, but this poor chick was very weak. He was the first to pip, but the last chick to come out of his egg. He was in the egg for 48 hours after he pipped.
So fast forward 2 days, I went into the garage and looked into the brooder and found him dead. With these chicks I think it is best to cull them, because they will probably end up dying anyway in pain.
Some people ask what to feed quail. I think it is best to feed them gamebird starter all of their lives. Gamebird starter has 30% protein witch quail need to thrive. I had recently bought some quail from somebody who was feeding a 18% protein feed, and the quail looked lethargic and sick. The second I began feeding gamebird starter, they looked much better. And I have also seen people crush up the quail food. You do not need to crush quail food as long as it is a crumble. Now the game bird starter where I am from is really expensive. It is like $20.00 for a 50 pound bag. But an adult coturnix quail only eats 0.77 ounces per day per bird. So it cost under a penny a day to feed 1 adult quail per day.
So I had 17 hatch out of 24 eggs. I’d say that's pretty good. If you live in a place where you can’t find any quail locally, or you live in an area where everyone has quail, I would always suggest getting your first quail from Kansas City Quail Farms. They have many breeds of Coturnix Quail, they have Bobwhite and Valley Quail, and they also have Chukars. Here is a link to their website. Now there are many variables to ordering hatching eggs, and I don’t guarantee that you will have the same experience that I had.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
