➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[007Sean]

Hi folks, restarting my small flock after a brief hiatus, and this time round I've decided to start from eggs. Since this is my first time incubating, I'm really not sure how many eggs I should incubate if I am aiming for 8 ladies for egg production. Previously I got sexed birds from a farm nearby, but this time round I want to follow the process the whole way through! I'll have to ship eggs in, and have read with shipped eggs to expect a 50% hatch rate, is this true?

Order enough eggs to fill your incubator. Some may arrive broken/cracked, some will be infertile, and some will develop, then die before hatching. Also, invest in a good, accurate independent thermometer or 2 and a hygrometer that you can 'salt test' calibrate. These 2 things will help improve your hatch rate. OEM sensors on the cheap, styrofoam and plastic incubators are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable.

50% is about normal for shipped eggs, sometimes it's lower, sometimes it's higher, too many factors involved to say for certain what your hatch rate will be!
Also, expect a 50/50 ratio of male to female but here again that varies widely.
My experience has been that I hatch more males than females.

HTH, if you have more questions just ask, there is always someone here to assist/advise to your questions.

 

[muddy75]

I received an interesting phone call yesterday from the person who purchased 20 quail last year when I posted them with budgies. After the transaction, they purchased “quail” from another seller that were buttons instead of coturnix
Unfortunately since I haven’t hatched anymore and lost the last ones to predators…..I couldn’t be of much assistance but I did refer them to this site and recommended incubating eggs vs purchase.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I received an interesting phone call yesterday from the person who purchased 20 quail last year when I posted them with budgies. After the transaction, they purchased “quail” from another seller that were buttons instead of coturnix
Unfortunately since I haven’t hatched anymore and lost the last ones to predators…..I couldn’t be of much assistance but I did refer them to this site and recommended incubating eggs vs purchase.

Totally agree. I've even loaned out my incubator to those interested in getting quail and allowed them to return the ones they didn't want. It's a great experience and if they're interested in continuing into the future, it's the best option to learn how.

(TBH, though. Not sure how many folks continue past the first round. I think everyone here has a lot of mettle.)

 

[muddy75]

Totally agree. I've even loaned out my incubator to those interested in getting quail and allowed them to return the ones they didn't want. It's a great experience and if they're interested in continuing into the future, it's the best option to learn how.

(TBH, though. Not sure how many folks continue past the first round. I think everyone here has a lot of mettle.)

Ive been considering putting my incubators up for sale but I actually gave this person 2 large off-brand incubators that I used for several hatches but we’re just taking up space here……they have the capacity to incubate

 

[Nabiki]

I got my first crows of the year this morning. Two boys crowed at me when I was feeding them, so maybe I'll start getting more than one egg a day soon.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Just out of curiosity, anyone else getting lots of inquiries for new quail? I've been getting quite a few. Most want hatching eggs and a loaned incubator. Several, upon realizing they wouldn't be able to keep all the mature roos, later changed their minds though.

 

[Huntmaster]

I have been selling breeding sets of 5 to 6 hens with 1 roo, and just a few weeks back sold 30 straight run that were a few days old. But now since TSC chick days has started and feed stores selling, things have slowed down.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I have been selling breeding sets of 5 to 6 hens with 1 roo, and just a few weeks back sold 30 straight run that were a few days old. But now since TSC chick days has started and feed stores selling, things have slowed down.

May I ask, how much for 5 hens and a roo?

 

[Huntmaster]

May I ask, how much for 5 hens and a roo?

I have been selling the breeding sets of 6 for $36 to $40 and sets of 7 for $45.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Wo

I have been selling the breeding sets of 6 for $36 to $40 and sets of 7 for $45.

Wow! Sounds like a deal to me.