98 quail eggs due to hatch Sunday, my first!

[wanda047]

I'm learning as I go and have read everything I can get my hands on, but would like to hear some experiences with hatching your first quail eggs. Were you prepared? What advice would you give a beginner? How can I better prepare myself for 98 baby quail? If I only have a 50% hatch rate... that's still a lot of babies to tend to. I'm a bit apprehensive!

I started with 125 shipped eggs. A dozen were broken upon receipt, so it left me with 113 eggs. I've candled and eliminated those that did not develop. I'm left with 98 which all appear to be viable.

I've survived raising over 60 chicks and 7 turkey poults so far... wondering if I'll survive this!

They are due to hatch Sunday morning. These are Bobwhite quail eggs.

 

[ljf24]

wow thats alot of quail. you have your hands full

 

[wanda047]

yep... this was my husband's idea!

The turkeys were his idea too. Guess who they follow around the yard... it ain't him! In all seriousness, yesterday the little monsters escaped from their pen. I was working in the yard and suddenly I heard the poults.. very loudly at this point. The are all running towards me. They looked so funny, running as fast as they could. They don't like me to be very far away.

I'm hoping that the quail will bond with "daddy"

 

[farrier!]

My first 1/2 dozen quail hatched early....

They sure do hatch faster then chickens and are so tiny looking!!!
Cute little things but with 20 due tomorrow and 80+ due Sunday I hope my tendency to become attached will be less.
No problem with mine bonding. From the time they hatched they would be happy if people were not part of their world.

Hatching was just flat out fun! I can hardly wait for more!

 

[CedarRidgeChicks]

Mine are hatching now..I thought I was ready..oh no I wasn't...they started popping out yesterday..I have 13 so far out of around 30..I can see 4 more pipping..be careful taking them out of the bator..the bounce everywhere..I ended up taking out a window and reaching in really fast..and they are so small to handle trying to dip their beaks,,My son and I spent many hours yesterday watching them pip, zip, and come out..sooo much faster than chicks..I hope to do many more this fall.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Well you started with a bang, didn't you?? Just watch the humidity, a hatch that big will make it go up real high!! What kind of bator do you have? I had some bobwhites hatch a week or so ago, and they were nothing like the coturnix!! They were pipped for over a day, 4 days early, then only one hatched. The other 3 (one of which was pipped) waited 2 more days before ever hatching!! Once the others started hatching the rest followed, but they were nothing like the coturnix!


CedarRidge~~Forgot to tell you that you don't really need to dip their beaks, they normally find the food and water on their own

Sorry

Are those my babies?? Let me know how they do!

 

[wanda047]

Well you started with a bang, didn't you??

I don't do anything small.

And I always go to the extremes with everything I do. I will have to admit though that since I've starting raising chickens, I do feel a little overwhelmed occasionally and especially in this heat! The quail will be my last hatch till next Spring. I've got more than enough to keep me busy.

I'm hatching in a LG still air. I've only had one heat spike and one drop in temp throughout this incubation, so I'm hopeful for a good hatch. I have finally found a spot in my house where the temp doesn't fluctuate much and the bator is holding right on target like it should.

I've read the humidity should be about 75% during hatching? Do you agree? Also... I should feed wild game starter, correct?​

 

[shelleyd2008]

With a hatch that big, I would go for more like 60% humidity, it will rise, and pretty high in my experience. Usually the recommendation is at least 65%, but 60 would be safer in your case.

They are supposed to have high protein feed, most people try to not feed them medicated. I don't think there is much of a difference between medicated and non, I think it is more due to the fact that people don't want to eat medicated birds? I don't eat mine, and the feed store only has high-protein medicated feed, so that's what my adults get. I feed the babies (all babies for that matter) a 20% flock raiser, and they do just fine on that.

But the game bird starter is the best for them. You can give them some egg yolks (cooked) or crushed cat food to up their protein, once or twice a week as a treat.