A few ?s about jumbo brown/coturnix

[Gumpwhite]

HI! im new at this quail stuff. i have chicken and have hatched plenty of lil chicks. I have ruffly 277 eggs in incubation ( only because i know only half will hatch and survive ).

My first question is that during incubation my incubator has gotten up to ( and not higher ) than 104f. Will this kill all my quail? I have no rooms in the house that get a good stable temp. Drafts i can control but not temps.

Second.. with my chickens ( and quail ) i have them in auto turners. I have found that if i hatch in egg cartons with the air sack straight up i get a waaaay better hatch rate. Can i expect this from the quail? or should i lay them on the side?

Third... I have heard that cat food ground up is on to feed the chicks? I have noticed that most cat foods have 34% protein or higher.
I can get starter feed, however since i have so many chicks, i was looking for a cheaper equal source of food.

And lastly ... What is the best way to brood this number of chicks. at what age do they start to fly, and how much room would they need? I have a brooder i use for chicken chicks, its about 5ft x 21/2ft but its made of chicken wire.

 

[AMSQuail]

I am also new to Quail, but my chicks this season have taught me a lot already... at 1.5 - 2 weeks they will jump or fly out of anything 2 ft or less...104 is too hot...maintaining temp as close to 99.5 will give u best results, they dont need a ton of room, I havent heard about the cat food deal, my chicks by get 28%pro...and as for the eggs in the incubator, that should be fine.
Happy Hatching!