all who are hatching quail

[wishful suburbanite]

=) I think I may be doing better than I thought I would. I haven't counted exactly but it's day 14 for me and maybe around half my eggs have very dark contents. I threw away three that turned out to be cracked. Hopefully about Sunday I'm going to have a good hatch!

 

[Quailsong]

Might I ask you guys what you're using for incubators?

I'd like to hatch about 20-50 Cots at a time. I don't want to pay huge prices for a big hatcher that I won't use much of, nor do I want to use a little rinky-dink hatcher that only hatches 10 at a time (and makes separating diff brood ages challenging).

I wouldn't mind trying a DIY, but all I ever see are ones for chickens & they look kinda sketchy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[wishful suburbanite]

I made a homemade incubator out of a 36 can styrofoam cooler, heated with a lightbulb and regulated with a Reptitherm 500 thermostat. I have a small USB fan hooked up to a power adapter suspended from the lid.

I installed quail trays that would fit a turner, but I don't have one. I've just been tipping the entire incubator from side to side by wedging something underneath it. The trays were like $13 and I think they were worth it to keep the eggs in place and upright, to help with any air cells possibly detached in shipping.

I say this, but I have not yet actually hatched any eggs. lol

My homemade incubator could handle 60 quail eggs. I'm in it for over $60, though, so I can't necessarily call it much cheaper. I guess I can remove the components and repurpose them for other things. That's something.

 

[Quailsong]

Thanks, wishful.

I'm really thinking about a diy as it seems so much more efficient and affordable. However, I'm worried they might bump into the light or whatnot & burn themselves or break it. How do you stop that from occurring? Wire mesh around it?

I like the idea of having an egg turner, but I wouldn't want to distress the eggs by suddenly opening up the container & moving them all onto the wire. I would think that could cause issues.

I've never hatched eggs myself before though, so maybe I'm just over-thinking it all.

 

[IcyOldHen]

I bought a used Lyons Roll-X. I love it. In spite of the fact that I set the eggs incorrectly on the 1st hatch, and didn't tighten the set screw on the turner arm enough on my 2nd hatch... I still had good hatch rates! I paid $300 for it with the quail size auto turner tray & a bonus pheasant auto turner tray ($95 bonus by the time you pay shipping,etc.). It also came with an incubation book, which when I looked it up on Amazon to see if it had good feed back so as to be considered a trusted guide) it was out of print, only 3 copies were available from outside sellers each priced at $1400 to $1800! Now it is down to a much more reasonable $110.

 

[McPhersonFarm]

Might I ask you guys what you're using for incubators?

I'd like to hatch about 20-50 Cots at a time. I don't want to pay huge prices for a big hatcher that I won't use much of, nor do I want to use a little rinky-dink hatcher that only hatches 10 at a time (and makes separating diff brood ages challenging).

I wouldn't mind trying a DIY, but all I ever see are ones for chickens & they look kinda sketchy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I use sportsmans now which are expensive but prior to that we used a hovabator with quail turner. You can get them on ebay for about 120 with shipping rails included. This is the best by far small incubator I have used. I tried the cheap little giant and got aweful hatch rates. There is no issue with moving eggs from turner to wire you would open alot more if you were hand turning! The hovabator does 120 eggs but you wouldn't need to use it all of course. Also, I tried the homemade thing and we just couldn't get the temps to stabilize and with parts to properly do it from what I've seen you would spend more on parts than a hovabator. I used 1602N

 

[Quailsong]

Thank you very much, Icy & McPherson. The hovabator sounds like something I'd be interested in. From a frugal point of view, I really like the diy method. But from a more human point of view (as in, no lost chicks) I want something that's reliable & has tons of reviews.

Cheers^^

 

[wishful suburbanite]

Well, in the case of my styrofoam cooler, the only thing that keeps them from touching the bulb is that it's pretty tall.

I'm sure there's a lot of wasted heat hovering in the many inches above my eggs, but the the bulb is well above wire level. Actually not wire, it's plastic craft mesh to keep their legs from getting stuck. I think you use it for yarn pictures or something.

I could end up being wrong about this, but I think it should be fine.

 

[Alaska Fowl INC]

I spent the $200 the first time,,,I wanted something stable, dependable,,
Then I got on this site ..found the igloo cooler incubator/hatcher thread


Vent holes on top for fresh oxygen air.This is one reason some peeps don't get great success with these or any homemade incubator. Eggs need oxygen.You will have to play around with the temps. to dial this kinda set up to work. Set it up a week or so to see how it responds to your household temps.With this plug open humidity falls so does temps.These coolers are deep enough that if you put some thought into it you could make some trays that stack upwards.If your doing quail eggs You could put several hundred if done right. That has been my thought.This method works for small refridgerators
.Check this guy out ,,he inspired me to build one for myself .https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...zer-into-a-nice-sized-incubator#post_10998724
Thermostat in the corner . Make sure the back of it is not blocked..There is a small opening for the heat to be measured.Put light or heat source close as possible. I already had all the parts except for the water heater thermostat.$14 @ Lowes...mine works great.The trick is a solid room ambient temp.. Other than that...

Turners will not fit unless you custom them...But with a small block on one side underneath works great for turning.
Just a thought here,,It just depends on your DIY skills and your pocketbook....If your serious about going large scale..i would purchase like the Sportman series. They are very dependable....PEACE

 

[natedog44]

Does anyone here know anyone with black tuxedo quail near Ohio/Indiania border...? Plezz help