all who are hatching quail

[cassjade6064]

I have 1 female and 1 male silver button quails have 4 chicks so far from an incubator have done everything suggested and told not to do and all is well. 3 week old chicks with new born and no pecking from any have put in feathers pine shavings and toilet roll things feed them egg and adult quail mix the laying one put in vegetables and grass. They're 100 % healthy and very happy they love the feathers to peck at covered the whole box in them keeps them busy and peck free also spend lots of time holding them and patting them and they love it after all they are babies without a mum especially the first week they need tha attention I read about diet and boredom etc but not much talk about parenting as we are replacing the parents this is most important. I also have a janoel incubator which has a plastic tray for chicks so I can put food and water in when they're born and it's brilliant and a Titan brooder heater which sits above the chicks is adjustable for height and has no light it's perfect too I highly recommend both of these is you want no problems. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Lobzi]

It is heartbreaking to lose the babies. I just hatched from 16 eggs and ended up with 19 hatchlings of which 3 died and that is after hours of my trying to nurse them to health. Sometimes I think it is just not meant to be for them. Has anyone else noticed that those baby quail that never dry out and fluff up dont seem to make it?

 

[DK newbie]

I just hatched from 16 eggs and ended up with 19 hatchlings

Now that's quite something Sorry 'bout the dead ones though, but with a 119 % hatch rate, I guess it is to be expected
I did read something about chicks that don't seem to dry having a high mortality before, so I guess others did notice yes.

 

[Lobzi]

Opps. meant 9 then 3 died so Im raising 6 healthy ones from the bunch.

 

[gardenisto]

6 is an okay number to get a healthy adult laying population for a small family(depending on how many males you end up with). I might introduce another batch of DNA from somewhere else if you'll be breeding.

 

[Lobzi]

That is one thing I am very happy about. I have many different areas of contribution to my flock. I think I have a nice variation of genetics. Im not trying to breed purposely but I do hatch my own eggs sometimes.

 

[gardenisto]

Cool. What do you attribute the chick mortality to?

 

[Lobzi]

I purchased these eggs off Ebay in hopes of getting some slivers. The seller has probably inbred and inbred in order to get some silver quail. I ended up with no silvers and I attribute the deaths as well as the non-hatches to the inbreeding but who knows it might have to do with the eggs being mailed to me.
I know when I hatch eggs from my quail family I get nearly all to hatch but more importantly those that hatch seem very healthy. This was a very difficult hatch for me. Trying to care for the unhealthy babies takes a toll on me. I felt totally drained when the last unhealthy baby died. It is a relief now to just be focused on the healthy ones. I am sad to not have any silvers from the hatch though so Im going to try one more time but it will be a month or so before I do.

 

[cassjade6064]

I put 47 Coturnix in the incubator today.  My first two attempts at hatching eggs didn't turn out so well, but I'm hoping I got the kinks worked out for this one.  Luckily I have a steady supply of eggs, so the experiment continues.......

Sorry to hear that have you considered the incubator because I've never done anything like this before first hatching no losses all healthy pet shop quails and I was told from the beginning spend money on the incubator and brooder it's an investment and you'll do well and they were right. Good luck in future.

 

[ahuff]

Got 50 in Sonora ca looking for a bobwhite breeder around me