Bobwhite hatching

[hatch08]

Ok I have never hatched bobwhite eggs but have courtnix and my cousin went and picked up eggs for me but guy sent the wrong eggs now I have 400 bobs in bator is there any difference in raising them

 

[chickenobsessed]

i have bobwhites and not coturnix, but of what i hear they are the same, they just take longer to grow, they take 23 days to hatch and they start laying eggs at 20 weeks old

 

[TwoCrows]

Big difference in brooding them. You have to use red or an infra red bulb as white light is too exciting and sets them off on each other. Start them out around 97 degrees and do NOT crowd them in. They will kill each other. 1/2 square foot per bird to start and then 1 square foot per bird at 3 weeks of age. Bobs are very aggressive and will kill each other even in the brooder. If they are kept with these spaces and they still going off on each other, lower your temp by about 3 or 4 degrees and work it down from there. Lower the heat 5 degrees each week for 5 or 6 weeks.

Bobs need their food crushed for the first week. They grow a lot slower than Coturnix and will not be sexable until 12 weeks of age. They will not lay until next spring.

 

[ryferre]

The care is essentially the same as the coturnix but as stated- yes they will take much longer to mature. Instead of getting eggs around six weeks- you are looking at around six months... A very nice breed and a much more pleasant sounding quail. (I love my coturnix--- but I love the sound of bobwhites much better!)

 

[BobDBirdDog]

I hatched and brooded some Bobs and Coturnix together using a 90 watt red flood light without any problem. My brooder was a 2' x 6' x 18" high sealed/silicon OSB plywood brooder. When shut, slightly open, or fully open it was plenty warm for them. Of course it is summer.

Right now they are all in the holding pen, and coming along nicely.