Budget Incubator

[nativedavid33]

Hi! My name is David and I was hoping to get into raising a quail as a pet. My biggest issue is trying to stick to a budget, but I really want to incubate the eggs myself. I saw lots of tutorials for home incubators that are made of Styrofoam and lamps, but I feel like that's all a bad route. If someone can vouch for the safety/risk, I would love to be more informed!

My other question, it's possible I'll be going to school soon leaving at around 8:00 AM and coming back at roughly 3:00 PM. As I am planning to raise one quail (And sell the other incubated chicks), would this be an issue? Are quail as social as, say, parakeets for example? I absolute will dedicate large amounts of time to a pet, but life has to interrupt sometimes, y'know? If they are very social, I will most likely have a housesitter while I leave.

I have read up on quail and how to take care of them and am certain of my ability to care for one, but the social aspect of them isn't brought up in many articles. If it helps, I'l be keeping them mostly indoors with a small hutch allowing them time to run around while I'm home and possibly allowing them outside (Partly why I want to incubate them myself, I've heard they can definitely run if they aren't "imprinted")

 

[le_bwah]

Hi David, welcome to BYC. Hatching eggs is a rewarding experience, and plenty of people have made their home incubators work. If you don't want to go that route, it's possible to buy reliable incubators on eBay or Amazon that will fit your needs for under $100. You never mentioned the species of quail you wanted to keep; my only experience is with Coturnix/Japanese quail.

Quail make great pets, but they are flock animals, and will always be lonely without other quail around. A human friend just isn't enough for a single quail--you will need to get at least two more quail to keep the other one company (that way, in case one of them dies, they will still have a friend). With more than one quail, you would not have to worry about being away from them. To make things easiest, you might want to keep only girls--boys complicate things with mating and can be aggressive.

It's great you've done some reading, that will definitely make you more prepared. Quail should be fine in a hutch the majority of the time, as long as they have a flock and more than 1 square foot of space per bird. I would be reluctant to let any quail outside without a way to contain them; they are NOT like chickens, and do not come back to a set spot at night, so if they got out of your sight it's likely they'd never come back (not to mention predator dangers to such small birds). If you want them to have a more natural experience, it would be safer to keep them in a run outside, on he ground, or to take them on "field trips" to a quail tractor.

They are such sweet birds, I hope it's possible for your to raise them!