Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[lightchick]

Dont worry about the chicks kicking eggs around its a non issue. Beyond 70% humidity you risk the embryos drowning in the egg. The inner membrane was leathery because you opened the door. It happens instantly once the dry air rushes in, this is why it is critical to not open the door for at least 24 hours after the majority of the chicks hatch.. If the chicks dont make it out easy and on time, they werent fit to.

Edit to add: i run 50% for incubation and 65-70% for lockdown. As chicks hatch youll see it spike up past 80% sometimes but dont worry about that.

I wasn't really worried about the eggs but they moved my temp probe which can make the temp in the incubator too high. It's a still air incubator so if the temp probe thing gets kicked in a far corner the eggs in the middle of the incubator will get way too hot. I had it get to 105 degrees once. (I have a separate temp and humidity gauge in there that can't get kicked around)
Also, this time I'll be having a staggered hatch. It's only 4 eggs but the first one was the first day, next two the next day and the last one the fourth day.
I was mainly wondering about the part I highlighted. Last hatch I thought that it was bad for the humidity to get that high and let some out.

 

[dc3085]

When the chicks leave the egg wet they are going to spike the humidity up and while it may conditionally affect one or two eggs from a large hatch it isnt going to play into your hatch rate too much. Air (and therefor water) can pass through the shells so during incubation if humidity is too high you risk drowning the chicks but it isnt something that happens right away, it takes time. When your chicks are hatching theyve already been communicating for a good while, organizing the hatch. Because of this most of the chicks that will hatch, hatch all together. Basically once the humidity spikes up from hatches its too late for it to really damage anything. I suppose its quite possible it damages late hatching eggs that would hatch a day and a half or two days after the rest but i dont want those late hatchers in my flock anyway so i toss the eggs if nothing hatches within 12 hours of me removing the chicks. I always leave chicks in for 24 hours after hatch and sometimes 30 if a lot of pips are still showing

 

[Lobzi]

Sorry to hijack the topic of incubation but may I ask a question about frequency time table for egg laying by a single hen. I have been trying to get eggs from my single golden who is in a pen with 3 pharaoh hen and 3 pharaoh males. She just dropped an egg in my hand as I was visiting the pen. I got really lucky. It was 3:40 pm or so. I know chicken hens lay on a 25 hour schedule. Id like to know what that schedule is for a coturnix hen. Im hoping to catch Goldie laying again tomorrow but I need to know how many hours between egg laying so I know when I might look for her laying again. Boy was I wrong about how her eggs looked. but now I have one for sure and can look for more just like them.

Does anyone know the hours between eggs for a coturnix quail?

 

[ronott1]

Sorry to hijack the topic of incubation but may I ask a question about frequency time table for egg laying by a single hen. I have been trying to get eggs from my single golden who is in a pen with 3 pharaoh hen and 3 pharaoh males. She just dropped an egg in my hand as I was visiting the pen. I got really lucky. It was 3:40 pm or so. I know chicken hens lay on a 25 hour schedule. Id like to know what that schedule is for a coturnix hen. Im hoping to catch Goldie laying again tomorrow but I need to know how many hours between egg laying so I know when I might look for her laying again. Boy was I wrong about how her eggs looked. but now I have one for sure and can look for more just like them.

Does anyone know the hours between eggs for a coturnix quail?

Averages are an odd one to wrap one's head around. A hen will lay an egg, on average, every 25 hours. The problem is that some hens will lay an egg close to every 23 hours while others may lay an egg every 26 hours. That all falls into the old bell curve you know.

I am sure that Quail are the same....You will not get a set time between eggs from your golden.

 

[Lobzi]

Well I just went out in the pen and there are now more eggs, from the others Im sure as I had collected them the night prior. So Goldie leads the pack in laying it seems. If I can get the first egg that appears in the pen it might be hers. I love experimenting... retired science teacher here.
I do appreciate the input. Research brought up no answers so far.

 

[ronott1]

Well I just went out in the pen and there are now more eggs, from the others Im sure as I had collected them the night prior. So Goldie leads the pack in laying it seems. If I can get the first egg that appears in the pen it might be hers. I love experimenting... retired science teacher here.
I do appreciate the input. Research brought up no answers so far.

Yes!

Then you know about small sample and large sample.

Not only will they very from the average within the standard mean, they will very individually from day to day. Goldie will not always lay at the exact number of hours each day and will miss a day sometimes and reset the time.

One of the best examples about poultry was comparing them to a vending machine. If you put in a dollar, you will always get the same amount of candy from a vending machine. Poultry are animals so you will not always get the same amount from what you put into them. They are not wound up machines so they very a lot in their behavior and productivity.

Can Quail be set up to trap nest?

 

[Lobzi]

I considered moving isolating Goldie to catch her eggs. I could put her in with a single male for fertilization of the eggs. Im really hoping to get some babies from you. The problem is she seems content in the current situation and I dont want that to change for her. I just got lucky yesterday as she always comes over to great me when I enter the pen and yesterday she did not. I found her under some feathery plant I put up to afford them hiding places. When I reached in to see if she was alright in there she dropped the egg in my hand. I now know what to look for in shape size and coloring from her. It wont be 100% but then what ever is

 

[dc3085]

Once bred a hen will stay fertile for 7 days or more so you could just separate her but when you go to put her back the others will most likely attack her as an interloper in their space.

 

[Lobzi]

Upsetting the calm is what Im worried about in this experiment.

I did build an introduction area next to the quail pen. Currently I have it open and accessable to them all but I could close it off temporarily with Goldie and maybe Nilli who is not laying yet, and perhaps one male just for 24 hours or so starting today in the afternoon then open again and close it off again something like that . Ill try some different things.

 

[gilpinguy]

Hey folks. I have been lurking here for a few months and have learned a TON from all of you. I just got 20 coturnix quail last night and can't be happier. Thanks for all of the information!