Day 1 Brooder Temp

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Has anyone else noticed that the first day quail leave the incubator and go into the brooder they like the temperature on the hot side of he brooder HOT?

The first 24 hours after my quail hatch they will literally hang out where it is 115 degrees, not even venturing to get water.

I wonder if it's because they're always a little wet still, as my incubator is always too humid, so they don't fluff out before I transfer them?

Has anyone else noticed this? By the end of week one, they are okay with 90 degrees. But day one , they want are sauna.

 

[HortonCreek]

That is interesting. Our fresh hatchlings like incubator temps to start in the brooder. I would be inclined to agree with your conclusion. Where do you keep your brooder and what is the ambient air temp in the space? We’ve found that if you brood chicks in an unheated building during the cold season here in NY you need to move your waterers closer to the heat source otherwise the little guys won’t leave the warmth to get a drink and the brave ones that do end up catching a chill before making it back to the heat. We now keep our winter brooders in a heated space around 65 degrees. One less factor to worry about.

 

[Nabiki]

That's not exactly a surprise. They've been in steady, 99.5ish temperatures for their entire lives at that point, so that's where they're comfortable.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

My first hatch babies were cold, all the time. They needed two 60 watt heat lamps for nearly 2 weeks. The temperature was over 105 degrees most of the time. I know there were temperature issues throughout that incubation though. The ones that hatched, hatched early, on day 16.

My second hatch babies are just fine with one 40 watt bulb and it's "winter" in Hawaii. Their incubation went textbook perfect. Other days-old chicks I've bought also had no issue with the temperature at around incubation setting.

Since you have a new incubator, it will be interesting to see if your hatching experience changes.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

My first hatch babies were cold, all the time. They needed two 60 watt heat lamps for nearly 2 weeks. The temperature was over 105 degrees most of the time. I know there were temperature issues throughout that incubation though. The ones that hatched, hatched early, on day 16.

My second hatch babies are just fine with one 40 watt bulb and it's "winter" in Hawaii. Their incubation went textbook perfect. Other days-old chicks I've bought also had no issue with the temperature at around incubation setting.

Since you have a new incubator, it will be interesting to see if your hatching experience changes.

Yeah, Ive got 11 days until my first round of chicks hatch out of my new brooder.

I’m just torn, though, because some of the eggs are normal coturnix and some are celadon, and I’m wondering if I want to transfer one batch into my crummier brooder to lockdown, so I keep the strains separate.

Not sure I’m organized enough to keep them separate in the long run anyway, but...

 

[Ravenlover]

Has anyone else noticed that the first day quail leave the incubator and go into the brooder they like the temperature on the hot side of he brooder HOT?

The first 24 hours after my quail hatch they will literally hang out where it is 115 degrees, not even venturing to get water.

I wonder if it's because they're always a little wet still, as my incubator is always too humid, so they don't fluff out before I transfer them?

Has anyone else noticed this? By the end of week one, they are okay with 90 degrees. But day one , they want are sauna.

I noticed this but i only noticed it on these last two batches, i was thinking its cuz its winter here and cold so they want the extra heat cuz of drafts of air that moves when ppl walk by

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Yeah, Ive got 11 days until my first round of chicks hatch out of my new brooder.

I’m just torn, though, because some of the eggs are normal coturnix and some are celadon, and I’m wondering if I want to transfer one batch into my crummier brooder to lockdown, so I keep the strains separate.

Not sure I’m organized enough to keep them separate in the long run anyway, but...

Me personally, if I couldn't separate them during lockdown, I'd just chalk this one up to experience. The next batch, do just celadon or just brown speckled. You probably want to know if its the incubator that is responsible for your results, or something else.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Me personally, if I couldn't separate them during lockdown, I'd just chalk this one up to experience. The next batch, do just celadon or just brown speckled. You probably want to know if its the incubator that is responsible for your results, or something else.

This is true. If I don’t hatch them all together, I wont really know the true effectiveness of the incubator.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Thinking about this—I guess I just want to get to a point with my brooder temperatures where I can just “set it and forget it” and not be checking on my chicks and fiddling with the temperature all day long.

It’s just hard when you’re dealing with power outages, random hot spikes in temperature throughout the day, angles of the sun, etc...

I’m sure it will get easier. It‘s just amazingly time consuming as I figure this out.