Good Luck! We did our first ever (quail or otherwise) hatch in Dec. Homemade incubator and hatched about 33 eggs out of 50 (temps and humidity had some definite fluctuations but managed to stay mostly within recommended guidelines). We found that the heat plate adjusted very low so that the baby quail could get under it and put their backs to it, could not keep warm enough that first few days. They did great with the heat plate once feather started coming in. I think we put them under the heat plate at around 1 week old.
For the first week, they were under a 125 watt heat lamp, in a plastic tote brooder with a cardboard "shield" to deflect the ceiling vent airflow (draft) present in the basement room. They seemed to do well under the heat lamp, were not shivering and adjusted themselves accordingly for comfort.
When we placed the eggs on lockdown, we used an old kitchen towel that was clean and without holes. This worked well for the chicks, but we didn't bother cleaning it after the eggs hatched - we were surprised at how dirty it was!
Those baby quails are super small and super cute. The pic in my avatar is of my youngest holding one of the quail chicks at several days old.
For the first week, they were under a 125 watt heat lamp, in a plastic tote brooder with a cardboard "shield" to deflect the ceiling vent airflow (draft) present in the basement room. They seemed to do well under the heat lamp, were not shivering and adjusted themselves accordingly for comfort.
When we placed the eggs on lockdown, we used an old kitchen towel that was clean and without holes. This worked well for the chicks, but we didn't bother cleaning it after the eggs hatched - we were surprised at how dirty it was!
Those baby quails are super small and super cute. The pic in my avatar is of my youngest holding one of the quail chicks at several days old.