First time hatching eggs

[NienkeJanna]

hey everyone,

Today I bought some quail eggs to try and incubate them. Recently I bought a simple incubator from Amazon to try it out.
This is the one: 32624801280.html

So my dad and I decided to design a new egg holder to fit al 12 eggs with a 3D printer.

Now I ran into a problem. I can not control the humidity and it does not have an automatic turner.

How should I control my humidity now or can I try leaving it aside? I did read that some people put sponges in the water channels in the last few days so the humidity goes up. Will this be enough?

With turning the eggs I was wondering how I should turn them. They are standing in the incubator, so I can't turn them from one side to another. Should I maybe put something under one side of the incubator so it's standing at an angle and change this around a few times a day?

 

[Sapphire22]

how eggciting was thinking of doing this myself, please let me know how you get on. and what works best for you.
all the best and welcome

 

[jvls1942]

tilting the bator is the way to do it.
that part you have right.
you say you are having humidity problems.
but you don't say if it is high , or low ?
OR what it reads..?
does it hold the temp well ?
do not get the eggs wet.

 

[Nyla]

First Off let me say Welcome to BYC!! We are all so glad you could join us!

That incubator was the first one I ever bought. Mine held temp perfectly but humidity was way to low. Also mine didn't read humidity. I tried using it with chicken and duck eggs both were tried separate of course. I got humidity up by putting a small candle holder cup in the middle. I too tilted the incubator multiple times a day. I used a 2"x2" piece of spare lumber. As for hatching, I incubated 6 chicken eggs the first go around. The eggs were from a local farm. All 6 eggs developed, but only one hatched. The second go around was with mallard duck eggs from my own mallards. I tried incubating 6 but it was almost a tight fit with the candle holder in the middle. All eggs developed but all eggs quit around the 2nd-3rd week of incubation. I've never tried incubating quail eggs in it.
I hope for your hatching to go better! Coturnix Quail's eggs arn't as fragile to incubation as chickens or duck eggs in my experience. I once tried hatching quail eggs in a little giant 9300 incubator without adding water at all the entire time. Out of 120 coturnix quail eggs, 56 quails hatched. The eggs were shipped to me from a seller on ebay.

 

[jvls1942]

OK, if the humidity is low, I would suspend a sponge on a string . might have to poke a hole in the dome . you could wet the sponge by dribbling water down the string.. then you wouldn't have to open the lid.

 

[NienkeJanna]

tilting the bator is the way to do it.
that part you have right.
you say you are having humidity problems.
but you don't say if it is high , or low ?
OR what it reads..?
does it hold the temp well ?
do not get the eggs wet.

I am not sure, it doesn't read the humidity at all.