Hi all. I just had given to me 14 fertile a&m texas quail eggs. Now I need some help. How long do I incubate them? I have read all different dates. From 16 days to 21 days! I sure hope some one can help me. Thanks in advance.
Got a question about A&M Texas Quail!
- Thread starter Harley's girl
- Start date
Mine usually start on day 17! good luck!
Normally 18 days to hatch (however if they dont hatch on the 18th wait until thte 21st atleast).
Candle on day 7-10 to check if they're fertile.
If your incubator doesnt have a egg turner you must roll them to a new side (per egg) atleast 2 times a day (i roll my eggs by hand).
Heat and humidity:
Keep the heat around 99.5-102 degrees
Keep humidity for the first few days at 40-50 humidity, and 4 days from hatching STOP turning the eggs and up the humidity to 60-70.
When chicks hatch leave them in the incubator until they fluff up...avoid opening the bator until the chicks are done hatching (it will let humidity escape when you open the incubator which will cause the chicks lack of moisture to hatch easily).
Grind up game bird (nonmedicated- Dumor sells a good kind) so it's in like a powder form...it is easier for the chicks to eat this way...
have the brooder heated up with a good heat lamp before you put the chicks in so they dont get chilled(with perferably a red bulb, however i dont use a red bulb in my main brooder some say it stops chicks from picking at eachother mine dont mess with eachother). You can make a brooder out of just about anything, i love using large tub plastic storage containers.
put marbles (or smoosh paper towels or clean stuffed animal filling) in their waterer to avoid chicks drowing in the water.
HOpe it helps...im raising 8 day old coturnix, jumbo coturnix and an 2 week old button quail this way.
Candle on day 7-10 to check if they're fertile.
If your incubator doesnt have a egg turner you must roll them to a new side (per egg) atleast 2 times a day (i roll my eggs by hand).
Heat and humidity:
Keep the heat around 99.5-102 degrees
Keep humidity for the first few days at 40-50 humidity, and 4 days from hatching STOP turning the eggs and up the humidity to 60-70.
When chicks hatch leave them in the incubator until they fluff up...avoid opening the bator until the chicks are done hatching (it will let humidity escape when you open the incubator which will cause the chicks lack of moisture to hatch easily).
Grind up game bird (nonmedicated- Dumor sells a good kind) so it's in like a powder form...it is easier for the chicks to eat this way...
have the brooder heated up with a good heat lamp before you put the chicks in so they dont get chilled(with perferably a red bulb, however i dont use a red bulb in my main brooder some say it stops chicks from picking at eachother mine dont mess with eachother). You can make a brooder out of just about anything, i love using large tub plastic storage containers.
put marbles (or smoosh paper towels or clean stuffed animal filling) in their waterer to avoid chicks drowing in the water.
HOpe it helps...im raising 8 day old coturnix, jumbo coturnix and an 2 week old button quail this way.
^^ sorry for all the unneeded advice I thought you were a newbie ha ha! Now i just see you'er just a newbie to this "species"...they're a type of coturnix, so normally 18 days to hatch though they can hatch on day 17, and even start pipping on day 16....though it's not rare for them to take until the 21st to hatch...though mine all were hatche don day 17-18
- Thread starter
- #5
Oh no, thank you for all the advice. I have never raised quail before. I really had no intentions either. But at the swap this weekend a friend gave me 14 eggs! I have only ever had pheasants and chickens. So this will be all new to me to have such a small peep. Why not medicated? I would have just given them medicated. But I will buy a small bag of non-medicated feed. Thank you again for the advice.
They need the higher protein from the gamebird feed.
I don't mean to hijack the post, but I have jumbo coturnix quail eggs in the bator. Do I take them off the turner on day 13 or 14?
I don't mean to hijack the post, but I have jumbo coturnix quail eggs in the bator. Do I take them off the turner on day 13 or 14?
Harley's girl :
Oh no, thank you for all the advice. I have never raised quail before. I really had no intentions either. But at the swap this weekend a friend gave me 14 eggs! I have only ever had pheasants and chickens. So this will be all new to me to have such a small peep. Why not medicated? I would have just given them medicated. But I will buy a small bag of non-medicated feed. Thank you again for the advice.
I'm honestly not sure why "nonmedicated"but for fear I just went by all advice to avoid medicated feed. Hopefully someone can answer this for us just to take away my curiosity.
It was just something i never really questioned since everything i was so adimate about it "NONMEDICATED GAME BIRD FEED" LOL!
OH and another thing that not a lot of people mention...if you have cats, grind up some kitty food in the mix...a famous button quail breeder does it for extra protien....so I feed all my quail it.
I can't think of anything else really that you *should* do other than that, pretty much same care for chickens as you would for quail, just down scale the size on the cage holes some
Those buggers can fit through very tiny spaces.
I use hardware cloth to keep the adults in, and the brooders are as I said the storage plastic containers
OH!!! another thing!!!
At 2 weeks old they CAN and WILL (if spooked or praticing lol) jump straight up and fly. I use a very soft rubber matting used for holding dishes and glasses in place in cubborts (ive seen some use this as egg hatching mats) I tapped them to the top of hte broodrs so if i have any go Bonkers...they dont bONK their heads...some have been known to die from this...i basically did it because i have cats..and if i didnt i just wouldnt have had any top on the brooder, but since I do...if a chick flies up...it will get out and...well become kitty breakfast so I have a "bump guard'
It's actually called "the bonk factor" what quail do when spooked. My 8 day old coturnix just today started practicing their "escape flight" I actually watched 3 basically one right after eachother bonk directly up into the funnel of the heat lamp...i winsed hoping they ddint burn themselves they looked sheepishly around after they ddi it like 'dang...i hope no one saw me do that..." LOL.
Oh no, thank you for all the advice. I have never raised quail before. I really had no intentions either. But at the swap this weekend a friend gave me 14 eggs! I have only ever had pheasants and chickens. So this will be all new to me to have such a small peep. Why not medicated? I would have just given them medicated. But I will buy a small bag of non-medicated feed. Thank you again for the advice.
I'm honestly not sure why "nonmedicated"but for fear I just went by all advice to avoid medicated feed. Hopefully someone can answer this for us just to take away my curiosity.
OH and another thing that not a lot of people mention...if you have cats, grind up some kitty food in the mix...a famous button quail breeder does it for extra protien....so I feed all my quail it.
I can't think of anything else really that you *should* do other than that, pretty much same care for chickens as you would for quail, just down scale the size on the cage holes some
I use hardware cloth to keep the adults in, and the brooders are as I said the storage plastic containers
OH!!! another thing!!!
At 2 weeks old they CAN and WILL (if spooked or praticing lol) jump straight up and fly. I use a very soft rubber matting used for holding dishes and glasses in place in cubborts (ive seen some use this as egg hatching mats) I tapped them to the top of hte broodrs so if i have any go Bonkers...they dont bONK their heads...some have been known to die from this...i basically did it because i have cats..and if i didnt i just wouldnt have had any top on the brooder, but since I do...if a chick flies up...it will get out and...well become kitty breakfast so I have a "bump guard'
It's actually called "the bonk factor" what quail do when spooked. My 8 day old coturnix just today started practicing their "escape flight" I actually watched 3 basically one right after eachother bonk directly up into the funnel of the heat lamp...i winsed hoping they ddint burn themselves they looked sheepishly around after they ddi it like 'dang...i hope no one saw me do that..." LOL.
Last edited:
Quote:
14
By the way no prob, do you happen to know why it's gotta be "nonmedicated?" we're curious LOL!
14
By the way no prob, do you happen to know why it's gotta be "nonmedicated?" we're curious LOL!
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #9
OH and another thing that not a lot of people mention...if you have cats, grind up some kitty food in the mix...a famous button quail breeder does it for extra protien....so I feed all my quail it.
That is so neat! I will be doing that for sure!
And I will be sure to get some of that rubber lining. I just had a pheasant kill its self on Thursday (they are so stinkin' crazy!!) What do you do with your quail? Eat them? Use them for eggs? I know nothing about them. LOL
I guess I need to learn a lot in the next 17 days!!
ETA: I do have the quail cups for my turner (thank goodness) So I will not have to worry about that! (YEA!!)
That is so neat! I will be doing that for sure!
And I will be sure to get some of that rubber lining. I just had a pheasant kill its self on Thursday (they are so stinkin' crazy!!) What do you do with your quail? Eat them? Use them for eggs? I know nothing about them. LOL
ETA: I do have the quail cups for my turner (thank goodness) So I will not have to worry about that! (YEA!!)
Last edited:
Wellll....
my excuse for having them is to train my cocker spaniels on, however only a few will be used for that, and just for the start ups of training (on flushing), and possibly a dead birdie used for retrieving.
However my main goal, genetics (breeding ofcourse), I've been curious to try quail meat,a nd their eggs supposedly taste exactly like normal chicken eggs so I can't wait to try excess for that as well, and I just love the lil guys.
I have one golden jumbo chick (golden is a dominant gene meaning i only need one golden to produce more goldens) they are sooo cute as chicks!!!
I also have two chicks that are not normal "browns", they are either tuxedos or "tibatians" but it's a juggle of what they are right now being as they are only 8 days old.
ALl the rest of jumbos and normal sized coturnix are just "browns" AKA wild type colored.
My button quails are coming in a few different colors too but i wont get into those since we're talkin about coturnix (therse different color names for some of them).
If the two that are different colors arent' tuxedos I'll be getting in some tuxedo coturnix hopefully next spring.
It's amazing...I have a 6 hole compartment cage wire system I will have the adults in... 3 hens per cage 1 male per cage, I figured out...with me only using natural lighting on them (meaning they wont breed during fall/winter) in the summer time those 18 hens should give me around 1,800 eggs in just one spring/summer year...
So that means lots of hatching and genetic fun for me as well as supplimental quail yummies for me and my pets
my excuse for having them is to train my cocker spaniels on, however only a few will be used for that, and just for the start ups of training (on flushing), and possibly a dead birdie used for retrieving.
However my main goal, genetics (breeding ofcourse), I've been curious to try quail meat,a nd their eggs supposedly taste exactly like normal chicken eggs so I can't wait to try excess for that as well, and I just love the lil guys.
I have one golden jumbo chick (golden is a dominant gene meaning i only need one golden to produce more goldens) they are sooo cute as chicks!!!
I also have two chicks that are not normal "browns", they are either tuxedos or "tibatians" but it's a juggle of what they are right now being as they are only 8 days old.
ALl the rest of jumbos and normal sized coturnix are just "browns" AKA wild type colored.
My button quails are coming in a few different colors too but i wont get into those since we're talkin about coturnix (therse different color names for some of them).
If the two that are different colors arent' tuxedos I'll be getting in some tuxedo coturnix hopefully next spring.
It's amazing...I have a 6 hole compartment cage wire system I will have the adults in... 3 hens per cage 1 male per cage, I figured out...with me only using natural lighting on them (meaning they wont breed during fall/winter) in the summer time those 18 hens should give me around 1,800 eggs in just one spring/summer year...
So that means lots of hatching and genetic fun for me as well as supplimental quail yummies for me and my pets
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest threads
-
Polish - 7-8 weeks old - can't walk
- Started by CircleBHomestead
- Replies: 2
-
-
-
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
-
BYC Software Update 2025- Started by Nifty-Chicken
- Replies: 173
-
-
-
Anyone trained their dog to stay away from chickens like this?- Started by ChickenShepherd_6116
- Replies: 68
-
