Got my Bator! Question about eggs

[SundownWaterfowl]

You can dry incubate. I kept my humidity around 35-40 for the first 18 days then bumped it up to 60-65 during the last 3 days.

 

[HippiAiti]

I'm very nervous about my first hatch. I have a little 3 egg still air incubator and I just got my eggs yesterday. (I wish I could invest in something more but I'd rather put the money into the coop.) I was wondering about letting them rest too. But while they were resting I was reading up on hatching and it said that they should be in the incubator ASAP. That was in the learning section on BYC. So I put them in there after a few hours. I'd had the 'bator running a few days to make sure I could control the temp.

 

[shelleyd2008]

My bator is presently full, with barnyard mixed bantams, and cortunix and button quail. Next spring I am going to get some bbred cubalayas, probably jsut chicks, cuz I REALLY want those, and don't trust shipping the eggs. The only place i've found was hatcheries for the eggs, and they're pretty expensive. I'm not sure if I will set anymore once these eggs are done. I really should stop, since it will be getting cold, but it is SO addictive!

 

[CK Chickadilly]

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Do you eat your quail or raise them as pets? How do you gather enough bantie eggs to incubate? Probably a dumb question but my hens seemed to have have stopped egg laying altogther. ???? And how do you know they are fertilized? Mama bantie hatched out 15 about 6 wks. ago, I have never done incubation. How cold is cold in KY?

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Quote:
Which is better, dry or not? This will be my first experience so I need easy & hopefully they will all hatch.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Do you eat your quail or raise them as pets? How do you gather enough bantie eggs to incubate? Probably a dumb question but my hens seemed to have have stopped egg laying altogther. ???? And how do you know they are fertilized? Mama bantie hatched out 15 about 6 wks. ago, I have never done incubation. How cold is cold in KY?

I ordered all the quail eggs, I don't have any 'live' quail yet. Not sure what I will do with eggs, once mine would start to lay (

) If all my hens would lay at the same time, I would get about 8-9 eggs a day. Most of my hens have chicks, so I am down to only 2 banties and 1 game hen that are still laying. I usually set about 10-12 eggs at a time. But my bator has a turner, so it only holds 41 chicken eggs anyway. I have the quail eggs in quail egg-cartons, and am turning them by hand. I only have 1 roo that is working, but all my eggs have been fertile, except for the standard cochin that we have, only about half hers are. If you don't have a lot of hens ( I only had about 4 at a time that were getting bred, most of my hens are this year's chicks as well) and a young healthy roo, then they should be fertile. You can check, either by incubating, or cracking one open, but I didn't bother, just put them in and saw what happened.
As far as how cold it gets, I guess it doesn't get that cold, compared to MI, but it does get in the 20's, and lower, and stays in the upper 30's low 40'2, almost all winter. That means a heat lamp on little chicks all winter long, 24/7
BTW, the button quail will be just pets (or for the eggs), and the cortunix will probably be for food, or to sell eggs.

Their eggs are pretty small, so idk if I would bother with them to eat them!

Oh yeah, and I thought my hens had stopped laying as well, until I found 3 (!!!) nests hidden in the barn!

 

[CK Chickadilly]

My dad was asking about quail. He loves to hunt pheasant & wondered if I would start any quail eggs. He said the Bob White were good eating, don't know anything about the other breeds. I am kind of considering meat birds but I don't know if I can butcher them.

We are considering moving to KY or TN eventually, like in the next year or 2. I am really tired of the horrid snow here in MI.....we live 2 miles from Lake MI & the winds get really bad with the drifting! Whew! It's like living on the snow blower!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Ah yes, I haven't forgotten the lake effect snow/winds! I grew up about an hour south of Chicago, and we would get it there too! Here, we mostly get ice, and when it does snow, it usually melts during the day, or at least within a day or so. I just moved back here from Tampa, FL, so this will be an interesting winter! There are some quail that get pretty good sized., I believe the jumbo cortunix are supposed to be around 1 lb? The ones I have are the texas A&M white, which are supposed to have white breast meat, and dress out at 75%, tho I'm not sure how big they get. I will make my dad do it, when it comes time to dress them! I might eat some, but idk!