Hatching Coturnix Quail for the first time...Any tips?

[Chiko]

I'm getting my first Quail eggs to hatch and have my incubator set up at 99.5 degrees. Is that right? What else do I need to know? I know about raising quail chicks and as adults, but have never hatched any.

 

[Denninmi]

I had better hatches running them a little on the dry side. 35% to 40% RH during incubation, and 50% to 55% during lockdown and hatch. I had fewer late dead in shell chicks this way on later hatches.

 

[jm93030]

what incubator are you using?

do you have automatic eggturner?

i also like to incubate on the dry side 35 to 45 % and raise to 65-70 on the las 3 days

also I like to hatch on egg cartons or the turner racks

 

[Chiko]

I'm using my Forced air Hova Bator. No turner. OK so a little bit dryer humidity anything else?

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
I have the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advanced EX, with the autoturner and humidity pump unit. With this model, the turner is outside of the unit.

I did a couple of hatches in cartons, which was fine but it really cut down on the number of eggs I could get in there. This past hatch, I just packed them in like sardines, and even had a partial second layer on top because they wouldn't all fit. Then I put the whole egg tray into a mesh bag that lemons came in, and used some rubber bands to hold it all in place. Worked great, I got 63 quail out of about 100 eggs, some of which were as much as 4 weeks old and had been exposed to temps as cold as 10 degrees F overnight during late March/early April. I thought that was pretty good. No loss on the ones that didn't, if I didn't hatch them I probably would have just fed them to the chickens.

 

[Chiko]

WOW you really have a lot of smarts when it comes to hatching quail. Theres no way I'm going to get that cool incubator and all those things in 2 days. My eggs arrive on Monday around 3:00 (Utah Time) And It's my first time hatching them. I just wanted to know : Temperature, Xs i need to turn them, do they need lockdown, and yeah thats pretty much it thanks

 

[backyardcovey]

Read on a couple of sites that when the eggs arrive via mail - you should let them set in a cool location for 12 - 24 hours. Any thoughts on doing this?

 

[Stellar]

Yes, when you get any egg in the mail, let them settle 12-24 hours...this helps hatchability some. Some people place them in the incubators right off BUT don't turn on the turners until 2 days later so the eggs are cookin just not turning.

 

[Chiko]

They aren't coming in the mail. They are being brought to my house by a breeder about 20 minutes or so from where I live. Anyone know what temperature I need to test run my incubator for Coturnix Quail? and how many times I need to turn?

 

[backyardcovey]

Quote:
Here is link to QuailLadyofFortMyers's website:

http://www.stellargamebirds.com/incubation.html