Hatching eggs questions

[possumhunter]

Thinking about hatching a few of my newly laid coturnix eggs. A couple of questions first.

How soon do you need to set the eggs? Chickens are supposed to go in the bator within 7 days or 10 days tops. Is that the same for quail?

And has anyone tried incubating chicken & quail eggs together? I have a turner and I'm wondering if I can do both, because I wont have enough quail eggs to even come close to filling it up.

 

[Prettiest Frog]

I've done both several times. Either have a divider between the types, schedule them all to hatch at the same time, or use a hatcher. In my experience, quail eggs are more resilient than chicken eggs so, if you can't divide, don't have a hatcher, and can't time them together, make sure the chicken eggs hatch first.

 

[ugly ducky]

I try and set mine within 5 days, but have set them as old as 10 days, and still had a decent hatch. Of course the shorter time, the better. I incubate them together with chickens, but seperate them for hatching. If you can use both quail and chicken racks in your turner, I see no problem. I have even brooded quail and chicks together in a pinch, and had no problems. I've just never hatched them together. I do like a little higher humidity for the quail when hatching, but if you have quite a few quail, once they start hatching, that humidity will climb up on its' own. I usually start at about 70%, but once they get going, it will get up in the 80's.

 

[possumhunter]

I didn't even think about timing the hatches together. I'm gonna give that a shot then. I don't have a separate hatcher, so I think this will be the best method. They are the same temp & roughly same humidity, so I can't really foresee too many problems. Thanks!

 

[mandiedriskill]

I have hatched button quail and chicken eggs together. I used a piece or card board to make a divider. Quail eggs I have found to be very resilient. I set them the same as chicken for button and coturnix and get 90% and up hatches.

 

[possumhunter]

Just to make sure I'm doing my math right, I would set the quail eggs on day 3 of my chicken eggs...right?

 

[Mrs MIA]

Coturnix hatch in 16-17 days, chickens 21... so 4-5 days after the chicken eggs are set they should go in.

 

[possumhunter]

LOL...glad I asked. I was thinking they were 18 days.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I stop turning day 14, and they usually hatch 2-3 days later. I set quail on mondays, and chickens on wednesdays, and most everyone hatches on Wed/Thurs.

Good luck!

 

[smallbluejellybean]

I have incubated 15 day old eggs with success, as long as you keep them in a constant temperature of less than 60c the higher the temperature the quicker they spoil. I store my canary eggs for a more than a month at 53c. The best way to store the eggs is in a bowl of rice inside a hessian bag in a dark room. I have a little broken bar fridge that at the highest setting is a constant 53c, but a cool room or a cool basement would do. Don't ever seal them air tight. I made that mistake with my first lot of eggs and they will sweet and not be viable. I store my canary eggs like that, if I have a particular bird I want to breed alot. I place the eggs under foster parents. I store my quail eggs for the incubator.
Hope I helped.

P.S. don't ever store them under 45c or colder, it slows the cells division down too much for the eggs to be viable too. Just thought I would warn you about that too.