Hatching Quail in an NR360

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Hey there,

Has anyone had the experience of hatchling quail in an nr360? Do I need to put down paper towel because the holes are too big for their feet?

 

[Nabiki]

I'm not familiar with that particular model, but I always use grippy shelf liner or paper towels in the incubator for lockdown due to their tiny feet.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine all did fine without special flooring

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Mine all did fine without special flooring

Okeydokey. I won’t bother then. I never used special flooring on my other incubator. But I know people say to use paper towels on the old-school styrofoam incubators with the wire mesh.

Maybe because the wire pieces are thinner than the plastic?

 

[Nabiki]

The plastic tends to be a bit slippery and the chicks are more likely to slip and end up with splay leg or other leg problems.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Yeah, I guess i should add mine only are in there for a few hours tops.

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

Yeah, I usually remove my chicks pretty soon after hatching. It’s very humid where I live, so I can be a bit cavalier about opening to incubator.

 

[Nabiki]

I take mine out pretty quick too, but the little things are so good at finding ways to injure or kill themselves that I'm a bit paranoid.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I take mine out pretty quick too, but the little things are so good at finding ways to injure or kill themselves that I'm a bit paranoid.

That's true. My friend had a different incubator and we learned the hard way not to hatch quail in it. Darn things got under the turner and most drowned.

 

[FloorCandy]

I use an nr360. It was my first incubator. I find if you put shelf liner, the eggs roll less during hatch, I also make channels of shelf liner to keep them lined up and not rolling around during hatch. Having shelf liner under during incubation helps the eggs roll smoothly especially when doubled up in the slots. Without liner they tend to flip around more, but you need to cut like a square inch around the center spindle so the turner moves freely. Another tip is to put the eggs in the slots butt to butt with tips pointing away from each other, they stay in place best that way.

I have had a chick get its leg caught in the flooring around the peg in the center when I remove the turner, so I also put an additional piece of shelf liner over that during lockdown and hatch.
What mine looks like right now: