Help! New to quail

[abates]

I ordered a new hovabator incubator and it comes with 30 bobwhite quail eggs. I have chickens, goats, pigs, cows, but only know quail is a bird. What am I supposed to do with 30 quail eggs? I hatch them then what??? Any thing helps and pics would be amazing!

 

[Magic Birdie]

I'm new to the hatching business myself, but I've done my research

First, check this out: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+incubate+eggs

That's the first thing I always do. If you don't want to google it, here's the basics

Temp: around 100 for forced air, 101 for still air

Humidity: 50-60% at first, 70% for the last day or two of incubation

Those last days, DON'T DO ANYTHING.

Bobwhites take 23-26 days to hatch, in general.

If your incubator doesn't turn the eggs by itself, you'll want to do that around 3x a day.

If you're not going to hatch them, I don't know what you'd want to do. It came with the incubator, right? I think they're trying to send a message

 

[James the Bald]

I ordered a new hovabator incubator and it comes with 30 bobwhite quail eggs. I have chickens, goats, pigs, cows, but only know quail is a bird. What am I supposed to do with 30 quail eggs? I hatch them then what??? Any thing helps and pics would be amazing!

Some retailers sell the incubator/quail egg combos as an incentive for those who specifically want to raise quail, but don't want to go to 2 different retailers to get their purchase.

You may want to check with your state laws / local ordinance; bobwhite quail is a gamebird native to the US, and you may need to acquire a permit to raise gamebirds.
James

 

[dc3085]

Bobwhites aren't the best quail to start with, as they can be pretty aggressive starting at the moment they hatch. They aren't that difficult, or miserable but they are substantially more involved to raise than coturnix. Aggression and cannibalism are common with bobs so you'll have to take steps to prevent this.

This thread has some helpful stuff.

The hatching info she gave you above is good, but I'd run the humidity a little lower than that, between 40-55% for the first 14 days then raise it to 60-70% for lockdown. Over 60% during incubation can cause the chicks to drown in the shell. When you lock down the eggs if you have a hard time raising the humidity lower the temp by half a degree.

Set up a brooder like one of these the plastic tupperware tote style brooder is my favorite because you can buy several and just put the chicks in a new one and clean the old one more thoroughly. Use a red or infrared bulb only to brood bobwhites. The red light lowers aggression. Bobs will pick and fight if they are crowded, brooded in white light, bored, or hungry. I use markers and put dots all over the sides for bob chicks, they peck at them and it helps with boredom. The brooder temp should be 97 degrees with plenty of oxygen flow for the first week. After the first week you can lower the temp a few degrees a week until you have them down closer to ambient temps. By then they will have appropriate feathering to not need lights.

If a bird bleeds it must be removed immediately. The others will kill it as quickly as they are able.

Bobwhites will not lay eggs until the first april/may after they have reached 6 months of age. They will lay appx 100 eggs per year, without artificial lighting. They are ready to process for the table at around 24 weeks of age. They can be sold for dog training as early as 16 weeks of age.

Chickens can spread diseases to quail that you aren't even aware are present in the chickens. Chickens have a much stronger immune system so diseases like coryza or MG can be present in your flock and your chickens show no symptoms, those same diseases are quite fatal to quail. Make sure to practice bio-security. Wash you hands between handling the chickens and quail. Don't share feeders or water fonts between them. Use different gloves and tools for your bird chores like collecting eggs or cleaning pens. Don't allow the quail access to any chicken feces. Try to keep at least a physical barrier between the chickens and quail at all times.

 

[abates]

Wow, I never knew. I really didn't realize that by ordering the hovabator I was getting the eggs and not sure I want to add yet another project to my long list and this helps me out a bit. I don't have any housing to put them in and I have quite a few free range chickens. Thanks for all the info, I'm thinking this is not the route I want to go at this time.

 

[dc3085]

They'd be pretty easy to get rid of. You could probably sell them on CL and at least pay your shipping. Worst case, they taste great.