How long to keep quail in brooder

[mamamac87]

Newbie here. Daughter wanted to incubate eggs for homeschool project. We have 100 jumbo bobwhite eggs in incubator and will be building a brooder. How long do you keep quail in brooder box? Going to be getting into warmer weather, they will be residing in call back pen after brooding. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Quail Jailer]

100 chicks? as soon as you get your brooder built, build another one.

100 chicks may fit in a brooder comfortably but before you realize what happened they will outgrow
it (think popcorn pushing the lid off the pot)

You need to keep them there until they can tolerate ambient temperatures, about 4 weeks
with coturnix depending on conditions. with Jumbo Bobs I dont know for sure how long that will take.

 

[mamamac87]

I will build 4 boxes - 2 for when they are little and change out to the other 2 to clean each day, then have all 4 when they are bigger!!

 

[Quail Jailer]

Thats thinking ahead! (which you better be good at raising quail.)

 

[James the Bald]

Here is a link that will be of assistance. Oh, and here is another link that will give you an idea on how big your brooder should be. While the hatch rate of mailed eggs varies, 50% is the average.

OH, and I have some 10 day old bobwhites, and some of them are starting to fly, so you may want to put a screen over the top to prevent them from escaping.

Good luck

 

[mamamac87]

Here is a link that will be of assistance.  Oh, and here is another link that will give you an idea on how big your brooder should be.  While the hatch rate of mailed eggs varies, 50% is the average.

OH, and I have some 10 day old bobwhites, and some of them are starting to fly, so you may want to put a screen over the top to prevent them from escaping.

Good luck

 

[mamamac87]

Thank you! That will help - this is going to be quite the project - but should be a lot of fun!

 

[mamamac87]

So we are on day 5 of incubation and we candled our eggs, but I dont see anything different. How long before we should see development?

 

[James the Bald]

I would recommend candling on day 10. You should easily be able to see veins. Candle once again at lock down, which is day 20 for bobwhites. By day 20, you should easily be able to tell the eggs that are infertile compared to ones that are viable with a well defined air sac. Also, I have found that just because you have a certain amount of eggs that are viable, some do not hatch. One thing to try to remember is to minimize the amount of time you take the lid off of the incubator to maintain the humidity levels.
James

 

[mamamac87]

I would recommend candling on day 10.  You should easily be able to see veins.  Candle once again at lock down, which is day 20 for bobwhites.  By day 20, you should easily be able to tell the eggs that are infertile compared to ones that are viable with a well defined air sac.  Also, I have found that just because you have a certain amount of eggs that are viable, some do not hatch.  One thing to try to remember is to minimize the amount of time you take the lid off of the incubator to maintain the humidity levels.
James

Thanks! Will try again on day 10.