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I have used it and would only use it as a hatcher. Does not maintain temperature well at the edges, so I had several eggs hatch on Day 22 and 23 despite the fact I was changing positions to compensate. The only advantage I see is the auto-turner.
I have used it and would only use it as a hatcher. Does not maintain temperature well at the edges, so I had several eggs hatch on Day 22 and 23 despite the fact I was changing positions to compensate. The only advantage I see is the auto-turner.
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lol. Wish I could loan you a silkie lol Also don't underestimate the lowest pecking order broody. We had a girl last year that I was worried about with her chicks and the flock. A little grey silkie named Lovey and that bird was probably our best broody last year she was fearless! Lol when another hen decided she wanted to be Mommy she got her butt kicked lol. I love hearing about your hatches! Let me know if you've got an extra silver pencilled rock pullet please or any other chicks. Today is day 7 for our Easter hatchalong eggs and I can't wait to candle. We had a birthday party over the weekend for DH2B and sime of the guests were asking me about chickens and quail and everyone wanted to see the babies and such. Then I surprised everyone when I got out the flashlight and candles a few eggs there were lots of oohs and ahs lol If course any reason to talk about my chickens and educate people and I'm there. We had some family and friends over that were fearful of the birds and thinking they might be aggressive. Lol especially when I ended up holding one of our massive chocolate cuckoo english Orp boys. Priceless!! Lol Dinner was provided by the chickens as we had pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches and they were super tasty. Amazingly no one freaked out about it being one of our birds. There were some questions and friendly jokes but it was great! I was able to educate many of the guests on everything from egg to table is really brief conversations. A few people wanted more info and we will hopefully be getting some new egg customers out of it. 
We have done staggered hatches several times and sometimes they do very well and sometimes not so well. I feel that it would be safe to bring the egg in and up the humidity for a few days for lockdown of that egg. Then quickly bring it back down after hatch. We use hot damp paper towels often when incubating so we don't have to mess with the wells they are especially great for staggered hatches bc once you take the towels out the humidity drops almost instantly. We use small shallow gladware containers and place the paper towels in there with a small amount of water in the dish. Make sure the paper towels act as a wick for the water. We also keep any eggs that are due to hatch in strawberry or other containers to keep them away from the water and to allow the other eggs to continue turning. I will have to snap a pic some time of the set up for staggers we do. I would think 50-60% would be fine for 2-3 days for the hatching eggs. Glad you found them a home sorry to hear they were confirmed cockerals. Lol Faraday I know you're allergic but you need to meet my cats bc they will prove to you that not all cats are that way lol Now we love our quail too and I hope you guys don't mind me throwing in my two cents. They are quite quiet and make some of the cutest noises lol. They are also very easy to keep. They can not free range as they will run away and many people keep them in rabbit hutches or even fish tanks. They don't roost. They are also not considered a livestock but rather an aviary bird or somewhere in between so many places that can not keep chickens can keep quail. They lay almost daily and their eggs are beautiful. They also have some very interesting health benefits in regards to their eggs. Do a little research and check it out. The eggs are said to be hypoallergenic- for those people that have allergies to chicken eggs. They are also not supposed to carry salmonella which is why raw quail eggs are found in recipes. They are also said to help asthma and other breathing troubles as well as heart disease and high cholesterol. They're very interesting and curious little birds and ours run to the run door when we go in to see them. They can not co-mingle with chickens bc the chickens will kill them but they don't need much space. We plan to build ours an enclosed tractor this summer to get some sun and free range. They do have some cons. They can be quite aggressive with their own kind if space is an issue or if the breeding group has too many males. They also don't use nest boxes. The chicks are very prone to cold when small(you can't expect a chick the size of a quarter to be able to heat itself of course) and I highly recommend keeping quail using nipple drinkers only. They're cleaner and safer for them all. U also recommend handling them frequently as chicks to avoid have flighty scared birds. We recently went to a breeder to pick up some chicks when we had a lone quail chick hatched and as we were getting the tour the owner pulled a bird out of a cage to show us their size(btw @faraday40 they were double the size of ours-if you want a meat line) but the female he grabbed panicked and prolapsed bc she wasn't usually handled. The prolapse did go back in but it was quite worrisome at the time. The chicks we received from him were very flighty at first but have now calmed down quite well. Still we feel that their pros far outweigh their cons and just love their antics. We try to keep them with as much space as possible and that really helps to keep them docile with each other as well. Some people say that can not be kept outside without supplemental heat in our northern winter's but they could easily be moved to a pen in the garage or basement. Sorry for the ramblings guys talk to you more later.
Please continue your prayers for Grandpa and our family. All we can do now is give it to God. Unfortunately the facility he's being moved to has had associations for my Grandma as yet father died in it after a horrendous accident. I never met him but she is horrified and terrified that Grandpa will be there. Of course in over 40-50+ years medicine and psychiatric care has improved a ton.
