Incubating Coturnix Quail Eggs

[texan4ut]

You might try and get some Foam insulation at a building supply and attach it to the outside of your cardboard box to keep the heat in better.

 

[ChrisandraO]

my first hatchlings :3 these two guys are about 48 hrs old and we had 12 out of 17 hatch with local hatching eggs

 

[junior123456]

I candled my 12 day old coturnix eggs and 40 of them look black light cant shine threw the egg but I cant see the vains in the eggs its just black does this mean theyre not going to hatch

 

[junior123456]

I candled my 12 day old coturnix eggs and 40 of them look black light cant shine threw the egg but I cant see the vains in the eggs its just black does this mean theyre not going to hatch

 

[Sill]

I candled my 12 day old coturnix eggs and 40 of them look black light cant shine threw the egg but I cant see the vains in the eggs its just black does this mean theyre not going to hatch

That is a good sign! The darkness is the chick so the light can't pass through, the veins are feeding the chick nutrients from the yolk and whites.

 

[scarletmarie]

HELP!  I ordered 12 Bobwhite eggs (received 18 total and two had cracks so I laid in 16) when one of my hens went broody and I didn't really want any more chickens but my friend wanted some quail for his property.  I thought, ok, we'll give it a go and see what happens.  What happened was between when the eggs shipped and before they arrived, the hen decided she didn't want to lay on the nest after all, GREAT!  I thought about eating the eggs, but they came so carefully and perfectly packaged I couldn't do it.  I don't have a incubator so I looked at some DIY stuff here and other places on the web and built my own.  Large cardboard box, heat lamp, bowl with sponge, backing dish covered in wire with a piece of landscape material to keep anything from falling through the holes, a remote thermometer with RH detector tied to a console with high/low temp alarms and all covered with a large, empty picture frame .  We're all set, let's hatch some quail eggs...yeah! 

We live in Colorado, where the RH rarely gets above 50% and tends to be closer to 20% most of the time.  The RH in the box wouldn't go above 10%, so I went and bought a desk top, mini humidifier ($14.95) and can get the humidity up to about 50%, but I can't run it all the time because it brings the temp in the box down.  I thought about giving up and then yesterday, day 14, (yes, I laid them in on April Fools day) I candled them to see if I could shut the whole operation down knowing I had tried.   Out of the 16 eggs I have 7 with strong veining and lots of movement, I have 4 that are questionable and 5 that I'm pretty sure I can remove, but leave in there because they're not hurting anything and you never know. 

So I can't give up, but I need some help on what I can do about the humidity.  Can I mist the eggs with warm water in a spray bottle to keep them moist?  Can I lay them on a moist towel?  I don't want to go to the 24 days and them have them stick to the shells and die because they can't get out. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Karen

put a wet sponge in your incubator

 

[texan4ut]

Mine are growing fast 2 weeks old tomorrow night.

 

[deviled]

I have pharaoh quail eggs.its 3 days til hatching.but i haven't seen any movement in my eggs like i did with the chicken eggs is this normal.please help

 

[deviled]

HELP SOME ADVICE NEED PLEASE Ok getting worried 3 days til hatching of quail eggs.and no movement of the eggs.this is my first time with quail.is this normal.

 

[deviled]

HELP SOME ADVICE NEED PLEASE Ok getting worried 3 days til hatching of quail eggs.and no movement of the eggs.this is my first time with quail.is this normal.