Incubating quail, ducks, and chickens together

[Silkies~Polishes]

Hi
so I am wondering to anyone who has tried this, have you gotten success incubating all together? If not what about incubating 2 together? Likes ducks and chickens, chickens, and quail, quail and ducks, etc. if so what adjustments will I have to make during incubation considering they all have different hatching times. Here are the types I am planning to hatch:

serama- hatch days, 18 days? from what I remember when I hatched mine last fall
button quail- hatch days?
Duck- khaki Campbell, saxony, or call duck with the poofs on their head, but most likely Ancona , hatch days?

what tips do you guys have for hatching each of these? What are the hatch days? I've looked and I've gotten varied info even when searching a specific variety. I haven't bought these yet so no biggie if they can't be hatched together, but I would prefer hatching them as soon as I can so i can get a head start on the season, since I live in Seattle and its kinda cold and rainy, so it would be nice if they were all older by winter. What do you guys think about a heat lamp in a coop, would that be okay? Or would it be a fire hazard? what about a kind of water resistant heat mat?


ugh sorry guys that's a lot of questions! I feel like im sounding a little hyperactive, haha. Please help me with what you can!

thanks

 

[cameronfarm]

Hi
so I am wondering to anyone who has tried this, have you gotten success incubating all together? If not what about incubating 2 together? Likes ducks and chickens, chickens, and quail, quail and ducks, etc. if so what adjustments will I have to make during incubation considering they all have different hatching times. Here are the types I am planning to hatch:

serama- hatch days, 18 days? from what I remember when I hatched mine last fall
button quail- hatch days?
Duck- khaki Campbell, saxony, or call duck with the poofs on their head, but most likely Ancona , hatch days?

what tips do you guys have for hatching each of these? What are the hatch days? I've looked and I've gotten varied info even when searching a specific variety. I haven't bought these yet so no biggie if they can't be hatched together, but I would prefer hatching them as soon as I can so i can get a head start on the season, since I live in Seattle and its kinda cold and rainy, so it would be nice if they were all older by winter. What do you guys think about a heat lamp in a coop, would that be okay? Or would it be a fire hazard? what about a kind of water resistant heat mat?


ugh sorry guys that's a lot of questions! I feel like im sounding a little hyperactive, haha. Please help me with what you can!

thanks

In all the incubator instructions I have ever read for all the models they all strongly recommend against that, especially waterfowl and chicks as they require different environments.

 

[cmfarm]

Right now I have ducks, goose, quail and chicken eggs all going together (and soon, Turkey, and before I had guinea eggs going also). I have had no problems.They require all the same things. The only difference is hatch dates. I just use a seperate hatcher for them when they are ready to hatch.

 

[cameronfarm]

Right now I have ducks, goose, quail and chicken eggs all going together (and soon, Turkey, and before I had guinea eggs going also). I have had no problems.They require all the same things. The only difference is hatch dates. I just use a seperate hatcher for them when they are ready to hatch.

Thats quite the variation! Have you done it before? How does the varying humidity levels impact your hatch rate across species? I'm assuming you do not have an automatic turner? I'm just curious, I've got plenty of incubators and never tried mixing and matching like that since the instructions recommend against it.

 

[cmfarm]

I have a very large incubator that does have an automatic turner. I like to do a drier hatch with 30-35% humidity the first 18 days and 50-55% the last few days. They all seem to hatch well.

 

[cameronfarm]

I have a very large incubator that does have an automatic turner. I like to do a drier hatch with 30-35% humidity the first 18 days and 50-55% the last few days. They all seem to hatch well.

lol I have never hatched ducks at all and I was just reading how "critical" humidity was for them to reach an optimal 75% hatch rate. They are stating it should be 55% for incubation and 75% for hatching, just goes to show you that you can't trust everything you read! Thanks for the feedback, guess I will find out for myself next spring!

 

[Silkies~Polishes]

Huh that's interesting! I think since I am buying the eggs I should do just one type at a time. Maybe next year if they all breed ill try incubating them all together.
But that is good to know you have success cmfarm with incubating them together, which if that works for me it will be perfect since I only have 1 incubator, the hova bator genesis. Does anybody have that? What do you think of it? I haven't used mine yet and still need to run it before I get the eggs.

 

[cameronfarm]

Huh that's interesting! I think since I am buying the eggs I should do just one type at a time. Maybe next year if they all breed ill try incubating them all together.
But that is good to know you have success cmfarm with incubating them together, which if that works for me it will be perfect since I only have 1 incubator, the hova bator genesis. Does anybody have that? What do you think of it? I haven't used mine yet and still need to run it before I get the eggs.

I have a GQF 1583, it was my first incubator and I think its probably one of the best out there. I had a noname with a digital thermostat which was junk, I have a farm innovations which I'll classify as workable but pales in comparison to the GQF. For high capacity I have old school cabinet models with manual turners.

I'm sketched out on the genesis because as I have found all digital thermostats / thermometers are precisely wrong rather than approximately accurate. Not that I have any on hands experience with that model, and they do make excellent products.

 

[Silkies~Polishes]

Yeah I read about that digital thermometer issue. What do you think I should do? Should I just buy a regular non digital thermometer and hygrometer?

 

[cameronfarm]

Yeah I read about that digital thermometer issue. What do you think I should do? Should I just buy a regular non digital thermometer and hygrometer?

Well do not buy any thermometer from walmart, etc. Get an incubator thermometer from an online vendor is the cheapest closest bet. Ideal would be a mercury thermometer if you can find one or a certified one.