Incubation humidity questions

[chickmashnoon]

Questions for coturnix (Japanese quail)
Do you dry hatch? How often do you hatch? Are they shipped eggs or your own? What is your hatch rate?

Are shipped eggs more likely to need higher humidity? Is dry hatch something that works out better in humid environments like Florida?

I have a batch of 74 eggs in the incubator that were shipped from Pennsylvania to Illinois. I've been keeping them between 35-45 humidity and I am on day 5. I see some veining in the few I can candle, so it appears USPS didn't scramble all of them. I am just nervous, it's been about 5 years since I hatched out chickens last and truthfully I don't remember being concerned about humidity much at all. The humidity recommendations on quail are across the board(at least online)- is this change due to location (natural humidity levels) or due to confusion between the needs of different species? Just trying to wrap my head around it.

I have seen the chart with the size of air cell appropriate for the incubation day and mine are already pretty variable (some bigger, some smaller) so I'm not sure if I should up the humidity to 50 or not.

Probably over thinking this . . .

 

[JaeG]

Lots of people in humid places have great success dry incubating so I think you'll be fine. As long as you bump it up to at least 65% for the final phase. Japanese quail eggs are pretty forgiving.

The issues with shipped eggs tends to be dislodged air cells from being bumped about and being scanned by x-rays during their journey.

I've hatched my own eggs a few times and shipped eggs once. The shipped ones I ended up with 11 chicks from 25 eggs (and 9 of those were boys!). I've been more successful hatching my own eggs. Do expect to lose a chick or two - sometimes they just don't recover from hatching or just don't thrive in the first few days.

Your cellphone flashlight/camera flash is generally bright enough to see into the quail eggs. Just make sure it's really dark when you do candle.

Any other questions just ask. I do hope you hatch lots of cute quail babies - they are pretty adorable. Let us know how you get on.

 

[stricklandquail]

Shipped eggs doesn't need any more or less humidity than your own eggs. At least that's been our experience. We're in Georgia and have some fairly high humidity here. The thing is to make sure your incubator is in a climate controlled area. We use a GQF sportsman when incubating our eggs, and typically we only use one pad

 

[AuQuail]

My last lot of 43 eggs were incubated dry from start to finish, with all hatched and perfect except 2 eggs which didn't pip with fully developed chicks dead inside.

Here in Melbourne Australia, towards winter soon as humidity in incubator was 35%. When they hatched humidity went up to the 60's

This is my 3rd batched... Gonna try dry again for the next batch as. It seems to. Work well.. But generally it's advisable to bump the humidity up (add water ) for the last 3-4 days

Don't go crazy with humidity for the first 14days which cam lead to too small of a air cell....



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[chickmashnoon]

Okay, I've got another question. I'm incubating and hatching in a hoverbator with the mesh bottom. Do I need to add something so quail legs don't get caught? I've had no problem with chicken chicks, but of course they are much bigger. Lockdown is today and I was planning on sanitizing some of the textured shelf liner to late in there. DH thinks it's overkill. Is this a good idea or am I overthinking this?

 

[JaeG]

Okay, I've got another question. I'm incubating and hatching in a hoverbator with the mesh bottom. Do I need to add something so quail legs don't get caught? I've had no problem with chicken chicks, but of course they are much bigger. Lockdown is today and I was planning on sanitizing some of the textured shelf liner to late in there. DH thinks it's overkill. Is this a good idea or am I overthinking this?

I'd do it just in case. My motto is better safe than sorry. Quail chicks are much smaller and more active once they have almost dried out.

 

[JaeG]

Good luck by the way - get ready to cluck over their cuteness!

 

[feedman77]

I hatch in a 1588 hovabator on the mesh screen just fine.

The shelf liner is a good option as well. Help catch egg pieces and makes cleaning easier.

Good luck on your upcoming hatch

 

[chickmashnoon]

Good luck by the way - get ready to cluck over their cuteness!

Oh my!! Are they cute little balls of fuzz! I have about 27 so far.

 

[feedman77]

Congrats.