Incubator Problems

[Jenson1544]

I incubated Quail eggs for the first time. It's day 21 with no babies. I did a float test. All the eggs floated with only 10-15% of the egg out of the water. No movement from the egg though. Everything I have read tells me that my quail seem to be fully developed. I will open the eggs tomorrow to examine them. My incubator is the Little Giant. What are the tricks to keeping the humidity and temp constant? I would go to bed with it perfect then wake up to low humidity and the temp at 104! I have another set of quail eggs coming in 3-4 weeks. I need to get this figured out!!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Don't quail take less than 21 days to incubate? I've never hatched them, but I feel like I remember reading that somewhere.

Anyway, LGs are TRICKY! I've got 2 of them and they require a little babysitting. I typically set mine up at least 3 days before I plan to put eggs in so I can tweak temperature. And they do require a draft free spot that stays a pretty consistent temperature. They also seem to stay steadier if you load them down with eggs. If you're only incubating small batches of eggs, you might consider adding some sterilized rocks or baggies/jars of water to help stabilize your temp.

Good luck, happy hatching!

 

[kuchchicks]

What kind of quail are you hatching? Incubation period is different depending on the breed. I would be concerned about the temp spikes depending on how long they last and how long it took to restablize. With temp I know the LG can be tricky. I started out with one and never had good luck. I had to constantly watch it. If you have to decide between too hot and too cool I would opt for cool. It is a still or forced air? As for humidity try to add sponges. I use them and it works great.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I agree with all the above. I use an lg myself (forced air). The steadier the humidity stays, the steadier my temp stays. When my humidity starts drying up, the temp starts to raise. With the styro bators especially it's important that they are in a room with a fairly steady temp. Away from windows where sunight (or lamps) will be shining down on them. Out of drafts from doors opening (moreso a winter concern). I hatch chicken eggs and the first 17 days (pre lockdown) I don't add water to the bator. If I need an increase in humidity I opt for wetting a sponge and keeping it in the bator. Normally as long as the sponge stays nice and most, my temps stay fairly steady. (Every once in a while the bator will get tempermental and I'll have to deal with fluctuations.)

I too have noticed the mass inside the bators will cause uneven temps. For example if there are more eggs on one side creating the increase of mass the other side will run hotter. So balancing the mass proportions does help with temp stability.

Out of curiosity what is the recommended humidity for quail eggs?

 

[Jenson1544]

Some recommend adding no water for quail eggs before lock down then 60% at lockdown.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Some recommend adding no water for quail eggs before lock down then 60% at lockdown.

I run dry too with my chicken eggs as long as it stays above 25% and the air cells look good. I was wondering if the dry or low incubation worked with quail as well.

 

[kuchchicks]

I am hatching my second batch of quail even as I type this (first one pipped about an hour ago). My last hatch was 100% with them (though I only had 2 eggs because I was not even sure if they were fertile). I ran them exactly the same way I do my chicken eggs... 35% during first 14 days (Coturnix 17 day incubation), then 75% during lock down.

I totally agree with Amy about the humidity affecting the temp. My temp definitely changes when the water dries up. If I start to notice a rise in temp it is the first thing I check.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I am hatching my second batch of quail even as I type this (first one pipped about an hour ago). My last hatch was 100% with them (though I only had 2 eggs because I was not even sure if they were fertile). I ran them exactly the same way I do my chicken eggs... 35% during first 14 days (Coturnix 17 day incubation), then 75% during lock down.

I totally agree with Amy about the humidity affecting the temp. My temp definitely changes when the water dries up. If I start to notice a rise in temp it is the first thing I check.

First thing I check too...lol I thought you could run quail with the low humidity method, but I wasn't sure. I know I've seen people use it for ducks as well successfully.

 

[gpop1]

I hatch a lot of quail and I keep it around 35-45% humidity then 75-85 during lockdown. Coturnix should be around day 18 and buttons around day 17. I think the biggest problem is the size of the egg. A chicken egg at 104 degrees may take a hours to gain 1 degrees internal temperature. A button quail egg will gain that in no time at all. I would defiantly try to keep the max temperature lower even if that means incubating a few degrees cooler as cooler eggs hatch late where hot eggs tend not to hatch. If my incubator swings 1/2 a degree F warmer then my quail tend to be a day early.
Sorry to say but at 21 days its worth doing a egg topsy and seeing what happened. If they all failed around the same time then a temp spike is most likely. If they all failed on day 15 plus then probably humidity. If they failed at different dates then it could be a number of things.

p.s if they are shipped eggs then it might not even be anything you have done.

 

[kuchchicks]

Quail hatched on Monday and had 100% hatch rate again. This is only my second batch but these settings seem to work. Give it a try.