Incubator space?

[Susan Skylark]

I have 27 quail eggs that just went into lockdown in a nurture right 360, I’m guessing a little over a square foot of space. Last time I hatched 6 eggs and the chicks kicked eggs all over the place, hatched or not, no trouble with subsequent chicks hatching even so. How about this time with thrice the number of eggs? Is there a recommended “space per incubated egg?” They’d make dandy soccer players though!

 

[muddy75]

I remove chicks as they dry or once every 24 hours

 

[Phlighter]

You said before that the Nurture Right was mishandling the eggs - turning them wrong in the outer ring. Do you have the turner for quail eggs or are you using the standard one for chickens?

I have a NR360 and I'm not that fond of it. This is what I have done to make it more usable.

First it needs a mat on top of that sharp edged floor. What I use is also used in shelves like to set glasses on. It's a foam checkboard pattern that is soft on the toes and still lets the humidity circulate.

Then I added the quail sized egg turner and a riser ring that gives you a 3 inch fence that keeps the chicks from spilling out when you take off the top. That can be exciting if you have a bunch.

Speaking of taking off the top, I added a couple of those stick-on plastic hooks to actually give some kind of a handle for the top. It's easy to slip and drop otherwise.

And since there is zero insulation, I added a blanket that goes around the whole thing and clips in the front. That helps stabilize the temperature. You have to not block air vents though.

I bought mine new 1.5 years and used it maybe 8 times and yesterday when I went to fire it up, the fan made that horrible noise that says the bearings are dry and/or shot. So I am waiting for a new fan right now. The fan is easy to replace though and not expensive.

I have too much invested in this one to toss it, but, if it were to disappear, I'd look at something else.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I’ve been hand turning this whole batch, placed the shelf liner before the first hatch and replaced it when I decided hand turning was going to be the way to go as it makes a nicer surface for the eggs rather than the plastic hatch floor. Ordered 24 eggs, they shipped 32, only 1 infertile, 2 early embryonic deaths, 2 were cracked by me during a candling project, leaving 27 in lockdown! I had the nurture right 360 with a chicken rail and a little giant (temp all over the map) so I ended up hand turning in the 360 3-5 times daily instead and so far things look promising. And since the nurture right is designed for 22 chicken eggs it can probably handle 27 quail.