Manual or Automatic?

[animal8]

What sort of incubator would be best for me to get, a manual one, which has temperature control, but no humidity control, or an incubator with automatic turning with auto stop 2 days before hatching, digital temperature control and also no humidity control? I have been looking at two Brinsea incubators and can't decide which one would be better.

The two I have been looking at are the Brinsea Mini ECO and the Brinsea Mini Advance. The Advance one is about £70 more expensive than the ECO and I don't know if I could afford it, but I do admit that it is much better than the ECO. (The ECO also holds 24 quail eggs, while the Advance holds only 12, but I don't want to be hatching large amounts of quail as it is, so...)

Would it be worth paying the extra for the higher quality?

 

[7L Farm]

That's what we all say!! Yep, I'm not gonna hatch in large numbers next thing you know you will have 5 coops & three bators maybe 4. LOL. I'm just messing with you. I have the Brinsea OCT 40 DX & its a great machine. My vote is Brinsea I even bought their eco Brooder the big one & its another fine machine. I never liked heat lamps. JMO.

 

[animal8]

Quote:
I was thinking about getting the ECO brooder as well

It seems like it would be a lot more efficient than having a light (and I won't always be worried that the bulbs gonna go, not matter how likely that actually is). What sort of space would you recommend having with the ECO brooder (enough space for around 10 chicks)?

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
I was thinking about getting the ECO brooder as well

It seems like it would be a lot more efficient than having a light (and I won't always be worried that the bulbs gonna go, not matter how likely that actually is). What sort of space would you recommend having with the ECO brooder (enough space for around 10 chicks)?

Good call the heat lamps are dangerous can cause fires & I've never ever got the heat right so I was normally cooking the chicks. I can't remember the numbers for their smaller brooder I'm thinking around 20 something . You can google Brinsea & find out. I buy all my Brinsea equipment directly from Brinsea. They run 10 percent off which helps pay shipping. You can go to their face book to find out about when their next special will be. Someone, around here might chime in & give you more assistance.

 

[animal8]

Yep, up to 20 chicks, just checked. I will definitely have to keep an eye out for those specials

Would it be okay to have a cardboard box act as a brooder? I was thinking if I get one of an ideal size, I can have the ECO brooder in it, the water tray (with marble/pebbles

) and scatter the feed on the ground for the first few days. And not forgetting having some cloth down to prevent splay leg.

Now just need to find a way to either get proper game feed, or find something I can add to the poultry feed to increase the protein. Someone suggested soya meal, but I don't know where I can buy that from

Any ideas?

 

[7L Farm]

I was told from this site Game Bird Starter crumbles 28 % start to finish. That's all I have ever fed mine. I think you got it going on. The only other thing you should do is cover your brooder because they will start jumping out. My brooder is a cage so I'm good to go. I have read most folks use totes from walmart as brooders as a matter of fact there's a thread about it. Here's my brooder. A tote would probably be the way to go. I had some fire ants get one of my newly born iddy's the other day p_____ me off. Tote might h

ave prevented this .

 

[animal8]

Can anyone show me what a tote looks like? I was thinking for covering the brooder, could I use something like flight netting? Or would that not be apprpriate?

I am also having problems finding a starter feed with 28% protein, which was why I was talking about using a poultry starter and mixing it with something to boost the protein. The only things I know of to do this would be meal worms or crushed, hard boiled egg and I don't think these would be suitable for baby quail chicks

Does anyone know what percentage protein an adult Coturnix quail needs? I could never find anything and I was planning on getting poultry layers pellets for the adults, wanted to know if this would be suitable.

 

[animal8]

Quote:
Really like the look of this setup

Don't think I could build anything like this myself. I was planning on using a 2'x4'x1.6' rabbit cage for mine and a cardboard box for the brooder

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
Really like the look of this setup

Don't think I could build anything like this myself. I was planning on using a 2'x4'x1.6' rabbit cage for mine and a cardboard box for the brooder

In this link Frank show some pix of chicks in bator and brooders. The last pic is a card board brooder he's put together. It will work fine if you can't find the plastic tote. Which by the way is just a large, cheap, storage. Box that can be bought at discount stores.... Mine are about 90 liter size. Bill

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=562201

 

[MobyQuail]

rubbermaid totes/bins