My first batch of quail eggs.

[Striker911]

I read on a thread here that someone had some eggs that hatched day 20. I'll be leaving mine until 20th then chucking them.

I have had one hatch today and there are a couple of pips. So out of 13, 4 hatched day 17 so far 1 hatch on day 18.

At least you had more than one hatch day. I hope I do as well. The five I had hatch all came back to back within about 6 hours. I hope we get more.

I was busy last week and didn't take my eggs out of the hatcher. 2 hatched on day 20 and I've seen them on 21 before.

That set-up is why i recommend people build their own incubators. Its just a mini fridge I gutted out. My total cost was $160 to build it.

Heating element- $20
Thermostat-$20
Turning racks $60/each

Everything else I had laying around or got free off of craigslist. I'll probably do a incubator build video soon because it think a lot more people would do it when they see how easy it is. The ice chest bators are even simpler to build and total cost on them if you have an ice chest is around $30 ($60-70 if you have to buy an ice chest)

I was going to build a cooler incubator until I seen this little giant on FB for $65 with the turner. I sort of jumped the gun thinking I had everything worked out. I seen stories of people dry hatching in a cardboard box with parts from the hardware store. This one person had a 100% hatch rate. Gave me a false sense of security. Next time will be better. As far as the ones I have left, I should give it till the 20th then.

 

[teradragon]

I have a question about brooder actually...

I have 2 lights. A 60w white spot which provides lots of heat and a 50w blue bulb which provides heat and no light. I have a feeling that the blue light alone won't provide enough heat, but I'm sure they will be able to huddle.

I want to turn off the white spot because I've read that too much light can make them aggressive.

But on the other hand I don't want them to be cold...

Might turn it off before we go to bed and check on them...

Also might put some cloth in for them to huddle under....

What is your setup?

 

[ggschulz]

New to this conversation, but I am hatching my first group as well. Have 27 of 60 hatched so far. My brooder setup is 52" x 30" and is only 24" tall. I have 25 little guys running around in there with a box for the "weak" ones. I have two 250W Red heat lamps spaced out to give them plenty of choices of temperature to pick from throughout the day. You can see some pictures of the setup in the Hatch-Along thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/824155/november-december-hatch-a-long/3810 I can take better pictures from further back if you like. They seem pretty comfortable in there, with lots of room to spread out.

 

[teradragon]

looks good. Mine are inside in a small plastic tub. I have 4 in at the moment and 5 in the incubator to go in tomorrow morning. I want to turn the white light off so they get some rest. If it were a red lamp I wouldn't hesitate to keep it on... might actually buy a red lamp after that self revelation! Hah.

Gonna switch it off now and see how the quailettes react.

 

[teradragon]

all seems to be going well with just the one bulb. 3 are nice and settled then I have 1 that enjoys peeping loudly. I've put some rags in and they are snuggled in amongst them.

 

[Striker911]

I have a question about brooder actually...

I have 2 lights. A 60w white spot which provides lots of heat and a 50w blue bulb which provides heat and no light. I have a feeling that the blue light alone won't provide enough heat, but I'm sure they will be able to huddle.

I want to turn off the white spot because I've read that too much light can make them aggressive.

But on the other hand I don't want them to be cold...

Might turn it off before we go to bed and check on them...

Also might put some cloth in for them to huddle under....

What is your setup?

I am using a standard 60 watt in a lamp and its hanging from the ceiling. I might need to raise the lamp some, but I have yet to see any of them sleeping out side of the bowl. Oh and how you like my bird steps lol. The smallest one was having trouble getting back in. All in all its a "cave man" setup but it was all stuff I had sitting around and with little thought put in.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/striker911/004_zpsf76668d8.jpg
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/striker911/005_zps645e20ef.jpg
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/striker911/006_zpsc9078e75.jpg

New to this conversation, but I am hatching my first group as well. Have 27 of 60 hatched so far. My brooder setup is 52" x 30" and is only 24" tall. I have 25 little guys running around in there with a box for the "weak" ones. I have two 250W Red heat lamps spaced out to give them plenty of choices of temperature to pick from throughout the day. You can see some pictures of the setup in the Hatch-Along thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/824155/november-december-hatch-a-long/3810 I can take better pictures from further back if you like. They seem pretty comfortable in there, with lots of room to spread out.

That is a nice setup.

 

[teradragon]

Hahah. Nice lamp! I'll take some pics of mine in the morning when the rest of the quailettes go in!

 

[josand]

This is exactly what I am planning for my quail. Will be putting the first lot in the incubator after xmas to hatch. I want to eat the eggs and meat. I am told the first one is the hardest to kill and process. I hope we are strong enough.

 

[teradragon]

This is my setup...

They seem to be getting on fine. Added 2 more from the incubator this morning and there was an extra one waiting for me too. So 10/13 have hatched. I still can't believe it.



josand - that is also my plan.... guess we will have to see how things turn out!

 

[ggschulz]

As promised, a few more pictures of my setup. I have lost count, but I am up well over 50 chicks at this point. I have lost a few to some deformities (couple with wry neck that wouldn't get better, and a couple with yolk sacs attached that were dead in the incubator after hatching) but for the most part they have been pretty healthy. There are still a few hatching, but trying to leave them in the incubator as long as possible to fluff up and get stronger as some of the chicks in the brooder are 3 1/2 days old now.

They are eating like champs! They are getting 28% Turkey starter, ground in a coffee grinder. That is what is in the two feeders you see in the pictures (one is the base of a LG feeder, the other is the lid to a Folgers coffee can.) They also have fresh water (changed at least daily) with a half rate of Sav-A-Chick, just to keep the electrolytes up for any still getting going.

Two heat lamps keeping the temp around 100 degrees in the hottest spots, but they seem to like hanging out on the periphery where it is a bit cooler.

Real excited about how this hatch has gone. Like the two above, I plan to harvest much of this group, as well as my much of my original group of breeders. Trying to keep to birds that I know the history on.