My First Hatch - The Adventure Begins

[Bob1956]

Here are some pictures of the 7 quail chicks that have hatched today. There are 2 more eggs pipping as I type this, which would make 9/12 so far.

The incubator was getting very cramped, with chicks and empty egg shell. So late in the day, the first 6 fully dry chicks went into the brooder. The chicks in the brooder are doing fine, all are eating and most are drinking. The advantage of the small incubator, was that the temperature and humidity recovered in minutes after being opened.

You will see in the pictures, there is a wide variety of colours. One of the chicks is very light, almost a blonde colour.

Regards Bob

 

[animal8]

Quote:
Wow, those are some awesome pics!! Those little chicks look so cute

Just out of curiosity, what sort of incubator did you use? Cause it kind of looks like the Brinsea Mini Advance. Hope those other eggs hatch okay, especially those other two that have pipped. Looking forward to hearing more!!!

 

[Bob1956]

Hi animal8

Yes the incubator is the Brinsea Mini Advance, which I purchased because of the great visibility. It is my first attempt at hatching, and I wanted to get some good pictures.

Regards Bob

 

[Bob1956]

Here is a link to a short video of one of the chicks at about 6 hours old.

VIDEO

Regards Bob

 

[animal8]

Quote:
It's good to see you had quite a good hatch with it. This is the incubator I was looking at buying for when I decide to breed in the future. Most people seem to prefer larger incubators because they hatch large amounts of chicks, but I only want something to hatch on a very small scale, so I thought this incubator would be more ideal. It's nice to know someone has had success with hatching with it

 

[7L Farm]

Brinsea makes bigger bators I have the Oct 40 Dx it will hold 120 quail eggs. Nice machine I've had great hatches with mine.

 

[Quail1994]

Good photos and camera

 

[animal8]

Just a quick question, was wondering what you used on the bottom of the incubator for hatching on, and also I noticed that the water cup in the middle has a cover, but everytime I've seen images of the Brinsea Mini Advance, there is no cover. Did it come with it when you bought it or did you buy it separately?

 

[Bob1956]

Hi animal8

I was going to use anti slip matting for the base, but it was black in colour and not ideal for taking photos. So I used normal textured white kitchen paper, cut into a doughnut shape. Actually the non slip matting is underneath the paper towel, to add a little padding.

The water pot guard comes with the incubator but it is never shown in the sales pictures. I think it was added later in the production run, following reports that chicks could drown in the water pot. The sales pictures must be from the earlier versions.

Regards Bob

 

[Bob1956]

Hatching Update

Chick number 8 hatched around 10am on Friday 2nd September (Day 18). Two of the remaining four eggs had pipped many hours earlier. By later on Day 18, they were sounding very weak, and making no progress at breaking their shells.

So rightly or wrongly, I assisted them into the world. I am pleased to report that both chicks 9 and 10 are doing well. They are now dry and fluffy, and walking around inside the incubator. So 10 of the 12 eggs have produced live chicks (2 assisted), which would be a hatching success of 83%.

I will keep the remaining 2 eggs in the incubator for another day or two, but I don’t hold out much hope. I will then investigate weather they were fertile or not.

Regards Bob