My First Quail Hatching

[AlderCreekFarms]

Testing/calibrating incubator thermometers andhygrometers.

Testing/calibrating incubator thermometers and hygrometers.

 

[KRFlashner]

Thank you for posting that guide!

 

[DK newbie]

I actually just started my first attempt at hatching as well. I use an ear thermometer to test the temperature, as that is the only thing I have that is calibrated. So far it seems the incubator is pretty accurate - the ear thermometer will give me readings both slightly below and slightly above what the incubator claims the temp is. Only problem is I have to open the bator and touch the eggs to use it, but I suppose it'll be fine now that I know the bator isn't far off.
As for humidity, I was recommended to go dry. It seems to be stable at around 20% when I do (don't have a 2nd hygrometer as I don't see the purpose if I'm going dry anyway). But I can't help but adding a little water every now and then anyway - this brings it up to 45% for a few hours. I'm at day 1 now, so I might still change my mind about how I'm going to do it..
I also have an issue with the turner - it doesn't seem to be turning the eggs as much to one side as to the other. But I've heard people sometimes manage to hatch quail eggs without turning at all, so I suppose I'll get some chicks anyway. And really it's just for fun - found out my neighbour had an incubator and thought I should try to hatch some of my eggs.. Ended up buying 20 eggs as well though, as the incubator will hold more than 100 quail eggs and I only have 4 hens to lay them, so it would have been pretty empty without the extra eggs. I also set some that are so old they are unlikely to hatch, but we'll see what happens.

 

[KRFlashner]

UPDATE! They have started hatching! Right now 2 came out within about 15-20 mins of each other. They seem good. One is more active than the other (who came out second) Fluffing up. The brooder was prepped last night so now I just have another problem. We chose the warmest room in our house and now under the heat plate (we got the Brinsea Eco 20) It's registering 104 degrees Fahrenheit (woah) Without the heating plate it registered only 89 degrees so not quite enough. We're figuring out where to move them now. I see a small pip in one of the eggs so I'm not moving them any time soon. The feed store guy said that if you start to hear them they're hungry so if I don't see a good window to transfer before then that's my drop dead time.

Oh and hubby is a computer programmer so he rigged one of our security cameras on the incubator so there will be pictures.

 

[007Sean]

UPDATE! They have started hatching! Right now 2 came out within about 15-20 mins of each other. They seem good. One is more active than the other (who came out second) Fluffing up. The brooder was prepped last night so now I just have another problem. We chose the warmest room in our house and now under the heat plate (we got the Brinsea Eco 20) It's registering 104 degrees Fahrenheit (woah) Without the heating plate it registered only 89 degrees so not quite enough. We're figuring out where to move them now. I see a small pip in one of the eggs so I'm not moving them any time soon. The feed store guy said that if you start to hear them they're hungry so if I don't see a good window to transfer before then that's my drop dead time.

Oh and hubby is a computer programmer so he rigged one of our security cameras on the incubator so there will be pictures.

You could raise the Eco 20 up to get the right temperature underneath it. Blocks of wood, bricks, etc.

 

[KRFlashner]

You could raise the Eco 20 up to get the right temperature underneath it. Blocks of wood, bricks, etc.

Hubby is up there now raising it to level 2. We didn't think of blocks of wood (we have some out back) You know one thing is hubby has been complaining that the office (the room we're using) is too hot when he works. He feels vindicated now. lol

 

[KRFlashner]

Just a question: When should I start seeing droppings? They have found the food. They haven't eaten much but I figure they are 12 hours old so that should be ok. There are now 9 of them and they are coming pretty quickly so I'm leaving them in the incubator because I read I can do more damage by opening the incubator too much. I'll try again in about 4 hrs and see what's what in the incubator first. They're quiet so I'm thinking they're ok.

 

[AlderCreekFarms]

You have probably already started to see the droppings since your last post, right? Everywhere?

 

[KRFlashner]

You have probably already started to see the droppings since your last post, right? Everywhere?

Yes, I'm seeing them now. They seem pretty happy and while I don't see them in the food so much they seem to LOVE pooping in their water dishes.

 

[DK newbie]

Congratulations on your hatch! How many chicks did you end up getting?
I put mine in lockdown yesterday, but I'm worried they might have been fried - I took their temp with the ear thermometer before putting them in lockdown and several of them were around 103 F - I have no clue how long they've been that hot. The incubator read 100 F. Lowered the incubator temp to 99.3 F and this morning the eggs read around 98 F.. I have 37 eggs in there that seemed fertile at day 8, so hopefully some of them have survived.