Noise is driving me crazy! Ready to butcher

[lomine]

I believe pkhunter is referring to a brooder.

I also collect eggs daily if I'm hatching. I keep them in a cool place and put them in the egg turner. When I'm ready to incubate I put the whole egg turner in the incubator. I don't think I could wait til day 14 to candle. I'm too impatient for that.

 

[pkhunter]

I believe pkhunter is referring to a brooder.

I also collect eggs daily if I'm hatching. I keep them in a cool place and put them in the egg turner. When I'm ready to incubate I put the whole egg turner in the incubator. I don't think I could wait til day 14 to candle. I'm too impatient for that.

I have 2 incubators one has egg turning racks in it where they stay for 14 days, then for lockdown I move them to my other one with shelves in it where they stay until they hatch. After they hatch then they go into my brooder.I can put 4 of the green racks in it 320eggs.I use to candle all the time but now I just wait till lockdown.

 

[lomine]

I have 2 incubators one has egg turning racks in it where they stay for 14 days, then for lockdown I move them to my other one with shelves in it where they stay until they hatch. After they hatch then they go into my brooder.I can put 4 of the green racks in it 320eggs.I use to candle all the time but now I just wait till lockdown.

Well that makes a lot more sense. LOL That's a big incubator. I like to hatch around 40 at a time. What do you use as a brooder to hold that many chicks?

 

[pkhunter]

Well that makes a lot more sense. LOL That's a big incubator. I like to hatch around 40 at a time. What do you use as a brooder to hold that many chicks?

I have 3 brooder boxes that I built. 2 small ones that are 18" X 30" with 1/4" wire on the bottom and 1 large one that's 2' X 7' with 1/2 wire on the bottom. Have plastic trays that fit under them to catch the poop.

 

[MessyLove]

I finally have fertile egg what is the suggested Fahrenheit and can i add eggs to the incubator i have one that i will have to add water to every so many days

 

[MessyLove]

Wow your incubator is the real deal for sure

 

[lomine]

I followed these steps and have had decent hatches. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-quail-eggs-and-brooding-quail-chicks

I've never done a staggered hatch so can't offer any advice there.

 

[dc3085]

Don't candle before day 8 if youre new at hatching. When you do candle don't waste time looking for red dots and veins yet. Either the egg will light up like the second one pictured earlier in this thread or the light wont pass all the way through the egg. Some coturnix eggs are too dark to ever see any veins or dots so until you're a candling pro don't worry about anything but eggs that light up all the way or don't. The less you mess with the eggs the better off you are so I don't recommend progress candling once you know you have viable eggs. Honestly the only reason to candle quail eggs is being low on incubator space, the exploding egg rarely ever happens and rotten ones aren't frequent. I've hatched many many thousands of quail and can count on one hand the times the incubator has been fouled by a bad egg. Even then it's just a really unpleasant smell.

 

[lomine]

Posting because I said I would...

Some stuff came up and I didn't butcher my hens til 15 weeks. They ranged from 99-127 grams. Average was 111.6. That is a gain of 11.85 grams (.41 oz) compared to the 8 week batch. It's a gain of 15.8 grams (.55 oz) compared to 6 weeks. Not sure if the difference is because of gender or length of time.

My current batch is mixed with no fighting or crowing. I think because it's fall and harmones are low. I'm feeding them more protein rich foods to see if that will make a difference in weight gain. I can post the results if anyone is interested.