Photos of my extra cheap incubator and the quail eggs.

[smallbluejellybean]

Hello everyone,
I was asked to take some shots of my incubator and the eggs.
Got new batteries for my camera and just culled my eggs - still have 36 in the incubator and now 24 out with the hens still.
I know its a messy incubator, but I used it with my canaries and they all survived.
Cheap themometre etc.
Oh well maybe can save for good one next year.
Anyways here are some shots of it and some Christmas photos I would like to share.

My daughter unhappy that we asked her to take a few more bites before she could go back and play with her toys.

My son enjoying his Christmas turkey.

My cat Peanut playing with a peice of toilet roll.

Peanut playing Mouse Trap with the kids.

I hope they are clear enough, as I am not a great photographer at all.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Nice photos

 

[jameskchandler]

Hello,
I admire your ingenuity in building your own incubator. Does it have a thermostat? Is the light bulb the heat source? The fact that you were able to hatch canaries proves that it will hatch the quail. The quail chicks can feed themselves if you give them a dish of game bird crumbles, how do you feed canary chicks? One of my cats, Gracie, plays fetch with a small, soft ball. I bounce it across the floor, and tell her to get the mousie. She races across the room, pounces on the ball, carries it in her mouth, and offers it to me. She then positions herself for the next toss. Peanut is very cute, how do you get her to play mouse trap?

Sincerely, Jim

 

[smallbluejellybean]

Thanks HC. I like the one where my daughter looks like she is sticking turkey up her nose.

Thanks James.
I haven't got a thermostat - well I do its called me.
The glass on top is in two sections and I slide it open and closed as I need it.
Yes its got a small aquarium light on top. I covered it with a pillow case as I wasn't getting enough heat.
The good thing with this and maybe the weird thing with this - is it has never heated up more than 102 and the lowest it gets is when I candle or turn and it drops to 98. I had to change the globe once because it started to flicker and it still only got down to 98. I open it up more at night as the temp goes up to 102 as I am not turning the eggs at night. During the day it stays closed and usualy sits at 100. I lightly mist the eggs 3 times a day to keep the humity up. I have nothing to check this, so going on "fog up factor" in the tank.
Under the eggs is a dish of water and the eggs are sitting on wire mesh.
There are two compartments - one for eggs in the back and in the front I put hatchlings to fluff up and keep warm.
This gives me time to set a heat pad nest ready for my canaries and this will give me opportunity to fire up my big fish tank and heat light for the quail.
I either foster my canaries under good mothers or hand rear with hand rearing formula and a very tiny syringe.
Any which way my incubator works, even though its as simple as bread and water.

 

[smallbluejellybean]

P.S. Peanut is a born natural at Mouse Trap.
And we found out our dog who is a chihuahua is allergic to turkey after we gave her some left over meat (no bones of course). Had to administer her antihistamine to stop it. She looked like a mini pit bull for a day. She has many allergies so have it on stand by, thank goodness.

 

[jameskchandler]

Good golly,
You have the patience and love that only a mother could have. You must be a natural born nurse. It is remarkable that you devote the amount of time and care to your pets.

Your birds are very lucky, healthy, and happy, in my opinion.

I have tried hand-feeding wild birds when I was in my teens, and was never successful, that is why I was curious about how you raised the canaries.

I ordered some plans for building an incubator, but will not have time to do it for a while, as the quail that I raised in my ready-made incubator, eat-up all my spare time. I like the challenge of building stuff myself, and find it has it’s own rewards.

Good luck with all your chicks, Jim

 

[farrier!]

Your set up looks great!
So do the kids and the kitten.....