Should I incubate them or see what happens? Button Quail

[Pumpkan]

My three females are laying eggs everyday
I am up to 15 eggs!! Do I incubate them or leave them to see what happens there is one clutch of 5 and one clutch of ten (two females together!) I have a still air incubator but i do not have a thermometer or hygrometer (?? to check humidity) so what do I do I have an egg turner and quail racks as well ! What do I do ?? Should I see if they hatch them?? Which is I prefer but when do they start to sit on the eggs?

 

[greymane]

I believe Buttons don't often go broody, so you may want to incubate if you want to hatch them. I am sure there are others with more experience that might weigh in.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

I believe Buttons don't often go broody, so you may want to incubate if you want to hatch them. I am sure there are others with more experience that might weigh in.

this is kinda true, its rare for buttons to go broody, tho not as rare as it is for coturnix.

kinda gotta ask, do you have a male present? you havn't mentioned anything about it. If not don't waste your time, i'd just hardboil them and chop it up really tiny and feed it back to them as treats.

this is my current broody button quails, she's been sitting on eggs for about 20 days now. I just put coturnix eggs under her and she keeps on sitting.



note: i JUST took that photo. she's a champ broody

 

[Pumpkan]

I have the two sets one male one female and then another set two females one male they keep checking on them but no sitting yet it's been 5 days and they have been mating for a while so Im expecting them to be fertile! I'd love to hatch a few .... but I was hoping nature would take its course!

 

[jbobs]

You can try leaving them - are they in a private nest area? Buttons like privacy when they incubate. If they are not showing any signs of broodiness by 14 days you can try throwing a bunch in the incubator... but you HAVE to have a thermometer or you will never know if your temperature is right or not! If you are off just by a couple degrees you will ruin your eggs. The bator should run for a few days before you set your eggs just to make sure it's running well and accurately. You can get a cheap digital thermometer at home depot or someplace that has a little cord that is meant to go outside your window - put that end in your incubator to measure the temp inside, it will also tell you what the highest and lowest temps for the day and night have been so you will know if your bator is being a little so and so. Will your quail racks fit button eggs? most quail racks are meant for coturnix and bobwhite eggs and are too big for button eggs. What kind of incubator do you have? You can also get a hygrometer at the pet store in the reptile section for about 10 bucks. or at walmart - those national geographic ones have both humidity % and temperature on them and they are ten bucks.

 

[Pumpkan]

I have a hovabator ? Not sure about the racks so everyone tells me differently about how many days I have to get them in an incubator I've heard 7 10 and your saying 14 tomorrow will be 6 days since the first egg was laid. If i take some of the eggs out and left some in do you think she would still sit on them?? They are in a pen they made a nest in the hay/bedding and then I got some fake flowers / big leaves and made it like a cave over the eggs should I get her a box or something instead???

 

[jbobs]

no they just like some privacy, what you have is fine. I always try to get my eggs in within 7 days but if I am only getting a few eggs here and there I will leave it up to 14 days and risk the older ones not hatching. if you want some chicks, I'd throw the eggs in the incubator. if you have the incubator you might as well use it, it's a more reliable way of hatching than pulling your hair out wondering if your hen is going to sit You can try the eggs in the racks to see if they will fit but you might have to turn them by hand, just make sure you only open the lid a crack and get your hand in and hout within a couple seconds.

 

[JHorn91180]

Just wanted to add for future reference. If u make a little bowl out of cotton for each egg slot for each egg u want to place in a standard quail turner it sorta adjust the size of the hole to fit button eggs nicely. Each egg sorta has it own little cozy nest that breathes better. I've done this several times and it works great. Beats buying new quail turners.

 

[camchick]

I agree, buttons make bad broodies. Ive always had to incubate mine. I have a hovabator too and have a good hatch rate. I tried leaving some eggs for my button hens and had no luck so it was just a waste of eggs! Id say put them in the bator and see how it goes.

 

[meschelelaisav]

Buttons aren't the greatest broodies, that's the truth...Even if you do get them to sit on the eggs, often times they won't hatch. Reason being is because let's say your girl lays one egg every day. Well after ten days she's gonna have that many eggs under her and that first egg she layed won't have much heat getting to it.

Your best best is to incubate....since you don't have a thermometer, here is your best bet. Set your house temperature to about 72 degrees..you really do need a thermometer. Walmart sales for like 99 cent...doesn't have to be anything fancy. It's just so hard to tell the temp of the incubator because each one is different. Humdity is pretty easy to control even without a hydrometer. Just make sure there is constant water in the bottom of your incubator of if a home made one, bowl of water etc. We also use a spray bottle to mist ours. We hand turn....automatic turners tend to crush the eggs since they are so small...Just some tips. We've been raising and hatching buttons for a few years. Hope this helps some....