Using the Nurture Right 360 but with only a few quail eggs

[ebisu]

My coturnix quails are barely laying now so I don't have enough to fill the incubator without risking viability by waiting to have enough. I have a tray that was 3D printed to fit quail eggs which it fits 40 or more I can't remember exactly. I have 10 eggs that are about 6-7 days old now. Does anyone have experience with using the Nurture Right 360 with way less quail eggs? Will there need to be an increase/decrease in temperature and humidity? Is it recommended at all? If not, I'll just eat them lol.

If you use a different incubator but still have input, I'd still like to hear it. It may apply, who knows!

Thank you.

 

[Nabiki]

The ideal incubation temp and humidity is the same whether you hatch 1 or 1000 eggs. Just make sure you have a calibrated thermometer (or 2, or even 3) inside with the eggs and a calibrated hygrometer. Don't trust the incubator's readings.

 

[FloorCandy]

I’ve used it with many and few, no worries. Have calibrated thermometers/hygrometers inside. I don’t foresee any problems. At this point your biggest worry would be whether the males are still viable and mounting the hens, if they do t have light and have slowed laying, the males have probably slowed too.

 

[ebisu]

The ideal incubation temp and humidity is the same whether you hatch 1 or 1000 eggs. Just make sure you have a calibrated thermometer (or 2, or even 3) inside with the eggs and a calibrated hygrometer. Don't trust the incubator's readings.

I understand and noted. Do you have any specific thermometer and hygrometer that you recommend?

 

[ebisu]

I’ve used it with many and few, no worries. Have calibrated thermometers/hygrometers inside. I don’t foresee any problems. At this point your biggest worry would be whether the males are still viable and mounting the hens, if they do t have light and have slowed laying, the males have probably slowed too.

I see! That makes a lot of sense. I'm not around to watch them most of the day but when collecting a single egg yesterday I saw one of the males mount a girl but that won't tell me if she's laying and/or if her egg is fertile. Do males lose fertility after a certain age? They're only about 5 months old.

I suspect that even though we have 4 hens per male (2), only a selected 2 are actually being mated because from my last incubation, only eggs from 2 hens were viable and hatched. I could be wrong?

 

[FloorCandy]

I see! That makes a lot of sense. I'm not around to watch them most of the day but when collecting a single egg yesterday I saw one of the males mount a girl but that won't tell me if she's laying and/or if her egg is fertile. Do males lose fertility after a certain age? They're only about 5 months old.

I suspect that even though we have 4 hens per male (2), only a selected 2 are actually being mated because from my last incubation, only eggs from 2 hens were viable and hatched. I could be wrong?

I had a male who died earlier this year, he was over a year old and still keeping eggs from 8 hens fertile. Many say after a year, fertility drops. If your cage isn’t lit, the male urges slow, and they may stop making foam.

 

[PHquail]

Calibrate it, and keep them all in the center area to have consistent temps. Nurture Rights suck at keeping even temp, you might want some extra insulation around the outside.