What Should Humidity Percentage Be???

[Lesalynn]

What should humidity be during incubation with quail eggs? (Coturnix) On what day do I lockdown, and what should humidity be during lockdown? Temp 99.5??

 

[Valley quail breeder]

Quote:
With my Coturnix I keep temp at 99.5 F - 101.00 F and humidity around 77 and turn 3 times a day and incubate for 18 days and stop turning on day 15, and i have great hatches with this method.

 

[Lesalynn]

Thank you, Valley....I have read so many conflicting opinions, was scared to death. Of course I know everyone's situations may differ a bit....Now, do I leave the humidity levels the same during lockdown??? I've got 39 eggs that look great, lots of veins and movement, and I don't want to mess it up, as seems things are looking good. My humidity had been around 75, and then I read somewhere that it needs to be 60, and somewere else that it should be between 65 and 75....so, I figured I'd go between, and cross my fingers. But if 77 works for you, then maybe I was on the right track staying around 75 to begin with. This is my first batch of quails to incubate, so have been trying to do a lot of research. Guess I will just learn as I go. Again, thanks for the info.

 

[Valley quail breeder]

Quote:
Sounds good just lock um down let it roll let us know how they turn out on hatch day

 

[Mrs MIA]

Not to muddle things up, and don't change a thing at this point in the game, but I incubate the same as chickens... 99.5°F forced air temp, and ~ 45-50% humidity for the first 14 days. I move them to the hatcher, and increase the humidity a little, but I rarely see it over 65% and have great hatches. Of course, I really don't pay any attention to the actual numbers. I have a pan of water in the incubator for the incubation period, then put a wick in it to increase the humidity for lockdown, but I don't stress over the percentage. As long as the incubator isn't dripping wet, you should be fine. I've missed eggs before, and had quail hatch in the turner in a bone dry incubator...

so don't sweat it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have mine in a hovabator 1588 (forced air with a fan). I don't add any water to it this time of year, the room humidity is about 60% most days, inside the bator is about 35-40%.

Temps should be 99.5 for a forced air incubator, 101.5 for a circulated (still) air incubator. Humidity around 50% for incubation, but I've been having good luck with 'dry' hatching them. Humidity for hatch at least 50%.

 

[Slater1995]

Quote:
I keep my temp right at 100 and my humidity at 50-60 during incubation and 65-70 at lockdown (Still Air). I have had really good hatch rate with this.

Hope this helps.

Teresa