Where did I go wrong? - Coturnix Quail

[cottontail farm]

My hatches were horrible until I threw out my manual and bought a new temp/humidity reader. I can't link on my phone but there is one at Walmart that costs about $10 a lot of people on here use. I suspect most if not all of my problems were due to high humidity So sorry this happened to you.

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Maybe try adding a second hygrometer? I hatch in homemade incubators and I use
AcuRite 00325 Indoor Thermometer with Digital Hygrometer and Humidity Gauge, I found mine at Walmart but they probably sell them elsewhere and online. I know it's probably not entirely accurate humidity % but I have had good hatches with it. I second the recommendation to decrease the humidity during the first part of incubation. I usually keep mine closer to 20-30%, I think 55% is way too high. I try to get my humidity to 70-80% at lockdown until all the eggs are hatched.

If you don't already, try keeping an incubation log, each time you check the incubator write down the time/humidity/temp readings and track how successful the hatch was (eggs set/fertility/healthy chicks) so you can tell what you might need to change for future hatches.

Thank you for responding.
I think I will look into a hygrometer. My bator keeps consistent temp but humidity is harder to control. Do you set it higher at lockdown and then leave it be, or do you monitor and add water to maintain it?

 

[Sara L]

Thank you for responding.
I think I will look into a hygrometer. My bator keeps consistent temp but humidity is harder to control. Do you set it higher at lockdown and then leave it be, or do you monitor and add water to maintain it?

I keep temp the same the whole hatch, but add water at lockdown. I have done several hatches with same homemade incubator so I know how many water cups to add to get roughly the right humidity. I also add sponges to help increase humidity as well. If I need to add more water during lockdown I use a straw threaded through one of the ventilation holes and squirt the water into the cups that are low or sponges that are dried out. I don't have an auto-turner so I hand turn at least 3 times per day. At lockdown I stop turning but still check on the eggs the same 3+ times per day so I can tweak the humidity if needed.

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Thanks for all the advice, Everyone!

I’m setting 36 more eggs tomorrow night. 40% humidity to start this time! I also realized that my turner was aligned “against the grain” of the mesh floor, so maybe they were not turning correctly. I will up humidity to only 65% (instead of 75%) at lockdown.

See ya in a few weeks!
Dave

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Well.... this HovaBator is touchy. Seems it likes to live at either 98 or 102.

At 98 which is too low, the humidity is good at 40-43.
At 102, the humidity drops to 36-37.
I get a good few hours though where it’s a perfect 99.5 at about 42 humidity.

If I barely move the temp gauge one way or another it totally swings in temp.

Seems temp trumps humidity, so I’m trying to keep the temp in the 99.5-101 range.

Hard not to obsess over these eggs!!

 

[CCUK]

Hi. I just found my last quail log and this is how I did.
I had a problem trying to get humidity down so I 'dry incubated' that was about 30% humidity until day 14 then I increased it to 55% until hatch. I candled at day 10 and removed any infertile eggs. I removed the Turner on day 14. My temperature was 37.8C until day 14 then I lowered it to 37.5C until hatch. I set 24 eggs and hatched 18 I had 5 infertile and one died in the egg. I don't think that was too bad until half of them were males! I wanted the eggs! I also obsessed. They started hatching at about 11 pm and I just sat and watched them for hours. It was great. They don't normally take too long to hatch!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Hi. I just found my last quail log and this is how I did.
I had a problem trying to get humidity down so I 'dry incubated' that was about 30% humidity until day 14 then I increased it to 55% until hatch. I candled at day 10 and removed any infertile eggs. I removed the Turner on day 14. My temperature was 37.8C until day 14 then I lowered it to 37.5C until hatch. I set 24 eggs and hatched 18 I had 5 infertile and one died in the egg. I don't think that was too bad until half of them were males! I wanted the eggs! I also obsessed. They started hatching at about 11 pm and I just sat and watched them for hours. It was great. They don't normally take too long to hatch!

So you hatched at 30% humidity before raising it higher at lockdown. I think I’m going to concern myself with the proper temp and not worry about the humidity unless it gets to 30%. Thank you!!

 

[CCUK]

So you hatched at 30% humidity before raising it higher at lockdown. I think I’m going to concern myself with the proper temp and not worry about the humidity unless it gets to 30%. Thank you!!

OK. It seems low but when I first started the incubator I couldn't get the humidity below about 65. I was told about dry incubating so I tried it. It seemed to work for me. I was using a automatic incubator with digital read out. I didn't trust it so I bought a separate hygrometer and thermometer. Also the heater wasn't so good in it and I ended up putting a heat lamp above it at night to keep the temp constant. It was middle of November!

 

[naf_appaz]

I run dry and a room dehumidifier to keep my humidity down to 30 -35 until lock down then turn off dehumidifier for 70-80. Chickens and quail. I'm in the deep south where most summer long its 70% or higher. Quail eggs are a bit harder to see air sack then chickens but I would not worry so much about humidity levels as the growth of the air cell. You can find an air cell chart that shows relatively how big it should be at certain points of incubation period. If air cell is to big at any given point raise humidity if its to small lower humidity. Works very well for me and I have a cheap 50 dollar janoel incubator. I don't open after lock down until completion of hatch. Drop in humidity during hatching period can shrink wrap the little quail eggs very fast! Are you hatching mail order eggs? If so 50% is about normal. Rough shipping can often kill the whole batch. Hatching my own eggs I am usually 90%+. Good luck!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

I run dry and a room dehumidifier to keep my humidity down to 30 -35 until lock down then turn off dehumidifier for 70-80. Chickens and quail. I'm in the deep south where most summer long its 70% or higher. Quail eggs are a bit harder to see air sack then chickens but I would not worry so much about humidity levels as the growth of the air cell. You can find an air cell chart that shows relatively how big it should be at certain points of incubation period. If air cell is to big at any given point raise humidity if its to small lower humidity. Works very well for me and I have a cheap 50 dollar janoel incubator. I don't open after lock down until completion of hatch. Drop in humidity during hatching period can shrink wrap the little quail eggs very fast! Are you hatching mail order eggs? If so 50% is about normal. Rough shipping can often kill the whole batch. Hatching my own eggs I am usually 90%+. Good luck!

Thank you!
I am hatching from a local breeder. My hens are not yet laying (separate issue I’m figuring out).
I hatched chickens a while back and my incubator was very consistent the entire time. Seems to be trickier with the quail. I have it at about 100 right now, humidity in the low 40’s high 30’s.