Incubating quail eggs
Hi quail raisers!
In this article, I am going to explain how to incubate and hatch your quail eggs to get the best hatch rate and healthiest chicks!
First thing is to have all the equipment you need to begin. This means having your supplies for incubating and hatching, but also your brooder equipment! If you are hatching Bobwhites, Snowflakes, or Mexican Speckled Quail you have about 3 weeks to get your brooder ready. However Coturnix Quail you only have about 2 weeks.
The incubator I recommend for Quail Hatching is a FORCED AIR incubator. I like the Little Giant circulated air sytrofoam incubator. These seem to hold a steadier temperature than most. The second most important thing to have is your egg turner. Make sure you are buying the same brand egg turner with whichever incubator you purchase so that is fits in your machine. Hatching eggs must be turned once per hour while incubating so that they cell does not get stuck to the side of the shell. If this happens, the embryo will die. So, having a turner is a must. *Make sure to buy the quail rails as well so that you’re eggs fit in the turner.
I made it easy and picked out the incubator and egg turner I would buy for a small at home hatch activity. These you can purchase off amazon and get them quickly! This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.
Little Giant Incubator/Hatcher including the Turner
Please click on this link to watch the nice video on how to set up and manage the incubator. It explains how to adjust your humidity as well.
The incubator above includes the chicken egg turner, so you must purchase these quail rails and switch them out in order to incubate your quail eggs.
THE MUST HAVE’S….
These are an absolute must. DO NOT USE PAPERTOWEL. Quail chicks are very fragile when they hatch and papertowel can actually cause splayed legs as it does not have enough traction. These shop towels are very rough and keep the chicks upright and healthy!
Once you hit transfer day, remove your turner from the incubator and place the shop towels on the rack inside. Make sure they fit nice and flat so chicks can’t get underneath. Once that is ready, gently transfer the eggs directly on the shop towels and close up the incubator.
Now is the time to increase the humidity to the Hatching recommendation and drop the temperature 1 degree Farhenheit.
This is awesome because it uses wifi so it can send email alerts to your phone! I use these in our large incubators and saved me a lot of money versus having an alarm system. This monitors both the temperature and humidity. Yes, the incubator does use a monitor to tell you the temperature and humidity, BUT it does not mean that the temperature and humidity is correct. Well worth it it to have a successful hatch! The black round piece is the sensor that will go inside the incubator, then you can use the digital monitor as a visual aid. You can set it up to send email alerts to your phone to monitor the temperature and humidity.
Temperature and Humidity settings
Bobwhite, Snowflake, and Mexican Speckled Quail
Incubation 0 - 20 days:
*Be sure to monitor your turner in the morning and at night to double check the eggs are turning once per hour.
Temperature: 99.5 F
Humidity: 55%
Transfer at day 20
Make sure all your supplies are ready to go before you begin the transfer so that the incubator does stay open long. It takes a long time for the temperture to build back.
Make sure your hands are clean
Take the turner with eggs out of the incubator.
The tray stays in the incubator and you will place the shop towels flat on the tray
Place eggs gently on the shop towels
Add warm water to increase the humidity, close incubator.
Hatching 20 - 23 days: (all should be hatched by end of day 23) We do not recommend to keep any late hatching chicks as they will not be as healthy and can cause disease in the flock.
Temperature: 98.5 F
Humidity: 65%
Coturnix Quail
Incubation 0 - 15 days:
*Be sure to monitor your turner in the morning and at night to double check the eggs are turning once per hour.
Temperature: 99.5 F
Humidity: 55%
Transfer at day 15
Make sure all your supplies are ready to go before you begin the transfer so that the incubator does stay open long. It takes a long time for the temperture to build back.
Make sure your hands are clean
Take the turner with eggs out of the incubator.
The tray stays in the incubator and you will place the shop towels flat on the tray
Place eggs gently on the shop towels
Add warm water to increase the humidity, close incubator.
Hatching 15-18 days: (all should be hatched by end of day 18) We do not recommend to keep any late hatching chicks as they will not be as healthy and can cause disease in the flock.
Temperature: 98.5 F
Humidity: 65-70%
Thanks for reading!
Please email me with any questions at justwinginitgamebirds@gmail.com
Thanks,
Kristin