Incubating eggs is an interesting and rewarding pastime for the whole family. It's also a good way of teaching children how life begins.
Unfortunatley quail and incubating seem to go 'hand in hand' as quail are sometimes very reluctant to sit on their eggs. This appears to be due to years of intensive quail farming where all the eggs are incubated and the baby quail never learn parenting skills. That said there is every chance that you are one of the lucky ones and your hen will sit. It's best to give her a couple of goes to see if she can get it right. If she shows no interest in sitting on her eggs you must incubate them. Some people try a broody hen 'I would suggest a small bantam may be better'. If you havn't got a bantam to hand then either a homemade or shop bought incubator will do the job.
Incubators vary in price greatly and I have posted some links to some of the most reasonable suppliers I've found. Its best to send for a catalogue if one is available as it will usually have a lot more equipment in it than is advertised on their website. You will find all the bits you need to build your own incubator in kit form just add your own box or ready built incubators are also available for about three times the price. If money is no problem invest in a auto turn incubator. This simply turns the eggs for you (which has to be done al least three times a day) and will save you a lot of time in the long run. N.B In some cases auto turners can be added later thus spreading the cost. When you have your incubator set it up test it for a day to make sure you can keep the temperature stable before you put your first batch of eggs in. You should be able to meassure both the temperature and the humidity in your incubator, gauges will be available from the same source as your incubator.
A hen will not sit until she has laid between 8-12 eggs. She may not even lay them all in the one spot, but will roll them together when she has made her nest. In this way she can make sure they all hatch at once. This is also handy for incubation as you can wait till you have a good few before you start incubating,
'10 is what I aim for'.
Temperature 37C (99.5F-99.9F).
Humidity 55-60% increase to 65-70% for the last 3 days of incubation in order to sofen the shell ready for hatching.
Incubation period 16-18 days.
Turn the eggs at least 3 times a day.
The above are the ideals some slight variation should not cause any problems, 'but only slight'.
I usually write the date on each egg (with an indelable marker) as I place them in the incubator. By doing this I can tell exactly when incubation started as there may be several batches in the incubator at once.
Good Luck! |
