1st time incubating Chinese Painted Quail eggs

[jak2002003]

I got this mini incubator thing off the net to try to hatch out some of my Chinese Painted Quail eggs, because I have very poor hatch rates when the female quail incubates them herself. Each time she goes broody she only manages to hatch 1 chick from 7 or 8 eggs, and the last time none of the eggs hatched.

The first time she ever hatched a clutch was a couple years ago, she had 6 babies, but my pekin robin killed them all on the first day when I was at work :{ Since then I never let her hatch any more. But now I have moved the songbirds into their own aviary so the quail are on their own.

I tried to get more quails, but nowhere sells them in my city any more and the shops said they will not order any for me. I can't get any eggs on line either. In my country they are not a common pet. So, I decided to let her try again because I was worried my quails might die of old age and then I would not be able to get any more.

So I have put 12 of her eggs in the incubator and am turning them 5 or so times a day. The female quail has also gone broody again on 11 eggs and they are due to hatch 2 days after the ones in the incubator.

If some hatch in the incubator I plan to give them to her to raise (as she did raise her other chicks really well). So I hope she might hatch one or 2 herself and I get a few more from the incubator.

I am hoping her poor hatch rates are not due to the male or her not being fertile as they are both quite old. She is about 3 and the male is over 4 years old.

This is the first time I ever used an incubator so it's very exciting.

 

[ButtonNomies]

Awesome Her poor hatch rate could be down to age and the fact she's sitting on too many eggs. 3 times a day turning is enough, 5 may be too much with u having to keep open the incubator especially if its a small cheap one. Use an independent hydrometer inside with the eggs as the bator temp controls are always a little off. U want the humidity at 30-40% for 15 days then on lockdown u want it at 50-60%. Temp u want at 99° (ideal) tho I find with the smaller cheaper bators they will flux between 98 and 100 which is within the parameters.
Do NOT open a small incubator after lockdown unless it's a dire emergency. The humidity goes out FAST and u would end up with shrink wrapped chicks.

Hope this helps?

As for fertility. Crack a couple of the eggs she's sitting on (she could do with sitting on less anyway) and see if the yolk have white bullseyes in them. If they do there's a good chance the rest do too xx

 

[jak2002003]

Awesome Her poor hatch rate could be down to age and the fact she's sitting on too many eggs. 3 times a day turning is enough, 5 may be too much with u having to keep open the incubator especially if its a small cheap one. Use an independent hydrometer inside with the eggs as the bator temp controls are always a little off. U want the humidity at 30-40% for 15 days then on lockdown u want it at 50-60%. Temp u want at 99° (ideal) tho I find with the smaller cheaper bators they will flux between 98 and 100 which is within the parameters.
Do NOT open a small incubator after lockdown unless it's a dire emergency. The humidity goes out FAST and u would end up with shrink wrapped chicks.

Hope this helps?

As for fertility. Crack a couple of the eggs she's sitting on (she could do with sitting on less anyway) and see if the yolk have white bullseyes in them. If they do there's a good chance the rest do too xx

I will turn less in the incubator. I am not too worried about humidity because its normally 45 to over 60 percent most days where I live.

Also it's over 90 F most days too...and this is the COOL season lol.

I will take out a couple of her eggs from the nest and open them as you suggest. The last lot went past the hatch date a few days, so I float tested them and they were all no good. I opened them and they were just all runny yolk inside. Lucky no explosion or rotten egg smell (which I was terrified of).

I'll post an update. Thanks again.

 

[jak2002003]

UPDATE

It's chaos !

In the incubator one chick hatched out a full 2 days before the due date! Then another hatched on the due date. Then 4 more hatched a day after the due date!

I put all the eggs in the incubator at the same time and had stored them in a container about 1 week before, so was surprised at the different hatch times.

The eggs I left with the broody quail to incubate herself are due to hatch in another 2 days time from today, but one hatched out YESTERDAY morning... which was before the last ones in the incubator hatched!

My partner rushed into the house in a panic on seeing the just hatched chick being beaten up, thrown into the air and dragged about on the floor by the other quails as the mother one was frantically trying to protect it. No idea how it even got so far from the nest!

The poor thing was very weak and hardly moving. I took a chance and put it into the incubator and the next morning I expected to see it dead, but it had made a full recovery.

Now I have 7 very healthy and cute chicks, all different colours.

I had already put the 2 early hatched ones with the mother yesterday in the early evening, as she had left her nest after the chick attack incident and not gone back. She accepted them at once.

Today I gave her the last 5 chicks and she also is looking after them and brooding them well.

I had taken her remaining eggs out of her nest when I saw she was not going back to them (they were still just warm as I live in a very hot climate), and they are in the brooder due to hatch in a few days. I'll see if any survived, but if not it's OK and I am more than happy with 7.

My other female quail is also helping out feeding and brooding the chicks, and the chicks switch between the two mothers. She had gone broody shortly after the mother one and was sharing the same nest.

So, now I wait to see if any more eggs hatch over the next few days. It's all been very exciting. I am glad the mothers accepted them, and I don't have to look after them myself in a brooder. Small problem is that the second broody quail must have laid her last eggs a few days after the other quail, so not sure at all now of their hatch date.

What an adventure. lol.

 

[Nabiki]

UPDATE

It's chaos !

In the incubator one chick hatched out a full 2 days before the due date! Then another hatched on the due date. Then 4 more hatched a day after the due date!

I put all the eggs in the incubator at the same time and had stored them in a container about 1 week before, so was surprised at the different hatch times.

The eggs I left with the broody quail to incubate herself are due to hatch in another 2 days time from today, but one hatched out YESTERDAY morning... which was before the last ones in the incubator hatched!

My partner rushed into the house in a panic on seeing the just hatched chick being beaten up, thrown into the air and dragged about on the floor by the other quails as the mother one was frantically trying to protect it. No idea how it even got so far from the nest!

The poor thing was very weak and hardly moving. I took a chance and put it into the incubator and the next morning I expected to see it dead, but it had made a full recovery.

Now I have 7 very healthy and cute chicks, all different colours.

I had already put the 2 early hatched ones with the mother yesterday in the early evening, as she had left her nest after the chick attack incident and not gone back. She accepted them at once.

Today I gave her the last 5 chicks and she also is looking after them and brooding them well.

I had taken her remaining eggs out of her nest when I saw she was not going back to them (they were still just warm as I live in a very hot climate), and they are in the brooder due to hatch in a few days. I'll see if any survived, but if not it's OK and I am more than happy with 7.

My other female quail is also helping out feeding and brooding the chicks, and the chicks switch between the two mothers. She had gone broody shortly after the mother one and was sharing the same nest.

So, now I wait to see if any more eggs hatch over the next few days. It's all been very exciting. I am glad the mothers accepted them, and I don't have to look after them myself in a brooder. Small problem is that the second broody quail must have laid her last eggs a few days after the other quail, so not sure at all now of their hatch date.

What an adventure. lol.

It sounds like your incubator has some warm and cool spots. That's one reason we usually recommend two or three calibrated thermometers in your incubator.