My first Quail. A mini blog.

[pac]

Now that I've got a little information under my belt and have become dangerous
And rather that posting a new thread for each event, or milestone, or sad day... whatever may happen...
I am starting a thread on my journey into quail. From A to Z so to speak.
With some commentary thrown in. Cuz that's the way I roll

So let me start off by saying that Big River delivered a big box today. It contained some odds and ends I had decided, after much reading and many youtube videos, that I needed.

I got my Govee thermometer/hydrostat. Said to be more accurate than the Nurture Right 360 incubator's display.
And it is reading one degree F colder than my instant read food thermometer is... I haven't tried it out in the incubator yet. I will do that later today. I wish it had a probe. I would test it in boiling water.
But it has me thinking. Did I get sucked into buying a $12 thermometer because a youtuber was pushing them and others were recommending them??? Others who also probably bought them based on the same video??? The answer of course is yes The question of course is how it will read compared to the incubator. And which temp I will go by...

Maybe I should get out my sling psychrometer from the old days and see how close the humidity level is to what the Govee says. Or not. I doubt I could find it anyway. But the way I understand it, humidity can fluctuate a little, but the temp should be spot on.

I'm also going to use a quail egg turner in the 360. That seemed like a good idea based on one video I saw that said the eggs didn't seem to be turning well in the 360 using the chicken egg rack that came with it. So I ordered one of those, too.

This will be the first time I'll be using another new gizmo, too.
I got one of those temperature controllers that regulates the brooder's heat source. Not much money and seems like a good idea starting with hatchlings. Previously with chickens (that were already a few days old) I simply taped a thermometer to the side of the brooder and adjusted the height of the heat lamp accordingly. So this will be nice. I'll use it in conjunction with the ceramic reptile heater I got. Dang, this free meat and eggs is getting expensive

The farm I contacted yesterday about getting jumbo wild/brown Coturnix eggs called me last night, but my phone was already in sleep mode. He asked if I wanted him to ship the eggs today! I texted him this morning saying yes. Hopefully that works out OK (with me getting back to him a day later) and I'll have 36 eggs on the way from 2-1/2 hours away.
So today will be plug the incubator in and do a trial run to dial everything in day.

And I will also continue building the hutch. Yesterday I got the four floor and ceiling frames done. That took a little time, as it was more cost effective to rip 2x4's into 2x2's and my table saw is in the basement. And I'm not really a woodworker. But I do like building things.

I added four metal corners to help stabilize it, since I will be building the skeleton frame first, then adding the floor/walls/etc. If I put the floor on it, it would be more solid, but it would also make it a lot heavier and more cumbersome to work with. At least that is my thoughts. Plus I can install the flooring at a more comfortable level once the legs are on. But if you have an extra pair of hands helping, you can save money and not buy the corner pieces.

The TV is on and I think I finally hit upon a nice incubation video. It's done in parts.
But again, I noticed the date. And I have to ask, why are all the quail YT videos like 3-6 years old? Were quail "trending" during that time period? Some of these old videos could really use an update.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to quail.

Where are you ordering your eggs from?
Did you get the Govee app?
Put your Govee in the bator now and run it for a few days before your egg show up.

 

[pac]

Welcome to quail.

Where are you ordering your eggs from?
Did you get the Govee app?
Put your Govee in the bator now and run it for a few days before your egg show up.

Thanks

Pine Hill Farms in OH. They were recommended to me in another thread. And they are shipping today. They texted me back about an hour ago.

No. I don't need to monitor the temp from my phone.
I did check the Govee against my food thermometer again and now it is within 0.2 degrees. Maybe it needed to settle in or something from shipping. It also reads what my wall thermometer does.

I'll be doing a trial run in the incubator shortly. Like in 30 minutes. Including the Govee.

 

[CliftonQuail]

If you want to test the humidity reading on your Govee, it's best to do a "salt test". Using regular salt, fill a small plastic lid (soda/water bottle works great) about 3/4 full with salt, add just enough distilled water to saturate the salt (think wet sand on the beach after the tide rolls out). Seal that paste and the Govee in a plastic baggie, but don't force the air out. Place it somewhere preferably around 70 F. Wait 8 to 24 hours for it to stabilize. After it reaches equilibrium, the reading should be 75% humidity. If the Govee reads that, you're set. If not, I believe it can be calibrated from your phone using the app. Otherwise, you could make note of the how far from 75% the reading is and add/deduct that amount from whatever reading it shows when in the incubator.

 

[pac]

That's pretty nifty, @CliftonQuail
Thanks

The humidity reading is definitely off somewhere, as you can see here:

I think I read or saw somewhere that the 360 needs to run about four hours to level out and give correct readings. It's probably been about 4-5 hours since I took that picture.
I need to head to the local hardware store to pick up a few things anyway and I want to add one of those non-slip drawer liners. I saw a thread here on how some can affect humidity. I should still have a couple days to figure it out.

Meanwhile...
I've been working on the hutch some more. Pretty gusty winds here today. I had to add a lot of bracing to keep the framework from blowing over. Kind of whooped at the moment. That may be as far as I go today. That wind takes a lot out of you. I probably could have used some bracing myself

 

[pac]

After six hours or so there's still a 7-8% disparity in the humidity readings. But the temp between the two are within a degree. It had dropped one degree according to the Govee as it was moving around the incubator, but then it picked back up to 99.5F as it moved some more.
Can work with this? The eggs are due in Friday AM.

And the wind died down, so I picked up the tools again and continued on.

 

[pac]

Time for a roof and the hardware cloth.
I've decided to put some 1/2" OSB on the very top, too. There will be a gap between the roof and the top of the pen... and I was going to go with HD plastic... but I want to make it a little harder for the red squirrels to try to chew their way in. If they get rambunctious that is.

I'll add the hardware cloth after it's in place. Or darn close to it. I don't want to lay the cloth down only to have it buckle from a mishap or whatever. I'll make the doors at that time, too. And the rack for the bottom litter trays.

 

[pac]

Looks like I am going to be one piece of OSB short for a door.
But I did see a new house going up a few weeks ago just up the road. I'm going to swing by there tomorrow and see if they have some scrap they can part with. Or a scrap pile I can raid.

 

[pac]

Lucky me!
The local hardware store cuts lumber and had a 14" x 8' piece of treated plywood laying around. Well worth ten bucks.

So I did wrap up the enclosed side today. And I'm giving thought to doing the roof while it is still in the sunlight. Before I move it to partial sunlight where it's home will be.
I had to brace the center up top. On account of warpage. I just know it would have given me door clearance problems in the future.
I also added a board across the bottom to help contain the deep litter pine shavings method I'm going to use on that side. I don't want to be sweeping every time I open the door to get it to close.

I picked up my eggs from the PO today. One DOA. The box had obviously been mishandled and dropped a lot, as the eggs had worked their way through the holes in the foam into the solid piece of foam below. One egg on the bottom foam had slid right out and under the piece it started in with the holes. But it was an egg on top that broke.
It was a big one, too

Hard to believe that egg that fell through the foam lived. You can tell just what side that box was dropped on.

I pushed them all out a little and reoriented them for their 24 hour rest.

I also reset the 360 for 17 days, since the turner is programmed to stop three days before "hatch day".

Should be good to go tomorrow morning for Day 1.

 

[pac]

I found another broken one when I put them in the incubator. Darn.

Anyway, I got them situated and gave them a couple turns with the turn feature. Obviously the ones on the outside turned more. About 3/4 around. I saw some youtubers saying it turned their eggs completely around, but maybe they had smaller eggs. I figure as long as they are moving, that's the important part.

Day 1