What is the perfect temperature and humidy for button quail?

[CondoCountryBoy]

A generous forum member gave me over 30 button quail eggs to try and hatch. I have been doing my research and want everything to go well. I just realized how important it is to measure humidity so I purchased a humidity reader with a thermometer. I had trusted the 37.5 setting on my incubator but have been reading that I need to confirm and adjust the incubator accordingly. I am only on my 3rd day of incubation. Should I go for 50% humidity and increase at lockdown? How about the temperature? Should it remain 37.5 during the entire process or should I cool it a bit at lockdown? I have read arguments for both. I am trying to do this right, even though I will probably end up with more birds than I need. I can always give some away.

 

[JaeG]

Lucky you! Yes, humidity is very important so keep it around 50-55% until a few days before hatch when you go into lock down. Then bump it up to at least 65%, higher is fine. My Japanese quail I've just hatched got up to 82% humidity and still hatched out fine. For the first part of my incubation I found I only needed a cup of water as the smaller well in my incubator sent the humidity too high so do double check with your hygrometer.

I've hatched out button quail under a heat lamp with a damp cloth under them. My hen sat on her eggs until they started pipping, then abandoned them. After about 5 hours of hoping she'd get back on I brought them inside, so they are tougher than we think.

Good luck - let me know how you get on.

 

[BobDBirdDog]

I feel it is more a regional in theory....in Middle, TN I incubate at 100.6 to 101.2 and usually around 58-64% humidity and usually have good hatch rates. I always say TN has fickle weather patterns and unsteady humidity so I try to stay around the average for my area.
But lets not forget some species might need more or less humidity.

 

[BobDBirdDog]

If I could elaborate a little, you see the arguments a little all over the board because (spite my previous comment) there is a range of variances to which the eggs will tolerate in humidity and temps.
I worry more about temp than I do humidity although both are equally important. With temps I try to maintain a tight 0.6+ - temp (100.6 - 101.2).... a good senstive thermostat is required for that.
Humidity - as long as I keep it between 45 to 65% I am happy. 45% is usually right when the water gets low and needs a refill and 65% after filled. It stays at 65% usually until the early am and starts dropping. I keep my incubator more open to fresh air (flow) so I have to add 12 oz of water each day. Thus fresh air is also a consideration.

The biggest issue is making sure your gages are reading correct. I wrote an article to help test the two a year or two back, but there are bettter articles on the topic here on BYC and on the internet. You should test both before starting incubation, my instructions are half way down in the first post in the article/post link below.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...meter-and-hygrometer-review-and-recomendation

Lastly, you hear about two type of incubation, Dry and humid.
Dry incubation... is usually done around (Im pretty sure I read?) 20-25%--- humidity for the most of the incubation then boosted up to 75% in the last few days.
Humid incubation.... is as stated 50-55% then boosted up to 75% or more in the last few days.

 

[CondoCountryBoy]

So it sounds like neither of you cool down a notch at lockdown. Some articles and posts I have read about button quail do suggest that, but others say it is not necessary.

 

[JaeG]

Being such tiny eggs dry incubation may be too much for button quail eggs. All I know is that the egg needs to lose enough moisture so the air cell is sufficient for the chick to have enough oxygen to last until it can make an external pip. The hen would usually supply the relevant humidity. I work in Celsius so I incubated my Japanese quail eggs at 38 degrees C the whole way, but being a cheap incubator it has no insulation so it's been a bit variable. And my humidity has been 50-55% then after lockdown I've kept it above 70%. I've had 18 out of 24 chicks hatch so far (I was naughty and added a few more eggs a couple of days later). They are such cute babies!

 

[JaeG]

Just keep an eye on your temperature as it may go up a tad as the babies start to generate their own body heat and hatch, but with button quail I don't think it would be enough to affect you temperature drastically. So just monitor and adjust, but don't stress about it. I've watched mother chickens clunking their eggs together as they turn them, hopping off their pipping eggs for a break, so try not to stress too much. Eggs are tough!

 

[CondoCountryBoy]

well I got a thermometer and they way it was set I was at 38c and 30% humidity. I added a little water and now I am at 39 and 69% humidity. I will let it settle and see how it is in the morning.