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Now that you've got your incubator built, let's hatch some quail!

Let's do a little calibration on that incubator you just built. The probe should dangle inside the incubator just high enough it doesn't touch the eggs. You want the eggs to be 100F. But Ruck, I read online that you need bla bla bla, 100F! Go ahead and set your W1209 for 100F (mine is in celcius, so make sure you don't boil them at 100C). Grab a little thermometer or one of those radar-looking thermometer guns or your dad's thermocouple or whatever. Put some golf balls or whatever you've got in the incubator and turn it on for a day or so. Test the inside temperature. Bump your module up or down so the stuff inside is ~100F. The eggs around the edges might only be 99F and the eggs in the middle might be 101F, no big deal just do your best.

Now you're going to need some eggs. Order them or ask a friend or collect your own from existing hens. If you're collecting your own eggs, you can collect them for up to a week before placing the entire batch into the incubator. I usually collect for no more than 5 days. While you're storing the eggs, put them point down. This is moderately important, store them point down. There's an air bubble inside and the physics of the egg bla bla bla, just do what I said. If you're unsure whether they're fertilized or not, crack open a couple. If you look real good at the yolks, you'll see a tiny white cheerio on there. Tiny, but visible to the naked eye. You see it? That means it's fertilized!

I like to use sand to hold my eggs. Remember how I said in my last post we're using a trash bag as a liner? It's slippery on their little feet, so I hatch on sand. You can put a little tupperwear full of it in there or fill up the whole bottom with 1/2" of sand, doesn't matter. Stick your eggs down in the sand with the pointy end down (remember?). Turn on your incubator so the sand can warm up before you put in the eggs.

The sand is optional, but I like my birds to have the best chance of survival. This was my first build, no sand: https://files.catbox.moe/wwq4at.jpg

Here's what my schedule is like. On saturday night or sunday morning, I fill my incubator with eggs. I know that 2 sundays from then (14 days) eggs will start popping. Put your ear to the incubator, hear that little army stirring inside those eggs? Let them hatch for a couple days. They don't need food or water or anything at this point. So, if they started hatching on sunday, by tuesday they'll be done. If they don't start popping until monday or tuesday, just give them the full 2 days to finish (your temps might have been a hair low).

You'll have some that didn't hatch, toss them out. You'll have some that maybe died half out of the shell, toss them too. You might even have a sickly one that made it out but died, same thing. There's no sense in nursing one that can't walk right or can't hold its head up right. I'll explain in a later post how to run a proper breeding program to minimize losses.

As long as they are dry, take them out of the incubator and into the brooder. You'll notice a lot of dust in your incubator. Their fuzzy little feathers are finer than frog hair, and the fan will blow them around a bit. This will collect on your bulbs and fan, so wipe them down between batches.

If you ordered eggs, plan on half of them hatching. If you bought eggs from some weirdo you found on craigslist, expect 50% - 70% hatching. Once you've got your breeding program running strong, expect +80% to hatch. As long as you end up with a single male and a female, you can breed hundreds over the course of a year.

Hopefully you ended up with this and not alligators or something: https://files.catbox.moe/wdq7uh.jpg

Now that you've got your incubator built, let's hatch some quail! Let's do a little calibration on that incubator you just built. The probe should dangle inside the incubator just high enough it doesn't touch the eggs. You want the eggs to be 100F. But Ruck, I read online that you need bla bla bla, 100F! Go ahead and set your W1209 for 100F (mine is in celcius, so make sure you don't boil them at 100C). Grab a little thermometer or one of those radar-looking thermometer guns or your dad's thermocouple or whatever. Put some golf balls or whatever you've got in the incubator and turn it on for a day or so. Test the inside temperature. Bump your module up or down so the stuff inside is ~100F. The eggs around the edges might only be 99F and the eggs in the middle might be 101F, no big deal just do your best. Now you're going to need some eggs. Order them or ask a friend or collect your own from existing hens. If you're collecting your own eggs, you can collect them for up to a week before placing the entire batch into the incubator. I usually collect for no more than 5 days. While you're storing the eggs, put them point down. This is moderately important, store them point down. There's an air bubble inside and the physics of the egg bla bla bla, just do what I said. If you're unsure whether they're fertilized or not, crack open a couple. If you look real good at the yolks, you'll see a tiny white cheerio on there. Tiny, but visible to the naked eye. You see it? That means it's fertilized! I like to use sand to hold my eggs. Remember how I said in my last post we're using a trash bag as a liner? It's slippery on their little feet, so I hatch on sand. You can put a little tupperwear full of it in there or fill up the whole bottom with 1/2" of sand, doesn't matter. Stick your eggs down in the sand with the pointy end down (remember?). Turn on your incubator so the sand can warm up before you put in the eggs. The sand is optional, but I like my birds to have the best chance of survival. This was my first build, no sand: https://files.catbox.moe/wwq4at.jpg Here's what my schedule is like. On saturday night or sunday morning, I fill my incubator with eggs. I know that 2 sundays from then (14 days) eggs will start popping. Put your ear to the incubator, hear that little army stirring inside those eggs? Let them hatch for a couple days. They don't need food or water or anything at this point. So, if they started hatching on sunday, by tuesday they'll be done. If they don't start popping until monday or tuesday, just give them the full 2 days to finish (your temps might have been a hair low). You'll have some that didn't hatch, toss them out. You'll have some that maybe died half out of the shell, toss them too. You might even have a sickly one that made it out but died, same thing. There's no sense in nursing one that can't walk right or can't hold its head up right. I'll explain in a later post how to run a proper breeding program to minimize losses. As long as they are dry, take them out of the incubator and into the brooder. You'll notice a lot of dust in your incubator. Their fuzzy little feathers are finer than frog hair, and the fan will blow them around a bit. This will collect on your bulbs and fan, so wipe them down between batches. If you ordered eggs, plan on half of them hatching. If you bought eggs from some weirdo you found on craigslist, expect 50% - 70% hatching. Once you've got your breeding program running strong, expect +80% to hatch. As long as you end up with a single male and a female, you can breed hundreds over the course of a year. Hopefully you ended up with this and not alligators or something: https://files.catbox.moe/wdq7uh.jpg

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[–] • 0 pt

Let's break that down.

I use the fertilizer on my garden. It adds up quickly with that many birds. I also use small tractors that I move around daily out in the yard.

Feed prices vary greatly. I buy directly from the amish, so 3x 50lb sacks would likely raise 50 birds. That's under $45 total for me. I don't count water prices, because it's negligible to me.

By 3 weeks at the latest they're off the heat. Less in the summer. Or, I use the same w1209 modules to regulate heat in case it gets cold at night.

I've heard they're dusty, too. I don't keep adults inside and the chicks are in the garage at 10 days old. This could be an issue for someone with allergies. This isn't an issue with my program.

I just needed room in the fridge so I had the Mrs cook them up for the rotts. Eggs make their coat shiny. I don't feed them raw scraps, but they do eat meat and veggies. Sometimes I'll save hearts and livers to cook for them.

I hope with spring approaching people will raise some birds. Not everyone can keep a chicken or duck, but the jew fears the quail farmer. I hope you stick around!

[–] • 0 pt

I wish I had access to Amish, I would worry a little less about access to feed. Have you ever considered what you would do if you could no longer buy feed for them? I have been wanting to explore something easy to raise that I can feed from my property. I would imagine they would eat a good bit of grass and green if they had access, just like the chickens do. But I don't imagine it would be sufficient. Perhaps raising some kind of insect along with some grains, idk.

We have guineas, turkeys, chickens, goats, and pigs. Looking long term at the chance that we will no longer be allowed to buy things for whatever reason, I feel like what I have isn't sustainable. I've known about the quail being very advantageous in hatch to table time. I might have to see what kind of gardening I can do to supplement and see what experiments I can pull off this year.

Again thanks for your information! Looking forward to photos of your setup.

[–] • 0 pt

All my adult birds eat the same layer feed: duck, chicken, and quail. I looked into mixing my own feed before I found what I needed from the amish. It wouldn't save me money, so it wasn't worth the trouble. Standard egg layer feed is about 25% cheaper than the high protein stuff I feed young quail.

You can look up the nutritional content of corn, soy, oats, etc to mix up a feed specific to whichever animal is eating it. Crush up their egg shells for the calcium and feed it back to your birds as a supplement.

I've raised worms in the past, so I'd probably do that or crickets. Maybe guppies or mollies for the ducks? IDK where you are, but you could always take a pickup and trailer a few hundred miles and load up on cheap feed. Might be worth it.