Incubating

Post Reply
User avatar
BlackCobra
...............................
...............................
Posts: 262
Joined: 16 Nov 2012, 00:11
Location: Hunter

Hi, I was making a mouse trap yesterday & I come across a few small cages I used when I incubated quail.
I thought I would post about them to save people having the same problems as me, a lot of incubators just have a flat surface were all the eggs are placed, I made little boxes out of mouse wire so if I see any babies chipping out of an egg, I place them into these little boxes/cages, there around 6inches by 8-10 inches, I even have a real small one just for a few eggs.
The old problem I had was the newly hatches chicks played football with all the other eggs, so if I know some are due I put in the cages or if I see them chipping, if I still had some eggs in that box after some hatched, I would put the chicks into another little box until they dried out ready for the brooder.
Another thing I did was change the bottom by making trays for the bottom, I made the trays out of normal square bird wire & bent with a broom handle to give a nice round shape for the eggs, that way all the eggs were in a row & much easier to turn.
But the hatching babies still kicked them around so I still had to use the little cages to put the pipping eggs in.
I also made some charts to make it easier to know when there going to hatch, I have a 18 day & a 21 day chart, how it works is, if you look at date on eggs & look at chart the date right under the date on egg is hatch date, It made it a lot easier for me, I had so many different dates going in a few incubators, I only had to look at the chart on wall & know there not due for so many days.
Thats if you date them, some people don't do it, a friend of mine had one explode in the incubator, it was fun for him to turn all the rest waiting for them to hatch or explode, the smell was exstream lol.
Just another point, if you are waiting for enough eggs to put in the incubator, try not to hold over 7 days at hatch rate drops with time, I find this weird as a hen waits until all are hatched until she sits, also turn all eggs every day, the same as in an incubator, & also with big end up.
Also if you are going to incubate compared to letting them sit, you will get a lot more eggs, as long as you never leave any eggs for them to go clucky.
Just a few hatching times, Chooks 21 days, turkey 28 days, ducks 28 days, Muscovy duck 35 days- lay 100, Small goose 30 days, Large Goose 35 days, Guinea fowl 27 days lay 50-100, Ringneck Pheasants 27days- lay 40, Jap quails 17-18 days- lay 250-300, Bobwhite quail 23-24 Days, King Quails 21 Days, Pigeons 17-18 Days, Khaki Cambels ducks lay up to 300 eggs, Indian Runner ducks lay up to 280, these egg numbers are if you take there eggs & don't let them sit.
Always make sure the paper or what ever you put under the chicks isn't to slippery, as chicks can get splayed legs.
I always used Turkey starter for raising baby quails, they need high protein.
Turn eggs at least 2-3 times a day.
Do not turn eggs in the last 3 days of hatching.
I never worried about the brooding temps, I just had it so the chicks could moved closer to the globes to regulate there own temp, but the globes must provide at least 35c
My Incubator temp was always set at for fan forced 99.75 = 37.6C I used that temp for all my quails, chooks, pheasants, ect ect, remember if not fan forced it has to be 101.75 = 38.75C
Relative Humidity Day 1-14 55-60% & day 14-17 70% for japs, I kept mine at same humidity all the time as I had too many different dates going in my incubators.
Make sure you put marbles or stones into the water dish to prevent drowning.
Always allow 5 days or more past the date of hatching time, many things can mess up times.
Woops I only started this to give one hint about about cages in incubators, I got a little carried away, lol.
A lot of this info was from the Dept of Agriculture & other sources many years ago, so don't shoot the messenger for them being wrong, these days the net is such a resource, back when I started it was hard trying to find all the right info.
User avatar
BOF33
...............................
...............................
Posts: 219
Joined: 08 Dec 2011, 23:30
Location: Melbourne Australia

Firsthand experience is priceless. Very comprehensive and lots of good advice given here BlackCobra.. :thumbup:
User avatar
finches247
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 2546
Joined: 04 May 2011, 20:16
Location: Whangarei Northland New Zealand

Great advice BC :thumbup:
User avatar
BlackCobra
...............................
...............................
Posts: 262
Joined: 16 Nov 2012, 00:11
Location: Hunter

Hi Henry
I see you have quails, I do miss them so much, Its tempting to get some, but I have had some problems with them before, its not so bad if I only was breeding quails but when I have finches, the quails fly up at night & there call brings the cats.
Its annoying, I have tried trimming wings & all different methods.
Its like many years ago when I lived down the central coast I wanted to keep some silkie chooks & I had a neighbor next door that complained about everything so when the rooster started to crow, I was told to put him in a lower cage so he cant stretch his neck up & crow, it was fine first 2 days, next morning he was crowing, I went out & looked in cage, he was stretching his neck sideways & crowing lol.
User avatar
casehulsebosch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 552
Joined: 03 Feb 2011, 19:37
Location: new zealand

Interesting thought.
I read several European bird forums and the overwelming majority of bird breeders are against incubators. Some even going as far as to say that if it came to that they would give the hobby away.
I do'n"t know the state of quail in Oz but in NZ there is definately a surplus of the more common species so why not use parents to breed and raise?
Or are they bred in numbers so they can be purchased for next to nothing and used as snake fodder?

There is quite a big drive in Europe to go back to nature and the Society of Natural bred Gouldian finches for instance does not even allow its members to have Bengalese.

food for thought,

cheers, Case.
User avatar
BlackCobra
...............................
...............................
Posts: 262
Joined: 16 Nov 2012, 00:11
Location: Hunter

casehulsebosch wrote:Interesting thought.
I read several European bird forums and the overwelming majority of bird breeders are against incubators. Some even going as far as to say that if it came to that they would give the hobby away.
I do'n"t know the state of quail in Oz but in NZ there is definately a surplus of the more common species so why not use parents to breed and raise?
Or are they bred in numbers so they can be purchased for next to nothing and used as snake fodder?

There is quite a big drive in Europe to go back to nature and the Society of Natural bred Gouldian finches for instance does not even allow its members to have Bengalese.

food for thought,

cheers, Case.
Since I first started with finches I always had some King quails, one of my favourite birds, even when I lived in Sydney in a unit for a couple years I had some Zebs & king quails in a cage & a pile of Canaries, So I always have had a trio of king quails in every aviary & I let them all breed without a incubator, anyway some time ago I got some Jap quails & they didnt sit on there eggs so I built my first incubator, after that I wanted to keep incubating as I loved it & my 2 sons were really enjoying them, so I went to a local Zoo & go some Pheasant eggs & also chook eggs from a few people, & a friend got me to incubate bobwhites & went halves in the babies, so I bought some new blood & also bought some Californian quails, I really enjoyed myself it was a lot different than just having finches.
By the time I finished I had bred 1000s of japs & hundreds & hundreds of the others, I did sell a lot from my house, I had people coming from everywhere, after a while I had to start dropping the prices, I had a lot of people also buying the jap eggs, I must admit I made some good money out of it, so by this stage I wasn't too well so I gave all my incubators & brooders full of chicks to a friends for free, I still had lots quails & I sold to Beresfield pet shop 100 silver king quails & lots other quails, I still had 98 Jap cocks so we ate them seen there from big meat birds.
So Incubating is not the normal way I breed quails, I normally just run trios in every aviary & let them sit.
I just had a lot of fun incubating.
Post Reply

Return to “Poultry & Game Birds”