Quail are hatching

[rrhill]

These guys showed up a day early. 1 guy/gal hatched out about midnight and by 7am 2 more were out. As of now, about 15-25 hatched out, with about 2 - 5 hatching out per hour. I snapped a couple pics (and finally got my stupid camera to work right)

This guy was half out a decided he needed a nap. Takes a lot of energy to get out of the egg.

It was a VERY short nap, he got his second wind and has made it out of the egg since I snapped this pic...here he/she is just wondering what is going on.

And I told John I would post a pic of the brooder. Very simple set up, using a ceramic heat emmiter on the crappy Alife (finally found a second use for it!). The temps are set at 100 F for the 1st week and I will drop the temp 5 F every week. They have food & water in here and do well.

They chicks aren't in the brooder yet, letting them get their feet under them 1st. This is the 2nd group of chicks to hatch out and they are doing well. I hate when snake food becomes "cute"!

 

[Fedawg]

Nice Ro ...... do quail eggs have to be turned daily like chicken eggs?

 

[LeosForLess]

I ordered sum online with crappy incubator when i was seven. I should have heeded the warning "WARNING: EGGS MAY OR MAY NOT BE INFERTILE!"

 

[GeckoStud]

I know what you mean about cuteness, we hatch dozens of bob white qual in the AG complex at school every year. Granted they aren't hatched to feed snakes lol.

 

[rrhill]

Derek, they have to be turned, I use an automatic egg turner. At day 20 I take them out of the turner and lay them in the incubator. They usually hatch between day 22 & 26. The 1st guy came out the night I took them out of the turner. He was chirping in his egg.
Always a good idea to get the eggs from a breeder. I get mine from 2 guys who sell on ebay. I have had good luck so far. I actually thought I cooked these guys because the temp in the incubator spiked to 104 for a day or two. But they are hatching just fine...Mother Nature!

 

[Fedawg]

Ro , i used to know , but not anymore , where do you get the auto egg turner , ?

Are they still kinda expensive?

 

[John N]

And I told John I would post a pic of the brooder.

Thanks for the pics!

Derek, the ones I've been seeing latly are from 25 to 40 for the hovabators...

 

[rrhill]

More hatched out last night & today. These 34 were being transferred from the incubator to the brooder. There are 62 hatchlings in the brooder, 4 more that have hatched but are drying off, 1 that may have to be culled because of bad legs and 4-5 trying to get out of the egg still. By Saturday pretty much everyone that will hatch should be out of the egg. In this picture there are 2 light colored chicks...not sure if they are northern bobwhites like the others?!?!? I had 1 kamikazee chick take a flying leap out of the incubator when I opened it, but they are tough little buggars & it only fell about 2 feet onto carpet.

 

[Smiling Kitty]

Those are cute feeders, LOL. I raise button quail and I've had them take flying leaps out of the incubator when I open it too.

What snakes do you feed the quail to?

So far I've used button quail to get a newborn green anaconda started eating but that's all.

 

[G & M Geckos]

www.eggbid.com is another good source for eggs and hatchlings as well as anything poultry related.

 

[Fedawg]

Ro , got pics of them in the brooder?...

 

[rrhill]

Here ya go Derek. I had to take 3 out & put them back in the incubator. They were 2 days younger and were smaller & unsteady in their feet, the others starting yanking them around by their little nubby wings. I figured I could put them back when they have more size and can move around better.