THANK YOU! I just completed my first hatch and because of your video series, I had a 100% hatch rate!!! I couldn't have done it without you! Bless you!
I enjoyed very much watching this video. I have incubated chicken eggs for a few years now but a friend has given me 40 quail eggs I thought I should do a bit of research to see what the difference is. Your video is very clear and you are easy to understand so, thank you for all the information.
I've read a lot of your comments. You're a very helpful person. I'm so happy to see so many people being so self sufficient. God bless you and all your endeavors.
Thought I'd pass along something we've been doing for the 40 years with great success. We have been adding a double layer of hard-stone Pea Gravel to the lower area of the incubator. Under the screen, but not touching it. Air is harder to keep at a consistent temperature, so the gravel is there for the hard mass. We Start the incubator 3 days before adding the eggs to allow the gravel mass to get up to 100*. We also add some water at this time. Not much just some. This is the time we monitor the temperature to be sure the thermostat is correct. We also use the "triple thermometer" method. Since the heavy mass looses heat slowly, it keeps the inside of the incubator at level heat. In the past we have lost power, once for 4 hours. The internal temp was 98* when we checked. We helped it back up a little by adding a cup of very warm water to the rocks. Even with that power outage we didn't loose any/many eggs. 44 of 48. We normally have a couple non-hatch per batch anyway, so the average was exactly the same. I've never seen anyone else with this system. Perhaps you'd like to try it, and give thoughts/results. We use the Hovabator. A couple dozen years ago I added a pancake computer fan. Switched from the massive 4" down to a 2" when it came available. That was a good idea. No still-air for me.
That sounds a good bit like how we put soda 2liters, filled with water, at the bottom of our snake egg incubators, to help maintain the heat, for just in case we have any kind of power outage, helps hold the temps we need then to remain at.. Great idea, though, I'm going to do this with out parrot eggs, chicken, turkey, and duck eggs, I can't wait!! Thanks!! This gives me such relief, as our power went out during the storms a couple days ago, and it was out for 4&1/ 2 hours, I'm terrified that we might have lost some babies due time this. You're the best, thanks for this awesome idea! 🥰
hi there sir I am so grateful to you! i lost do many exotic eggs from my 1st experience and after watching your videos "How to Improve Your Hatch Rate" my 2nd batch of eggs showed great results. Your videos are really easy to understand. Thanks again. really appreciate
You can get a 100% hatch of fertile eggs if you turn by hand and all the eggs are touching each other. The eggs actually communicate with each other, synchronizing their heart beats. In the wild, that is how the eggs all hatch within hours of each other. But you are correct. You have to have the basics first like sanitizing etc.
interesting. I have never heard that before but I have had plenty of eggs that were touching each other but hatched a long time apart. I might do some experimenting with that and see what happens.
The eggs should be grouped in a circle. When I turn the eggs, the outside eggs become the inside eggs. Try to mix it up so the eggs are touching at least two different eggs each turn. Turn at least four times a day. Only practical with 10 to 15 eggs.
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/12/02/143063453/study-finds-turtle-embryos-communicate-to-synchronize-hatching Found this article but hard to find anything on poultry. But same principle. I remember studying it (a professor mentioned it) when I was at UGA. Got my degree in '84 in Poultry Science. But if you move em around and keep em tight together (like in a nest) they will synchronize.
Hello Chris, This is to give you credit for your awesome videos. I did follow all your tips on how to improve hatch rate of coturnix quail eggs. I put in 96eggs in my incubator. After 14days just before lockdown, I candled and discarded 2eggs that weren’t fertile. At the moment 81eggs have hatched. Hopefully I get some more to hatch within 24 - 48hrs. 81 eggs hatched gives me a hatch rate of 86% all thanks to your elaborate videos and tips. Did I mention that I am from Benin (West Africa) Thanks again.
Thank you for your video series on the incubation process; it was the most informative one I could find and by far the best narrated. You explained the details in such a way that I can confidently finish building my incubator based on the information you gave. Have a great day, and keep up the excellent work!
Mr. Chris, been doing this for awhile now, but am about to order more eggs & watching your incubation series again was a good idea. For you old hands out there, I would recommend re-watching these before incubating each clutch. Reminds us of the basics & reminds us all of the enthusiasm we all had with our first hatch. It makes it as fun as the first time & we should all thank Chris yet again for taking the time to teach us. So do that!
Great video! I've hatched thousands of chicks in the last 15 years and my hatch rate has always been around 50%. I just realized today that since I'm at a higher elevation of 9000 feet above sea level that I should adjust my humidity, instead of 50% I should be at 65%. That may increase my hatch rate! I actually sold all of my chickens last year and I'm getting back into it this year. I'm using an RCOM 20 PRO incubator, just program it and hit 'start' and come back in three weeks and you have chicks! It automatically adjusts the temp and humidity and stops the turning at the end, pretty amazing.
Thank you for watching. Hopefully increasing your humidity will help with the hatch rate. Sounds like a pretty interesting incubator. I am not familiar with it.
Well I just set my first quail eggs Monday evening. From the comments that the person I got the eggs from made(after money had exchanged hands and we was back in our vehicles) I am not really optimistic about my hatch rate, but I may be surprised. I have watched this video 3 times now and I am glad I have it as a reference! Thanks again! Clay
maybe they have poor hatch rates because they haven't watched my videos. :) Either way, good luck and I hope it turns out great. If you need some good quality eggs make sure to check out my video on where to get quail eggs. Thanks for watching.
Hey there friend, It's Dale Bourgeois from Louisiana, I just wanted to give you an update on my quail hatch, and of course, Thankyou for sharing your experience with us. I ordered 116 jumbo coturnixs, candles on 8 days, 98 were fertil. humidity ran 44 Ish at night, and 55 Ish during the day. lock down was about 85 Ish. On day 17 there were three that hatched, day 18, all but four eggs hatched. Glory to God, God is GOOD. Today is 5/1/2017, Have a Great Day, and Thanks Again, God bless You
I build my own incubators with foam coolers and use digital temp controllers, works great and very cheap! I'm making a video on my channel and will post soon. You are 100% spot on about putting the date on the incubator! I have a million times tried to keep track in my head, forget it, life happens and you get busy. Next thing you now you have no idea exactly when they went in. Great info as usual!
Homesteading inSC showed me on his video how to make these incubators and I made one and the eggs are pipping today. Cost £20 and works very well. Thank you for the info about Lock Down, I didn't know that.
I got 33 eggs in my incubator, going into lockdown on Sunday. I have candled them and can see chicks in 32 of them, one is too dark to see into. Hope they all hatch that would be a fantastic hatch rate. Had 36 eggs at first but had 3 infertile ones.
@@Maya-di4qy from the 33 fertile eggs hatched 30 healthy chicks. From the last 3 eggs hatched one chick that died a few hours later for unknown reason, one chick didn't hatch but was developed in the egg and one had issues with its legs so I utilized it. I gave 8 healthy chicks to my friend who had bought them so I had 22. Turned out to be 13 hens and 9 roosters. I'm very satisfied with the hatch 😊
Hey Chris I just wanted to say thanks for this and really all your quail videos. I stole about 95% of your grow-out pen design to build mine and it’s been great for my 8 girls and 2 boys,. Getting ready to put my first batch of eggs (61) into the incubator following most of your instructions as well as I can. Fingers crossed all goes well but honestly I’ll be happy if I get 5 or 6. Really just appreciate the heck out of you for taking the time to make these videos and for being so attentive to detail from start to finish. Really helpful to a new keeper. I promise I will toast you heartily at the first bbq we have with bacon-wrapped quail, whenever that turns out to be.
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I am so glad to hear that you find my videos so helpful. Good luck with your hatch. I am sure you will do better than just 5 or 6 birds.
First hatch didn’t go well. Only 4 out of 25 eggs hatched. I’ve been watching you to learn from my mistakes. I’ve been using room temperature water or sink water.
I am so sorry to hear that. I use tap water as well but try to use warm water to keep it from dropping the incubator temp too much. Make sure you aren't putting too much water in and raising the humidity too much.
Wow! I am going to be incubating my chicken eggs for the first time soon, and u are the best teacher to learn from, u have great tips man, thanks so much 🙏 👍 😀 😊 ❤
I don't have an egg Turner but I turn them myself 3 to 5 times a day.. And good thing is i live in dubai so humidity in a room is already 50% 😂 Out of 15 eggs only 2 didn't hatch .. But anyway thanks for keeping time and making videos ..
Hi Chris, Hope all is well. Watched your videos over and over. Order the beta hover incubator and got 30 cq eggs from GFH. Added cold tap water, turned the machine on and within 2 minutes temp began to increased. Added eggs to the auto turner and so far were at day 4. Check it everyday. Added water once (were in Tucson, Az) so everything is bone dry and warm. After this cycle goes into the brooder, I will order more eggs. Just wanted to let you YOU know how well things are going thanks to your shared knowledge on quail. Will keep you advised on the hatch rate and success. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for watching my videos. I am so glad to hear that they have been helpful. Good luck with your hatch and I am glad to hear that things are going well for you.
Hi Chris, I'm about to take the plunge into quail keeping and wanted to say thanks for so many awesome, informative videos. Your videos are very instructive and easy to follow, great job. I am a long time chicken keeper and have a hovabator Genesis 1588 incubator with the standard egg turner. The egg turner works well for chicken eggs, do you think it would also work for quail eggs ( standard or jumbo ) or do you think I should replace the chicken egg rails with quail egg rails? Thanks in advance for your help and thanks again for providing so much helpful information.
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I have used the chicken rails before and they worked just fine for me. You just can't get as many eggs in there as you can when using the quail rails.
My quail are in lockdown!!! 120 eggs...this is day 2, tomorrow morning is the big reveal!!! There are a bunch in there!!! Another 90 eggs in another incubator..lockdown starts Friday!!! Thanks so much for your videos, I've learned a lot!!!
We are powered by generator that unexpectedly broke down during the night of day 20 on my chicken hatch. By the time we had it up and running again (about 45 minutes) the temp of the incubator was down to 90. Do you think I will have any survivors?
Thank you!! I am about to put my very first quail eggs into the incubator and I have been so nervous!! This video gave me the confidence to do it! We should actually have quail the same week our rabbit kits are due so it will be a busy week!!
My entire flock was wiped out, by a weasel with the exception of one hen & 2 pekin females (they were badly injured but recovering). It also killed my male duck. I never intended to hatch any eggs because i wanted to use a broody hen. Because i had such a bond with my flock, i bought an incubator and I'm going to try hatching all the eggs i had, especially the eggs laid right before the slaughter. Im so heartbroken. Is it OK to hatch my chicken and duck eggs together? Also, is it true that the eggs my hen and pekins lay for 2 weeks post mating are fertilized? Thank you for your very informative video!!
I am not a duck or chicken expert but eggs generally stay fertile for about 10 days after being laid and hens can generally continue to lay fertile eggs for about 7 days after being bred. As for incubating them together, I believe duck eggs require a much higher humidity than chicken eggs and that they both require different incubation times so that may be a little tricky but you can give it a try. So sorry to hear about your loss and good luck with getting the eggs to hatch.
Good video. I was to put 40 chicken eggs in this past weekend and Hovabator I purchased did not work right out of the box. What type of incubator are you using? I subscribed to follow along. If you get a chance, check out our small family farm and consider subscribing. Thanks!!!!
Very informative, I greatly appreciate the time to make this video and answer questions. I've raised chickens my entire life and never used an incubator, but now am going to start.
Hi Chris~ Second time posting....first time was under your "What To Feed" video. We are first time quail hatchers but experienced with poultry & waterfowl incubaters/hatchers. We wanted to share our first experience with you and all your followers. We found someone local that was selling eggs - a mix of colors but all Coturnix. We were charged $5 per dozen and bought 6 dozen. Once we got them home, we followed your sanitizing suggestion with the Listerine and water mixture. Usually we use a commercial 'wash' sold by Brinsea for washing/disinfecting eggs and incubators and all other 'equipment.' We did not have any on hand so your suggestion came in handy. After close inspection, we had to discard 2 eggs leaving 70 in the incubator. We had quail racks so they were turned automatically. They were set on Sunday 6/4 and we stopped turning them Monday 6/19; they started hatching 6/20! Instead of laying them in the incubator, we used a quail "tray" that held them all in an upright position and that is how they stayed until they hatched. So far, we have 56 out of 70 chicks hatch! What do you think about that percentage for first time hatchers with local eggs? They were too crowded in the incubator (due to the tray taking up floor space) that we took them all out a little while ago and added some more water and kept the incubator running to see if any of the remaining will hatch. We are ECSTATIC over the hatch results!! One observation...there are a bunch of chicks that are all 'yellow' so guessing they will be white when feathered but some of them have RED EYES? Like Albino? Have you ever seen this? They don't appear to be blind - they are walking all around. We are starting them off with cooked yolk from chicken eggs for 24 hours and then will be adding 30% protein Purina startena and will continue offering the yolk. We look forward to your comments/suggestion. Keep up the great work! We will be back soon to post on other videos. THANK YOU from New York for making this first hatch a great success!!
Hey there. Thanks so much for sharing. Sounds like you had a pretty good hatch. I think you did the right thing by adding more water and letting the unhatched ones go a few more days. I have had several birds hatch out that way. I have never used any cooked egg yolk myself, I just start all my birds on gamebird starter from day one but nothing wrong with your plan. So glad that you found my videos helpful.
Nice videos. I had some Bob White for pets and had them in a large planted up shade house more like a natural environment. 16' x16' x8' high. The male would dig a hole and the female would inspect it. If she liked it she would lay her eggs and life was good. When the male died from a respiratory disease I had to release her. I know, but I did anyway. About 2 weeks later she came back bringing a whole flock of bob white with her. She knew there'd be food. The others wouldn't come close but I set food out every day for them. I was honored.😊
Slightly Rednecked. I believe the decline is due to ants. As soon as the first chick started to hatch the ants take over in hords. I found out that the ants can't tolerate pine needles so I used that on the sandy floor. Worked great.
I just put ours under lockdown thanks for this four-part series it helped me not to be too afraid of incubating chicks for the first time. We've got chicken eggs in there 35 were fertile. I heard some peeping when we were putting them in lockdown so far so good.
Thank you very much. You video is very simple to grasp and now I am crossing the fingers waiting. I will give you guys an feedback with two weeks or so. Thanks again.
Proxcide and water similar 50% mixe .......... seems to work well and some what cheeper ......... is what I've been having a great deal of success ........have had 87% hatch rate .......... love your channel........ keep on Quailing .........S
Hey man just wanted to say thank you that series was a wealth of information for me I’m just starting out with Coturnix Quail and starting my first hatch tomorrow.
Very informative! I have kept quail, chickens and ducks but only have experience hatching duck eggs. I’m definitely looking forward to hatching some coturnix!
Really good, really waffle-free and useful detailed info. I want quail but I'm scared to go and buy any right now due to the distance involved (corona). Now I'm confident order the eggs and geat to grow my own. Thanks from ths UK.
Restarting quail after few years off and browsing utube stumbled upon your channel. I like the listerine spray. One thing I used in my past to increase humidity was use baby food jars with a sponge sticking up and out of the jar full of water. When I bought the QCF Sportsman I saw that was the technique they used.
I am finishing up my first hatch, just a test run with chicks I don't exactly need but are welcome to the flock. Glad I found this before my next serious hatch later this month
Great video series! The only thing I'd add is to do everything to ensure your eggs have been fertilized to begin with. A. Males are producing foam. B. Females aren't too old. C. No large communal pens. D. Check for inactive males. E. Always autopsy your non hatching eggs to see where/when things went wrong or if growth even began. But you may have covered that in another video...?
I am so glad I decided to watch your video once again! I thought that they went into lock down on day 17 for some reason. I am so glad its day 14 for me right now! Was able to get all my eggs into the incubator and ready for lock down just in time! Thank you for the great video!
I watching your vedio now and this is my first time to do encuvating duck egg to make balut hopefully it works for me until 18 days thank you for sharing your vedio we have same encuvator too your vedio is so helpful thank you again...
@@Slightlyrednecked I have one right now on my hova-bator that does temp and humidity. so glad you did a video of it, now I use them for almost everything, next is one for a cheese fridge. when are you going to start making cheese chris?
Thank you for making this video and teaching people I have been asked a lot about how to incubate eggs different eggs around the world and I told them to watch people on UA-cam there is plenty of my friends and make UA-cam videos and we'll teach other people thank you for teaching
This is definitely the most informative video I've watched on how to incubate quail eggs! Although, my incubator is really not clear on a few things; where exactly do I put the water? My incubator is a HHD automatic incubator, and it's fan is on the bottom where the water should go so I'm definitely confused on where to put it. Any help is awesome. Thanks for the video!
I am so glad that you found the video helpful. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with that incubator so i am not sure I can help much. I saw a video of it though and it looks like it has some channels in the bottom under the tray for water to go in. I hope that helps.
Thanks! Also, I just remembered, it has the fan on the bottom, and I was wondering when I take the egg turner's out and put the eggs on the bottom, is it okay that it's directly above the fan? Will they dry out? Should I put them to the side?
Anyone who is incubating and has problem with humidity dropping quickly. Don’t put hot water as it evaporates. I had the same problem until I put warm water.
Just like the previous comment, I had the first 2 of 60 hatch on 4-14-19 on day 16. Two more hatched over night. So far today, 2 more have hatched. I hope most of the rest hatch today and tomorrow. Certainly, most will have to go to the brooders on Wednesday because the first hatchlings will need water and food.
That isn't that uncommon actually. When it is time to move them to the brooder box just be as quick as you can and move all of them that are dry and fluffy and then close the incubator back up. You might get more to hatch after that. Good luck and I hope it goes well.
@@Slightlyrednecked, 48 of 60 so far. 28 hatched while I was at work yesterday and another 14 overnight. Looking forward to this endeavor. I've learned a lot from your efforts. I pray your wife has been recovering nicely. Though I enjoy the rabbit and quail content very much, those with your wife are my favorites because the two of you know that know matter what, God's got this.
Hey chris, great info here. My incubator loses humidity terribly so one thing I do is run a small hose through one of the ports and use a syringe to inject water into the incubator after lockdown if the humidity drops. Just a thought for anyone out there with a crappy incubator that loses humidity like mine :)
OH, I totally meant to cover that in the video and forgot. Thanks so much for bringing it up. Another thing you can do is put a sponge in there (not touching the eggs of course). It can help hold water longer and raise humidity. Thanks so much for watching and for sharing the great tip.
damm dude! 71!? sheesh! you are a Pro! you know what i do to sanitize the eggs that Proved to work eggcelent! i use a teaspoons worth of vinagar and isopropl alcahol. and i keep the hole open for the humidity. and i NEVER use humidity! humidity is the enemy of incubation! the humidity is not needed at all! humidity always helps the bacteria in this case. and the vinagar iso alcahol and also lemon peels and juice. and a tiny bit of baking soda afterwards. then empty out that liquid after 20mins or so. and then a little bit of baking soda to keep it preserved. you could possibily add a preserving pack inside to also preserve Good air quaility! this works and NEVER, EVER! use humidity! usually the answer is in nature. does a hen spout humidity at the eggs like the ocean or does the feathers wick the moisture of the hens natural heat? eggs are only damp when the hens first lay them. mimicing nature is how you do things properly. do that and youll have no probrem with city wok incubating.
Your videos are super helpful. I have a question regarding the hatching humidity. If the humidity is too high after I filled the trays after lock down, what do I do since I can't open to remove any water?
great hatch! excellent how-to...I like my Little Giant bators. I have the egg tuner and fan in mine. Makes the job easier! when I upgraded my bator, I kept my old one ,used it as a hatcher. then loaded the first one back up for another hatch ! just constant rotation, worked great! I was hoping I could get a look at your broader...couldt tell much bout it tho ! thanks for another great video !
Thanks for the kind comments. I am glad you liked it. I just use a large rubbermaid tub for my brooder. Cut half the lid and put hardware cloth over it for ventilation.
Slightly Rednecked I kind of thought that's what that look like. If people would just use their knocking they don't have to buy all this high dollar catalog sparkly equipment . Where there is a will there is a way. ! :)
Scrub it out real good with dish soap. If it is summer time or a stretch of nice days i will set it out in the sun for a few days to kill off bacteria. Or you can wipe it down with a very diluted bleach mixture but make sure to let it sit out and air dry for a few days to get rid of fumes. Hope that helps. Maybe i should do a video on that sometime soon.
@@Slightlyrednecked umm I think scrubing will make the bacteria go in side the egg according to A Chick Called albert from the video of saving the crack duck egg
great vid, Chris! =) I do the same with unhatched - perform eggtopsys. It was hard at first, but over time, it has got easier =) Every hatch is a learning experience =)
You can have too much of anything. During incubation you should be able to discover 60-65% humidity level of water in your unit and that is what level you should have for the lock down period. To low humidity is very bad for the little guys. The inside membrane of the egg will dry and seal them in to die....shrink wrap it is referred too. You do not open the unit for the 3 day period (chicken)of lock down.
After you open the incubator to remove the ones that have hatched, put the unhatched eggs in the center of the incubator and remove the shells. Work quickly. Then, if you have a fan in your incubator, take a spray bottle and lightly spray warm water on the inside of the incubator without spraying the eggs. When you put the lid back on and the fan runs, it will turn all that sprayed water into moisture for the ones still unhatched.
Increasing the 'water surface' is the key. Spraying a fine mist gets moisture into the incubator air quickly. Especially important with waterfowl eggs.
Hi Chris, thank you for taking the time to produce your video series on improving the hatching rate. I discovered your videos at the end of the incubation process....Question, you might have mentioned it but once the hatching begins, does the temperature needs to remain the same, 99.5? ...btw I'm in Houston, Tx....thanks again for your valuable information. ..I will use your videos as my guide on the next go round. ...Peace....
Thank you so much for the kind comments. Yeah, keep the temp the same the entire time, even after they start hatching. I hope that helps. I used to live in Nacogdoches....been to Houston many times.
hey chris thanks for all the info i see were iv made some mistakes in my first tow hatches your info will help alot.with in the next few weeks i will hatch a batch with your method,and i will let you know how it works for me.i have one thing i do is i have two incubators one has a turner and the other is what i put my eggs in for lock down. again thanks for all the info im sure it will help.talk to you soon, VANCE MATTERS
I've heard different things on whether to lay the eggs flat for the last 3 days or, some say to leave them upright but just unplug/turn off the turner for the last 3 days. Do you find one way more effective and successful than the other? ANy disadvantages that you've noticed of one way over the other? Thanks :)
Thanks for sharing this video .have a question is there any different between quail eggs and chuckar bird eggs ? The quail eggs and chuckar partridge eggs are looks the same I tried to put the chuckar partridge eggs under chicken but hatched only one from 13 eggs
They should incubate with the same process. The only difference is the time they incubate. I believe that chuckar take about 24 days to hatch so you would go into lockdown on day 20. I hope that helps.
I am so glad I stumbled upon you. Your videos are a blessing to this new incubator Mama. I'm desperate here and noticed you answer questions. I did my first chicken incubation ...had 41 eggs and hatched 19. Ohhhh did I do things wrong according to your videos. I have been a blind idiot in this. So a man gave us 31 wild Turkey eggs. I had them hatching on the 12th of this month. Well one hatched yesterday. No more thus far. I candled them last night and have 6 with full chicks in them. I didnt know not to open the incubator....lockdown process. Any info you can share on this and.....is it possible that the man for them from different clutches and the eggs were of different stages/ages? Thank you in advance.
Thank you so much for watching my videos. I am glad that they are helpful for you. Even if the eggs were from different times it really starts at incubation so that shouldn't have an effect on it. It just takes some time for all eggs to hatch. If you don't have any more that have hatched after 48 hours you can remove the one that has and add some more water (if needed) to the incubator and close it back up. There is a good chance that the rest will still hatch. I am betting that by now some more have already hatched. good luck and I hope it is going well.
Just got my quail eggs, and put them into the incubator. I am a little worried about after the first chick hatches. Is there a chance of any of them dying of starvation or dehydration before I move them out? Just wanted to make sure. Also, this was a fantastic video! I've had horrible luck with the past hatches, and this was very informative.
I tend to move my birds out of the incubator about 48 hours after hatching. There really isn't any concern with them starving in that time frame. They can go up to 3 days with no real concerns. I hope that helps and I hope you have great success with your next hatch.
Your videos are very good, I'm starting to lose some eggs, they started to smell ugly and I threw them in the trash, this is my 2 time but I can't remove the red plugs that my gum has brown because hers doesn't have
Hi, I just put my first ever in life batch of quail eggs in a brand new incubator. I am as new as a person could be.. Thank you for the video. Could you please point me to a good video what to do with the quails after they hatch, you mentioned a brooder? Maia (Bulgaria)
Nice. Good luck with your hatch. Once they hatch you will want to move them to a brooder box with a heat lamp or other heat source and keep them at about 100 F until they feather out. Wait to move them out of the incubator until they are dry and feathered out. I usually wait about 48 hours from the first one hatching, then move all that have hatched and are dry to the brooder, add water to the incubator if it needs it and close it back up. I will generally get a few more to hatch over the next 4 or 5 days that way. Here is a video showing my brooder box and discussing a little about that process. I hope it helps. ua-cam.com/video/931WCVPPAQQ/v-deo.html
Hi, I enjoy your videos. Can you tell me if I can incubate regular and button quail eggs together? We've never done them together before, I wanted to check with you first. Thank you for sharing your information with all of us.
Great video and some very good info., Which end of the egg points down while in the egg turner?, I did not see your other videos so I am guessing the pointy end from the looks of how your eggs were setting?.
folks i have the little giant deluxe and that control unit is completely off i played with it and got a perfect reading but on the control board i punched in 101.7 and after warming to the proper temperature and humidity for the entire incubation period it held at 99.6 up to.7 according to my inside thermometers
chris have you thought of using water bottles cut in half, I used that and didn't have to refill. and also its tall enough the babies don't fall in the water or get wet if theres too much water on the bottom. Or you can use a humidakit.
So you would recommend this Little Giant incubator? I hope to start incubating my own eggs in the near future and am in the market for an incubator that is good, but not super expensive (as I am not sure how much I will use it).
It has worked well for me. Had the thermostat go out on it but Miller Mfg (company that makes them) replaced it no problem. I don't have experience with them myself but hear good things about the hovabators as well.
First time egging here 👋🥚 I've ordered some Indian runner duck eggs and I am making my own incubator tomorrow. I'm making it from polystyrene with a glass window to see inside I'm gonna use a bulb fitting but which watt bulb should I use and at what temp do you think I should keep it at and humidity. Thankyou for any info I cant wait for my eggs to arrive. I really hope they hatch
I am not sure what size bulb you need to use exactly. It would depend on how big the incubator is and how well it is insulated as to what size bulb in needs to get it to temp. You want it to be 100 F. I would think a 100 watt incandescent bulb would do that pretty easily but you will have to experiment to find out for sure. You might install a dimmer switch so you can adjust it as needed. Good luck with your hatch.
If you make your own incubator out of a styrofoam cooler, you won’t need more that a 25W bulb. However it is difficult to maintain a stable temperature with inexpensive (water heater) thermostats. You are better off buying a disk thermostat (the kind you get in non-digital commercial incubators) or even a digital thermostat. The temperature needs to be solidly at 99.5F (37.5C) in an incubator with a fan that circulates the air, or 100F (37.8C) if there is no fan. These incubators can work - I have made them and have hatched eggs in them. But I love my Hovabator.
THANK YOU! I just completed my first hatch and because of your video series, I had a 100% hatch rate!!! I couldn't have done it without you! Bless you!
Just had my first hatch, 30 of 39 with your tips. Not sure what should be expected, but I was happy with the results. Thank you!
That is a great hatch rate. Well done.
I enjoyed very much watching this video. I have incubated chicken eggs for a few years now but a friend has given me 40 quail eggs I thought I should do a bit of research to see what the difference is. Your video is very clear and you are easy to understand so, thank you for all the information.
I've read a lot of your comments. You're a very helpful person. I'm so happy to see so many people being so self sufficient. God bless you and all your endeavors.
Thank you so much for the kind comments.
Thought I'd pass along something we've been doing for the 40 years with great success.
We have been adding a double layer of hard-stone Pea Gravel to the lower area of the incubator. Under the screen, but not touching it.
Air is harder to keep at a consistent temperature, so the gravel is there for the hard mass.
We Start the incubator 3 days before adding the eggs to allow the gravel mass to get up to 100*. We also add some water at this time. Not much just some.
This is the time we monitor the temperature to be sure the thermostat is correct. We also use the "triple thermometer" method.
Since the heavy mass looses heat slowly, it keeps the inside of the incubator at level heat.
In the past we have lost power, once for 4 hours. The internal temp was 98* when we checked. We helped it back up a little by adding a cup of very warm water to the rocks.
Even with that power outage we didn't loose any/many eggs. 44 of 48. We normally have a couple non-hatch per batch anyway, so the average was exactly the same.
I've never seen anyone else with this system.
Perhaps you'd like to try it, and give thoughts/results.
We use the Hovabator. A couple dozen years ago I added a pancake computer fan. Switched from the massive 4" down to a 2" when it came available. That was a good idea.
No still-air for me.
That sounds a good bit like how we put soda 2liters, filled with water, at the bottom of our snake egg incubators, to help maintain the heat, for just in case we have any kind of power outage, helps hold the temps we need then to remain at.. Great idea, though, I'm going to do this with out parrot eggs, chicken, turkey, and duck eggs, I can't wait!! Thanks!! This gives me such relief, as our power went out during the storms a couple days ago, and it was out for 4&1/ 2 hours, I'm terrified that we might have lost some babies due time this. You're the best, thanks for this awesome idea! 🥰
hi there
sir I am so grateful to you! i lost do many exotic eggs from my 1st experience and after watching your videos "How to Improve Your Hatch Rate" my 2nd batch of eggs showed great results. Your videos are really easy to understand. Thanks again. really appreciate
Fantastic to hear. So glad things are going well for you. And glad I was able to help.
You can get a 100% hatch of fertile eggs if you turn by hand and all the eggs are touching each other. The eggs actually communicate with each other, synchronizing their heart beats. In the wild, that is how the eggs all hatch within hours of each other. But you are correct. You have to have the basics first like sanitizing etc.
interesting. I have never heard that before but I have had plenty of eggs that were touching each other but hatched a long time apart. I might do some experimenting with that and see what happens.
The eggs should be grouped in a circle. When I turn the eggs, the outside eggs become the inside eggs. Try to mix it up so the eggs are touching at least two different eggs each turn. Turn at least four times a day. Only practical with 10 to 15 eggs.
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/12/02/143063453/study-finds-turtle-embryos-communicate-to-synchronize-hatching Found this article but hard to find anything on poultry. But same principle. I remember studying it (a professor mentioned it) when I was at UGA. Got my degree in '84 in Poultry Science. But if you move em around and keep em tight together (like in a nest) they will synchronize.
This is super interesting thanks for sharing!
I can communicate with eggs
Hello Chris,
This is to give you credit for your awesome videos. I did follow all your tips on how to improve hatch rate of coturnix quail eggs. I put in 96eggs in my incubator. After 14days just before lockdown, I candled and discarded 2eggs that weren’t fertile. At the moment 81eggs have hatched. Hopefully I get some more to hatch within 24 - 48hrs. 81 eggs hatched gives me a hatch rate of 86% all thanks to your elaborate videos and tips. Did I mention that I am from Benin (West Africa)
Thanks again.
Awesome. Congratulations on your hatch and well done. I am glad to hear that my videos were helpful for you.
BRO were in Benin
Thank you for your video series on the incubation process; it was the most informative one I could find and by far the best narrated. You explained the details in such a way that I can confidently finish building my incubator based on the information you gave. Have a great day, and keep up the excellent work!
thanks so much for the kind comments. I am so glad you found my videos helpful.
Mr. Chris, been doing this for awhile now, but am about to order more eggs & watching your incubation series again was a good idea.
For you old hands out there, I would recommend re-watching these before incubating each clutch. Reminds us of the basics & reminds us all of the enthusiasm we all had with our first hatch. It makes it as fun as the first time & we should all thank Chris yet again for taking the time to teach us. So do that!
Very nice No BS , to the point with no dumb music. Thanks
Great video! I've hatched thousands of chicks in the last 15 years and my hatch rate has always been around 50%. I just realized today that since I'm at a higher elevation of 9000 feet above sea level that I should adjust my humidity, instead of 50% I should be at 65%. That may increase my hatch rate! I actually sold all of my chickens last year and I'm getting back into it this year. I'm using an RCOM 20 PRO incubator, just program it and hit 'start' and come back in three weeks and you have chicks! It automatically adjusts the temp and humidity and stops the turning at the end, pretty amazing.
Thank you for watching. Hopefully increasing your humidity will help with the hatch rate. Sounds like a pretty interesting incubator. I am not familiar with it.
with your help. i hatched out over 2000 last year .thank you
awesome. Congratulations and well done.
Well I just set my first quail eggs Monday evening. From the comments that the person I got the eggs from made(after money had exchanged hands and we was back in our vehicles) I am not really optimistic about my hatch rate, but I may be surprised. I have watched this video 3 times now and I am glad I have it as a reference! Thanks again!
Clay
maybe they have poor hatch rates because they haven't watched my videos. :) Either way, good luck and I hope it turns out great. If you need some good quality eggs make sure to check out my video on where to get quail eggs. Thanks for watching.
This video answered so many questions that I didn’t even know I had!
Thanks so much for the kind comments. I am glad you liked the video.
Hey there friend, It's Dale Bourgeois from Louisiana, I just wanted to give you an update on my quail hatch, and of course, Thankyou for sharing your experience with us. I ordered 116 jumbo coturnixs, candles on 8 days, 98 were fertil. humidity ran 44 Ish at night, and 55 Ish during the day. lock down was about 85 Ish. On day 17 there were three that hatched, day 18, all but four eggs hatched. Glory to God, God is GOOD. Today is 5/1/2017, Have a Great Day, and Thanks Again, God bless You
awesome. Sounds like you had a fantastic hatch. Congratulations.
Thank you for the information. I ordered incubator and quail rack. now I need eggs.
There is a discount code in the description of all my most recent videos for ordering quail eggs. you can get 15% off your order.
I build my own incubators with foam coolers and use digital temp controllers, works great and very cheap! I'm making a video on my channel and will post soon. You are 100% spot on about putting the date on the incubator! I have a million times tried to keep track in my head, forget it, life happens and you get busy. Next thing you now you have no idea exactly when they went in. Great info as usual!
Thanks so much for the kind words. let me know how the homemade incubator works out.
Homesteading inSC showed me on his video how to make these incubators and I made one and the eggs are pipping today. Cost £20 and works very well. Thank you for the info about Lock Down, I didn't know that.
I got 33 eggs in my incubator, going into lockdown on Sunday. I have candled them and can see chicks in 32 of them, one is too dark to see into. Hope they all hatch that would be a fantastic hatch rate. Had 36 eggs at first but had 3 infertile ones.
What were the results
@@Maya-di4qy from the 33 fertile eggs hatched 30 healthy chicks. From the last 3 eggs hatched one chick that died a few hours later for unknown reason, one chick didn't hatch but was developed in the egg and one had issues with its legs so I utilized it. I gave 8 healthy chicks to my friend who had bought them so I had 22. Turned out to be 13 hens and 9 roosters. I'm very satisfied with the hatch 😊
Jisker Realz I would be too!
Hey Chris I just wanted to say thanks for this and really all your quail videos. I stole about 95% of your grow-out pen design to build mine and it’s been great for my 8 girls and 2 boys,. Getting ready to put my first batch of eggs (61) into the incubator following most of your instructions as well as I can. Fingers crossed all goes well but honestly I’ll be happy if I get 5 or 6. Really just appreciate the heck out of you for taking the time to make these videos and for being so attentive to detail from start to finish. Really helpful to a new keeper. I promise I will toast you heartily at the first bbq we have with bacon-wrapped quail, whenever that turns out to be.
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I am so glad to hear that you find my videos so helpful. Good luck with your hatch. I am sure you will do better than just 5 or 6 birds.
First hatch didn’t go well. Only 4 out of 25 eggs hatched. I’ve been watching you to learn from my mistakes. I’ve been using room temperature water or sink water.
I am so sorry to hear that. I use tap water as well but try to use warm water to keep it from dropping the incubator temp too much. Make sure you aren't putting too much water in and raising the humidity too much.
Wow! I am going to be incubating my chicken eggs for the first time soon, and u are the best teacher to learn from, u have great tips man, thanks so much 🙏 👍 😀 😊 ❤
I don't have an egg Turner but I turn them myself 3 to 5 times a day..
And good thing is i live in dubai so humidity in a room is already 50% 😂
Out of 15 eggs only 2 didn't hatch ..
But anyway thanks for keeping time and making videos ..
I wish i found this video before i put my quail and guineas in the incubator! very very helpful! will definitely use this for my turkeys! thank you!
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I hope that you have a great hatch rate with your turkeys.
If you lay a folded dry wash cloth on those windows, they won't fog up. Then you can peek in to check temp, watch hatch etc.
Good suggestion. thanks for sharing.
Hi Chris, Hope all is well. Watched your videos over and over. Order the beta hover incubator and got 30 cq eggs from GFH. Added cold tap water, turned the machine on and within 2 minutes temp began to increased. Added eggs to the auto turner and so far were at day 4. Check it everyday. Added water once (were in Tucson, Az) so everything is bone dry and warm. After this cycle goes into the brooder, I will order more eggs. Just wanted to let you YOU know how well things are going thanks to your shared knowledge on quail. Will keep you advised on the hatch rate and success. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for watching my videos. I am so glad to hear that they have been helpful. Good luck with your hatch and I am glad to hear that things are going well for you.
Hi Chris, I'm about to take the plunge into quail keeping and wanted to say thanks for so many awesome, informative videos. Your videos are very instructive and easy to follow, great job. I am a long time chicken keeper and have a hovabator Genesis 1588 incubator with the standard egg turner. The egg turner works well for chicken eggs, do you think it would also work for quail eggs ( standard or jumbo ) or do you think I should replace the chicken egg rails with quail egg rails? Thanks in advance for your help and thanks again for providing so much helpful information.
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I have used the chicken rails before and they worked just fine for me. You just can't get as many eggs in there as you can when using the quail rails.
@@Slightlyrednecked Awesome ! Thanks Chris.
My quail are in lockdown!!! 120 eggs...this is day 2, tomorrow morning is the big reveal!!! There are a bunch in there!!! Another 90 eggs in another incubator..lockdown starts Friday!!! Thanks so much for your videos, I've learned a lot!!!
wow, that is a lot of eggs. Good luck on the hatch.
We are powered by generator that unexpectedly broke down during the night of day 20 on my chicken hatch. By the time we had it up and running again (about 45 minutes) the temp of the incubator was down to 90. Do you think I will have any survivors?
Yes you will be fine. You won’t get a high hatch Rate but you’ll have a bunch that will hatch
Stephen Combs, how many hatched?
Thank you!! I am about to put my very first quail eggs into the incubator and I have been so nervous!! This video gave me the confidence to do it! We should actually have quail the same week our rabbit kits are due so it will be a busy week!!
I am so glad to hear that. Thank you so much for watching and good luck on your hatch and your upcoming busy week.
Showing my niece Skylar about eggs. She has a guinea egg and wants it to hatch.
Sorry did not realize I was on that profile.
I've watched this series over and over again. I set my first set today! Thank you for the vids! Cheers!
Thank you so much. I am so glad to hear that it was helpful for you. Good luck with your hatch.
My entire flock was wiped out, by a weasel with the exception of one hen & 2 pekin females (they were badly injured but recovering). It also killed my male duck. I never intended to hatch any eggs because i wanted to use a broody hen. Because i had such a bond with my flock, i bought an incubator and I'm going to try hatching all the eggs i had, especially the eggs laid right before the slaughter. Im so heartbroken. Is it OK to hatch my chicken and duck eggs together? Also, is it true that the eggs my hen and pekins lay for 2 weeks post mating are fertilized? Thank you for your very informative video!!
I am not a duck or chicken expert but eggs generally stay fertile for about 10 days after being laid and hens can generally continue to lay fertile eggs for about 7 days after being bred. As for incubating them together, I believe duck eggs require a much higher humidity than chicken eggs and that they both require different incubation times so that may be a little tricky but you can give it a try. So sorry to hear about your loss and good luck with getting the eggs to hatch.
Wow, Chris, great video, you delivered a lot of info quickly and efficiently. Never tried quail eggs, only duck and chicken. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for watching. I am glad you liked it.
How long can I store the eggs before putting them in the incubator
About 10 days at most. I try to incubate within 7 myself.
No more than 3 days
About 10 days, make sure your turning the eggs twice a day with in those 10 days
Good info for a newbie. First chick hatched this morning! Exciting.
Good video. I was to put 40 chicken eggs in this past weekend and Hovabator I purchased did not work right out of the box. What type of incubator are you using? I subscribed to follow along. If you get a chance, check out our small family farm and consider subscribing. Thanks!!!!
I have 13 adults now I have 14 babies and 48 eggs hope they hatch a lot learned a lot from u thanks from egypt
Should always mark eggs with a pencil. Markers are toxic.
Very informative, I greatly appreciate the time to make this video and answer questions. I've raised chickens my entire life and never used an incubator, but now am going to start.
Thank you so much for watching. I am glad you found this video helpful.
Hi Chris~ Second time posting....first time was under your "What To Feed" video. We are first time quail hatchers but experienced with poultry & waterfowl incubaters/hatchers. We wanted to share our first experience with you and all your followers. We found someone local that was selling eggs - a mix of colors but all Coturnix. We were charged $5 per dozen and bought 6 dozen. Once we got them home, we followed your sanitizing suggestion with the Listerine and water mixture. Usually we use a commercial 'wash' sold by Brinsea for washing/disinfecting eggs and incubators and all other 'equipment.' We did not have any on hand so your suggestion came in handy. After close inspection, we had to discard 2 eggs leaving 70 in the incubator. We had quail racks so they were turned automatically. They were set on Sunday 6/4 and we stopped turning them Monday 6/19; they started hatching 6/20! Instead of laying them in the incubator, we used a quail "tray" that held them all in an upright position and that is how they stayed until they hatched. So far, we have 56 out of 70 chicks hatch! What do you think about that percentage for first time hatchers with local eggs? They were too crowded in the incubator (due to the tray taking up floor space) that we took them all out a little while ago and added some more water and kept the incubator running to see if any of the remaining will hatch. We are ECSTATIC over the hatch results!! One observation...there are a bunch of chicks that are all 'yellow' so guessing they will be white when feathered but some of them have RED EYES? Like Albino? Have you ever seen this? They don't appear to be blind - they are walking all around. We are starting them off with cooked yolk from chicken eggs for 24 hours and then will be adding 30% protein Purina startena and will continue offering the yolk. We look forward to your comments/suggestion. Keep up the great work! We will be back soon to post on other videos. THANK YOU from New York for making this first hatch a great success!!
Hey there. Thanks so much for sharing. Sounds like you had a pretty good hatch. I think you did the right thing by adding more water and letting the unhatched ones go a few more days. I have had several birds hatch out that way. I have never used any cooked egg yolk myself, I just start all my birds on gamebird starter from day one but nothing wrong with your plan. So glad that you found my videos helpful.
You answer a lot of questions about incubation than you once again. Enjoy watching your videos
Nice videos. I had some Bob White for pets and had them in a large planted up shade house more like a natural environment. 16' x16' x8' high. The male would dig a hole and the female would inspect it. If she liked it she would lay her eggs and life was good. When the male died from a respiratory disease I had to release her. I know, but I did anyway. About 2 weeks later she came back bringing a whole flock of bob white with her. She knew there'd be food. The others wouldn't come close but I set food out every day for them. I was honored.😊
Nice. Our native Bob White population has really declined in my area. They are starting to make a come back though.
Slightly Rednecked. I believe the decline is due to ants. As soon as the first chick started to hatch the ants take over in hords. I found out that the ants can't tolerate pine needles so I used that on the sandy floor. Worked great.
I just put ours under lockdown thanks for this four-part series it helped me not to be too afraid of incubating chicks for the first time. We've got chicken eggs in there 35 were fertile. I heard some peeping when we were putting them in lockdown so far so good.
Awesome. Congratulations on your hatch. I am so glad that you found my videos helpful.
Thanks so much for these videos! We got our first hatching eggs today! Doing a fun summer project with the kiddos :)
Thank you very much. You video is very simple to grasp and now I am crossing the fingers waiting. I will give you guys an feedback with two weeks or so. Thanks again.
Thanks so much for watching. Glad you found it helpful. Good luck on your upcoming hatch.
wow i loved to see those cute little quail. i have quail eggs in the incubator right now and i'm learning everything from you.
Thank you so much for watching. I am glad that you are finding the videos helpful. Good luck with your hatch.
Proxcide and water similar 50% mixe .......... seems to work well and some what cheeper ......... is what I've been having a great deal of success ........have had 87% hatch rate .......... love your channel........ keep on Quailing .........S
That is a good suggestion. I have also heard of people using rubbing alcohol the same way with good results.
Hey man just wanted to say thank you that series was a wealth of information for me I’m just starting out with Coturnix Quail and starting my first hatch tomorrow.
Awesome. Good luck with your hatch. I am glad you found these videos helpful.
Very informative! I have kept quail, chickens and ducks but only have experience hatching duck eggs. I’m definitely looking forward to hatching some coturnix!
Extremely helpful. Thanks for the videos sir. You have serious helped me and my 3 little boys out a ton.
I am so glad to hear that. Thank you for watching.
Really good, really waffle-free and useful detailed info. I want quail but I'm scared to go and buy any right now due to the distance involved (corona). Now I'm confident order the eggs and geat to grow my own. Thanks from ths UK.
Thank you for watching. I am glad you found this video helpful. Good luck with your upcoming hatch.
Thank you for watching. I am glad you found this video helpful. Good luck with your upcoming hatch.
Your guidance helps a lot. My hatch rates have always been under 60%.
Restarting quail after few years off and browsing utube stumbled upon your channel. I like the listerine spray. One thing I used in my past to increase humidity was use baby food jars with a sponge sticking up and out of the jar full of water. When I bought the QCF Sportsman I saw that was the technique they used.
That is a great suggestion. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for this video. I have about 25 chicken eggs in the same incubator as you. Helped me a lot. Now gotta wait 21 days. Wish me luck.
Awesome. Thank you for watching. I am glad to hear that the videos were helpful for you. Good luck with your hatch.
I am finishing up my first hatch, just a test run with chicks I don't exactly need but are welcome to the flock. Glad I found this before my next serious hatch later this month
Good luck on your current hatch and I hope you find the videos helpful.
Great video series!
The only thing I'd add is to do everything to ensure your eggs have been fertilized to begin with.
A. Males are producing foam. B. Females aren't too old. C. No large communal pens. D. Check for inactive males. E. Always autopsy your non hatching eggs to see where/when things went wrong or if growth even began.
But you may have covered that in another video...?
Those are all good suggestions. I have covered some of those things in other videos but should have pointed them out here too. Thanks.
I am so glad I decided to watch your video once again! I thought that they went into lock down on day 17 for some reason. I am so glad its day 14 for me right now! Was able to get all my eggs into the incubator and ready for lock down just in time! Thank you for the great video!
Thank you so much for watching. Glad you found it helpful.
Slightly Rednecked really glad I did that last minute! Eggs started hatching day 16! Already about 20 out!
Awesome. Congratulations.
Great instructions! Very knowledgeable, thank you!
I watching your vedio now and this is my first time to do encuvating duck egg to make balut hopefully it works for me until 18 days thank you for sharing your vedio we have same encuvator too your vedio is so helpful thank you again...
Thank you for watching. I am glad you found this video helpful.
Thank you for sharing this video. It was helpful before my daughter to do hatching herself. We are doing turkeys. It was very informative.
Thank you so much for watching. i am glad you found it helpful.
since we love inkbirds, get one for your incubator, I got a humdikit and used the inkbird for the heat.
I use an inkbird to control my heat lights for my brooder boxes. They are great.
@@Slightlyrednecked I have one right now on my hova-bator that does temp and humidity. so glad you did a video of it, now I use them for almost everything, next is one for a cheese fridge. when are you going to start making cheese chris?
Thank you for making this video and teaching people I have been asked a lot about how to incubate eggs different eggs around the world and I told them to watch people on UA-cam there is plenty of my friends and make UA-cam videos and we'll teach other people thank you for teaching
This is definitely the most informative video I've watched on how to incubate quail eggs! Although, my incubator is really not clear on a few things; where exactly do I put the water? My incubator is a HHD automatic incubator, and it's fan is on the bottom where the water should go so I'm definitely confused on where to put it. Any help is awesome. Thanks for the video!
I am so glad that you found the video helpful. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with that incubator so i am not sure I can help much. I saw a video of it though and it looks like it has some channels in the bottom under the tray for water to go in. I hope that helps.
Thanks! Also, I just remembered, it has the fan on the bottom, and I was wondering when I take the egg turner's out and put the eggs on the bottom, is it okay that it's directly above the fan? Will they dry out? Should I put them to the side?
Anyone who is incubating and has problem with humidity dropping quickly.
Don’t put hot water as it evaporates. I had the same problem until I put warm water.
good point. You don't want hot water or cold water because they will affect the temperature as well. Warm water is the way to go.
Just like the previous comment, I had the first 2 of 60 hatch on 4-14-19 on day 16. Two more hatched over night. So far today, 2 more have hatched. I hope most of the rest hatch today and tomorrow. Certainly, most will have to go to the brooders on Wednesday because the first hatchlings will need water and food.
That isn't that uncommon actually. When it is time to move them to the brooder box just be as quick as you can and move all of them that are dry and fluffy and then close the incubator back up. You might get more to hatch after that. Good luck and I hope it goes well.
@@Slightlyrednecked, 48 of 60 so far. 28 hatched while I was at work yesterday and another 14 overnight. Looking forward to this endeavor. I've learned a lot from your efforts.
I pray your wife has been recovering nicely. Though I enjoy the rabbit and quail content very much, those with your wife are my favorites because the two of you know that know matter what, God's got this.
Hey chris, great info here. My incubator loses humidity terribly so one thing I do is run a small hose through one of the ports and use a syringe to inject water into the incubator after lockdown if the humidity drops. Just a thought for anyone out there with a crappy incubator that loses humidity like mine :)
OH, I totally meant to cover that in the video and forgot. Thanks so much for bringing it up. Another thing you can do is put a sponge in there (not touching the eggs of course). It can help hold water longer and raise humidity. Thanks so much for watching and for sharing the great tip.
15 new quail chicks in that last 13 hours. 15 to go! This is our first hatch...very exciting.
awesome. Congratulations on your hatch.
Thank you so much for this series of videos ! Very good for me as were about to get into the world of hatching !
Thank you for watching. I am glad you found them helpful. Good luck with your hatches.
New sub bc this series was very informative covering all I needed thanks a ton. Great job
Thank you so much. I am so glad you found it helpful
damm dude! 71!? sheesh! you are a Pro! you know what i do to sanitize the eggs that Proved to work eggcelent! i use a teaspoons worth of vinagar and isopropl alcahol. and i keep the hole open for the humidity. and i NEVER use humidity! humidity is the enemy of incubation! the humidity is not needed at all! humidity always helps the bacteria in this case. and the vinagar iso alcahol and also lemon peels and juice. and a tiny bit of baking soda afterwards. then empty out that liquid after 20mins or so. and then a little bit of baking soda to keep it preserved. you could possibily add a preserving pack inside to also preserve Good air quaility! this works and NEVER, EVER! use humidity! usually the answer is in nature. does a hen spout humidity at the eggs like the ocean or does the feathers wick the moisture of the hens natural heat? eggs are only damp when the hens first lay them. mimicing nature is how you do things properly. do that and youll have no probrem with city wok incubating.
hi chris i did not know about that listerine 50/50 water to santized them good info again
Thanks you so much. Glad you found it helpful.
it would be really helpful.
3% Hydrogen Peroxide also works well. 👍
Your videos are super helpful. I have a question regarding the hatching humidity. If the humidity is too high after I filled the trays after lock down, what do I do since I can't open to remove any water?
great hatch! excellent how-to...I like my Little Giant bators. I have the egg tuner and fan in mine. Makes the job easier! when I upgraded my bator, I kept my old one ,used it as a hatcher. then loaded the first one back up for another hatch ! just constant rotation, worked great! I was hoping I could get a look at your broader...couldt tell much bout it tho ! thanks for another great video !
Thanks for the kind comments. I am glad you liked it. I just use a large rubbermaid tub for my brooder. Cut half the lid and put hardware cloth over it for ventilation.
Slightly Rednecked I kind of thought that's what that look like. If people would just use their knocking they don't have to buy all this high dollar catalog sparkly equipment . Where there is a will there is a way. ! :)
Hi Chris,
What do you clean the incubator with between hatchlings?
Scrub it out real good with dish soap. If it is summer time or a stretch of nice days i will set it out in the sun for a few days to kill off bacteria. Or you can wipe it down with a very diluted bleach mixture but make sure to let it sit out and air dry for a few days to get rid of fumes. Hope that helps. Maybe i should do a video on that sometime soon.
@@Slightlyrednecked umm I think scrubing will make the bacteria go in side the egg according to A Chick Called albert from the video of saving the crack duck egg
Hi Chris, awesome videos we learning so much from your experiences thank you very much Mate
great vid, Chris! =) I do the same with unhatched - perform eggtopsys. It was hard at first, but over time, it has got easier =) Every hatch is a learning experience =)
Thanks for the info as I’m going to hatch Quail eggs,they are so cute 😍🐣🇦🇺🇦🇺🦘🦘
Thanks for watching. Good luck with your hatch.
Thank you 🐣🐣
You can have too much of anything. During incubation you should be able to discover 60-65% humidity level of water in your unit and that is what level you should have for the lock down period. To low humidity is very bad for the little guys. The inside membrane of the egg will dry and seal them in to die....shrink wrap it is referred too. You do not open the unit for the 3 day period (chicken)of lock down.
Thanks for the video and information! Wanting to do both a broody hen and an incubator as well...
I am so glad you found the video helpful. Good luck with your hatches.
Just starting with my homemade incubator....your info was very helpful .....Thxs
Awesome. So glad you found it helpful.
After you open the incubator to remove the ones that have hatched, put the unhatched eggs in the center of the incubator and remove the shells. Work quickly. Then, if you have a fan in your incubator, take a spray bottle and lightly spray warm water on the inside of the incubator without spraying the eggs. When you put the lid back on and the fan runs, it will turn all that sprayed water into moisture for the ones still unhatched.
I do something similar. I don't spray but always add water to the incubator.
Increasing the 'water surface' is the key. Spraying a fine mist gets moisture into the incubator air quickly. Especially important with waterfowl eggs.
I know. I live in a fairly humid area so I don't have too many problems with humidity here.
Hi Chris, thank you for taking the time to produce your video series on improving the hatching rate. I discovered your videos at the end of the incubation process....Question, you might have mentioned it but once the hatching begins, does the temperature needs to remain the same, 99.5? ...btw I'm in Houston, Tx....thanks again for your valuable information. ..I will use your videos as my guide on the next go round. ...Peace....
Thank you so much for the kind comments. Yeah, keep the temp the same the entire time, even after they start hatching. I hope that helps.
I used to live in Nacogdoches....been to Houston many times.
hey chris thanks for all the info i see were iv made some mistakes in my first tow hatches your info will help alot.with in the next few weeks i will hatch a batch with your method,and i will let you know how it works for me.i have one thing i do is i have two incubators one has a turner and the other is what i put my eggs in for lock down. again thanks for all the info im sure it will help.talk to you soon, VANCE MATTERS
Awesome. Thanks so much for watching and please do let me know how it goes.
I've heard different things on whether to lay the eggs flat for the last 3 days or, some say to leave them upright but just unplug/turn off the turner for the last 3 days. Do you find one way more effective and successful than the other? ANy disadvantages that you've noticed of one way over the other? Thanks :)
I always suggest removing the egg turner. If they hatch in the turner they can get stuck in it and break a leg or die.
This is a great video on incubation! Thank you so much for this !
Thank you for watching. I am glad you found it helpful.
Thanks for sharing this video .have a question is there any different between quail eggs and chuckar bird eggs ?
The quail eggs and chuckar partridge eggs are looks the same I tried to put the chuckar partridge eggs under chicken but hatched only one from 13 eggs
They should incubate with the same process. The only difference is the time they incubate. I believe that chuckar take about 24 days to hatch so you would go into lockdown on day 20. I hope that helps.
I am so glad I stumbled upon you. Your videos are a blessing to this new incubator Mama. I'm desperate here and noticed you answer questions. I did my first chicken incubation ...had 41 eggs and hatched 19. Ohhhh did I do things wrong according to your videos. I have been a blind idiot in this. So a man gave us 31 wild Turkey eggs. I had them hatching on the 12th of this month. Well one hatched yesterday. No more thus far. I candled them last night and have 6 with full chicks in them. I didnt know not to open the incubator....lockdown process. Any info you can share on this and.....is it possible that the man for them from different clutches and the eggs were of different stages/ages? Thank you in advance.
Thank you so much for watching my videos. I am glad that they are helpful for you. Even if the eggs were from different times it really starts at incubation so that shouldn't have an effect on it. It just takes some time for all eggs to hatch. If you don't have any more that have hatched after 48 hours you can remove the one that has and add some more water (if needed) to the incubator and close it back up. There is a good chance that the rest will still hatch. I am betting that by now some more have already hatched. good luck and I hope it is going well.
Just got my quail eggs, and put them into the incubator. I am a little worried about after the first chick hatches. Is there a chance of any of them dying of starvation or dehydration before I move them out? Just wanted to make sure.
Also, this was a fantastic video! I've had horrible luck with the past hatches, and this was very informative.
I tend to move my birds out of the incubator about 48 hours after hatching. There really isn't any concern with them starving in that time frame. They can go up to 3 days with no real concerns. I hope that helps and I hope you have great success with your next hatch.
Your videos are very good, I'm starting to lose some eggs, they started to smell ugly and I threw them in the trash, this is my 2 time but I can't remove the red plugs that my gum has brown because hers doesn't have
Hi, I just put my first ever in life batch of quail eggs in a brand new incubator. I am as new as a person could be.. Thank you for the video. Could you please point me to a good video what to do with the quails after they hatch, you mentioned a brooder? Maia (Bulgaria)
Nice. Good luck with your hatch. Once they hatch you will want to move them to a brooder box with a heat lamp or other heat source and keep them at about 100 F until they feather out. Wait to move them out of the incubator until they are dry and feathered out. I usually wait about 48 hours from the first one hatching, then move all that have hatched and are dry to the brooder, add water to the incubator if it needs it and close it back up. I will generally get a few more to hatch over the next 4 or 5 days that way. Here is a video showing my brooder box and discussing a little about that process. I hope it helps. ua-cam.com/video/931WCVPPAQQ/v-deo.html
@@Slightlyrednecked Thank you, I like your comment at the end of the videos "God bless" :)
Simple, practical instructions....Great video....
Hi, I enjoy your videos. Can you tell me if I can incubate regular and button quail eggs together? We've never done them together before, I wanted to check with you first. Thank you for sharing your information with all of us.
I don't see why you couldn't. I would do it if I were incubating button quail eggs.
@@Slightlyrednecked thank you so much for responding to my question. Have a great week .
Hey Chris, Just Discovered your videos! Very Helpful! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the kind comments. and thanks for watching.
Slightly Rednecked Set 15 Chicken Eggs, following your method, Got 12 Healthy chicks! Pretty good Hatch rate!
Got 44 of 52 was really happy
Great video and some very good info., Which end of the egg points down while in the egg turner?, I did not see your other videos so I am guessing the pointy end from the looks of how your eggs were setting?.
yup, pointy end down. I should have said that in this video shouldn't I? :)
folks i have the little giant deluxe and that control unit is completely off i played with it and got a perfect reading but on the control board i punched in 101.7 and after warming to the proper temperature and humidity for the entire incubation period it held at 99.6 up to.7 according to my inside thermometers
chris have you thought of using water bottles cut in half, I used that and didn't have to refill. and also its tall enough the babies don't fall in the water or get wet if theres too much water on the bottom. Or you can use a humidakit.
I haven't done that but sounds like a good idea. Luckily, I don't have too many issues with humidity.
I once put a small bowl in with eggs near lockdown and when they hatched I saved on , he full into the bowl 😱
So you would recommend this Little Giant incubator? I hope to start incubating my own eggs in the near future and am in the market for an incubator that is good, but not super expensive (as I am not sure how much I will use it).
It has worked well for me. Had the thermostat go out on it but Miller Mfg (company that makes them) replaced it no problem. I don't have experience with them myself but hear good things about the hovabators as well.
Slightly Rednecked Thanks for the feedback. Is this a still air incubator?
No problem. I use the forced air version myself.
First time egging here 👋🥚 I've ordered some Indian runner duck eggs and I am making my own incubator tomorrow. I'm making it from polystyrene with a glass window to see inside I'm gonna use a bulb fitting but which watt bulb should I use and at what temp do you think I should keep it at and humidity. Thankyou for any info I cant wait for my eggs to arrive. I really hope they hatch
I am not sure what size bulb you need to use exactly. It would depend on how big the incubator is and how well it is insulated as to what size bulb in needs to get it to temp. You want it to be 100 F. I would think a 100 watt incandescent bulb would do that pretty easily but you will have to experiment to find out for sure. You might install a dimmer switch so you can adjust it as needed. Good luck with your hatch.
Thankyou
If you make your own incubator out of a styrofoam cooler, you won’t need more that a 25W bulb. However it is difficult to maintain a stable temperature with inexpensive (water heater) thermostats. You are better off buying a disk thermostat (the kind you get in non-digital commercial incubators) or even a digital thermostat. The temperature needs to be solidly at 99.5F (37.5C) in an incubator with a fan that circulates the air, or 100F (37.8C) if there is no fan. These incubators can work - I have made them and have hatched eggs in them. But I love my Hovabator.