Post by BlackCobra » 07 Dec 2012, 00:11
Hi, I was making a mouse trap yesterday and 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 and bent with a broom handle to give a nice round shape for the eggs, that way all the eggs were in a row and 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 and a 21 day chart, how it works is, if you look at date on eggs and 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 and 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, and 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 and 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% and 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 and 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.
Quails info
To start King quails are by far the best and most popular to start with.
Just a few hints with quails, never add a new quail into an established quail setup, there territorial and will kill the new one, I never ever put just a pair in any aviary as the males are too horny and after a while the females head will be bald or worse, so I like to have 2-3 hens at least per cock, when I add new stock I throw all into a new aviary, that way there all in new territory and might be less aggressive, also keep an eye on how many eggs in a nest, I use to have a trio of king quails in all my aviaries, often there was too many eggs in the nest, the hen would pull all the eggs in on one side and push out an egg on the other side, that means that egg might die, then later she bring that egg in and push another one out, over time you could have a lot of dead eggs, I think it was around 9 eggs maximum I would leave under her, I would mark the eggs to know what batch she started with, a duck, quail, chook ect only sit for 18-21 days or what ever hatch time is, anyway, hens often go and collect eggs around the aviary and add them to her nest, only the original batch will hatch, as once the first eggs hatch they wont go back to the nest, so any more resent eggs will just die, so toss any new eggs that she adds.
I also put tin or mouse wire around the sides of the aviary because baby king quails run right through into other aviaries and can be killed, also put some wire or something in the water dishes so babies don't drown.
I have still lost babies as some cant keep up with mum in a big aviary and just keep getting colder and die, so I put a box in the aviary on the floor with mum in it with the babies for a week or so.
I use to incubate tons of them also, when I was doing more intense breeding, I bred japs, kings, Californians, bobwhites, I had 2-3 incubators going all the time, then my health went down so I sold all I could, and gave my friend the incubators and brooders full of chicks.
I would feed all my baby quails turkey starter as it has higher protein.
I know a lot of this is common sense with the quails, but I did lose quite a few young over the years to different problems, so just trying to help new people.
Just a few hints with quails, never add a new quail into an established quail setup, there territorial and will kill the new one, I never ever put just a pair in any aviary as the males are too horny and after a while the females head will be bald or worse, so I like to have 2-3 hens at least per cock, when I add new stock I throw all into a new aviary, that way there all in new territory and might be less aggressive, also keep an eye on how many eggs in a nest, I use to have a trio of king quails in all my aviaries, often there was too many eggs in the nest, the hen would pull all the eggs in on one side and push out an egg on the other side, that means that egg might die, then later she bring that egg in and push another one out, over time you could have a lot of dead eggs, I think it was around 9 eggs maximum I would leave under her, I would mark the eggs to know what batch she started with, a duck, quail, chook ect only sit for 18-21 days or what ever hatch time is, anyway, hens often go and collect eggs around the aviary and add them to her nest, only the original batch will hatch, as once the first eggs hatch they wont go back to the nest, so any more resent eggs will just die, so toss any new eggs that she adds.
I also put tin or mouse wire around the sides of the aviary because baby king quails run right through into other aviaries and can be killed, also put some wire or something in the water dishes so babies don't drown.
I have still lost babies as some cant keep up with mum in a big aviary and just keep getting colder and die, so I put a box in the aviary on the floor with mum in it with the babies for a week or so.
I use to incubate tons of them also, when I was doing more intense breeding, I bred japs, kings, Californians, bobwhites, I had 2-3 incubators going all the time, then my health went down so I sold all I could, and gave my friend the incubators and brooders full of chicks.
I would feed all my baby quails turkey starter as it has higher protein.
I know a lot of this is common sense with the quails, but I did lose quite a few young over the years to different problems, so just trying to help new people.
