Incubation and rearing

In short

• Hatching eggs: from parents aged 10 weeks to 10 months, 1 male to 3–5 females, eggs no more than 7 days old, stored at 12–16 °C (54–61 °F).
• Forced-air incubator: 37.5–37.7 °C (99.5–99.9 °F), humidity 45–55 %; from day 15 no turning and humidity 65–75 %.
• Chicks hatch on days 17 and 18. Don't open the incubator while they hatch.
• Brooder in the first week 35–37 °C (95–99 °F) under the heat source, then roughly 3 °C less each week.
• A drinker filled with pebbles, kitchen paper on the floor for the first days and fine mesh: chicks drown, splay their legs and get through 12 mm mesh.
• In Pharaohs the sex shows at 3–4 weeks. Separate surplus males by week 6.

What's inside

Chapters

1. An incubator, because quail don't brood
2. The parent flock and hatching eggs
3. The incubator: preparation and conditions
4. Day by day
5. Candling and weighing
6. The hatch
7. When the hatch fails
8. The brooder: the first four weeks
9. Sexing and separating
10. Chick health
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Incubation log
• Candling and hatch results
• Hatching calculator
• Brooder log
• Hatching and rearing calendar
• Shopping list for hatching