How to Raise Quail in an Incubator

Raising quail eggs in an incubator is both simple and rewarding

Raising quail can be a rewarding hobby for any game bird enthusiast. By following a few simple steps you can enjoy watching a brood of these natural bug eaters roam your backyard in search of lawn and garden pests. And with the current emphasis on health and sustainability, raising quail for their meat and eggs can be a rewarding way to reduce your dependency on mass-produced meat.

Things You'll Need

• Fertile quail eggs
• incubator
• brooder lamp

Instructions

Hatching Quail

1. Buy your eggs. Decide which type of quail you'd like to raise. The Japanese and courternix quail are common and grow quickly. Eggs can typically be found at local feed stores, from local farmers, or even from online catalogs.

2. Put the eggs in an incubator. The narrow end of the egg should be pointing down.

3. Set the incubator. The manufacturer's instructions for your particular incubator are best to follow, but a good rule of thumb is to set the incubator to 70 percent humidity and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Turn the eggs twice daily. Each egg should be turned twice a day at 30-degree intervals to keep the yolk centered in the egg. This ensures the chick will have enough room to grow. The eggs will hatch at around 16 days, but the time frame will vary depending on the species.

5. Transfer hatched chicks to a brooder pre-heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Each week, drop the temperature in the brooder down by 5 degrees. By six weeks, the chicks are ready to be removed from the brooder.

References

• Riase Quail: Hatching and Brooding Quail
• Back Woods Home: Raising Quail