Incubator, gonna get myself some babies

[Jen]

Well last season I had to listen (read) while everyones quails hatched out cute little babies while my stubborn Japanese quails laid so many eggs I truly know the meaning of the saying "walking on egg-shells" ie Hundreds of eggs! and then refused to sit on them. I was quite relieved when they stopped laying with the change in the weather.

But Now I figure enough is enough and today while i was driving along I heard on the local buy, sell and swap radio program, the magic word "incubator"!

So I screeched to a stop (sorry to those cars that nearly ran up my backside and frantically scrambled to find a biro to write down the phone number, then out with the trusty mobile phone and "voila" 20 minutes later i became the proud owner of a Novital Incubator.
It does about 20-24 chook eggs or double that for quail eggs. I must admit it is a manual one and i will have to slide the little undercarriage thingy across twice a day but an incubator it is and baby quails I WILL have if it kills me
So any helpful suggestions on this subject will be greatly appreciated!
Now how do i make those quails start laying again??? ;D

[bubbles]

lol Thats great!! My quails sit on their eggs hatch out the babies and then abandon them!! I know how frustrating it is. I hope you get lots of babies

[Mark]

Jap Quails have been incubated for so many (for the food market) that they have forgoten how to incubate and hatch there own young you might be lucky to get that 1 in 1000 that will do there job but it is very rear

[Matt]

Hi Jen. Congratulations on the new incubator! I would say those quail will start laying again around August/September. I incubate alot of eggs here, chooks mainly but also pheasants, peafowl etc, Humidity is important so dont forget to keep the water tray topped up and also keep the temperature stable at 37.5 degrees. I also recommend keeping it in an area where it will not experience large fluxuations in temperature, such as a room in the house, that way it will not struggle too much to keep the inside a constant temperature. Good luck with it all and please post pictures as soon as you get tiny fluff filled babies .

[Amanda]

they will start laying after their moult. This time of year with the start of warmer weather will see them moulting. You should have tonnes of feathers everywhere. Soon after all that they will breed again. Supplement them with calcium, I found they love cuttlebones and shell grit and ensure plenty of sunlight for big healthy eggs.

[Jen]

Thanks everyone for your very useful suggestions, it is still freezing down here in the deep south and my car is still completely covered in ice every morning so I guess I still have a little way to go before they moult but I will keep you posted.