Coturnix Quail Hatch W/O Turning!

[Ablebreeze]

I just thought I'd share a surprising success.

I'm just getting back into Jumbo Coturnix Quail.
1st 3 hatchings
1. Old incubator 120 deg or off. No hatches
2. OK thermometer. Used refrigerated eggs. Too much humidity during lockdown/hatching (80%+). 30 eggs, 9 hatched, 6 survived
3. I forgot to plug in the automatic turner. No rotation of eggs at all!. Used unrefrigerated eggs. 24 eggs, 16 hatched! All survived!

Everything I read on the internet said they would die in days if the eggs weren't rotated several times a day. Well, once again the internet was wrong. I'm so glad I ignored what I read and left the incubator on because they hatched.

Number 4 with unrefrigerated eggs is in the reliable incubator now with a thermometer and humidity readout and the automatic turner plugged IN. Hoping for a near 100% hatch rate.

 

[Cindy in SD]

Just watching brooding chicken hens, they do all sorts of things "wrong". They'll leave their eggs to go off and eat (then hurry back). I've marked the eggs and can't see that they've been turned much. Of all my poultry, I think the chickens do take the most trouble & sit the most faithfully.

Some of the turkey hens will leave their nests all morning while they go off and forage. OTOH, others seem like they'd starve themselves if I didn't find them & bring them food & water. My ducks & geese graze all day and just sit the nest at night. Not sayin' we should do that, and the birds don't achieve the hatch rates I do in an incubator, but it seems to me there's a lot more leeway than we've been led (by honest, well-meaning ppl) to believe.

The geese bury their eggs and may go back a couple times a day, then sit all night. My first two ducks that raised babies (in their 2nd year) consistently left their nests all day, then snuck off at night to brood before everyone else got locked into the barn. I found their nests, and they didn't even bury them like the geese do. I *have* found that broody ducks do a lot better job of keeping their babies alive once they're hatched, though. They can teach their littles to hide from raptors, which I can't seem to accomplish. And just TRY as a human, to convince ducklings who've been stuffing themselves all day on the pond, to come back to the barn at night.

 

[Florida Jeff]

I just thought I'd share a surprising success.

I'm just getting back into Jumbo Coturnix Quail.
1st 3 hatchings
1. Old incubator 120 deg or off. No hatches
2. OK thermometer. Used refrigerated eggs. Too much humidity during lockdown/hatching (80%+). 30 eggs, 9 hatched, 6 survived
3. I forgot to plug in the automatic turner. No rotation of eggs at all!. Used unrefrigerated eggs. 24 eggs, 16 hatched! All survived!

Everything I read on the internet said they would die in days if the eggs weren't rotated several times a day. Well, once again the internet was wrong. I'm so glad I ignored what I read and left the incubator on because they hatched.

Number 4 with unrefrigerated eggs is in the reliable incubator now with a thermometer and humidity readout and the automatic turner plugged IN. Hoping for a near 100% hatch rate.

Thats great news. Good Luck

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

convince ducklings who've been stuffing themselves all day on the pond, to come back to the barn at night.

I recently heard that muscovy ducks are known to roost at night like chickens - does anyone know about that?