Swap around

All of the quail are out of the house, and in the side passage now, and the guinea pig is in the side passage too for the winter.
The 2 adults are in a hutch on their own, the guinea pig is in a hutch on top of theirs, the chicks (3 hens and 1 cockerel) are in their own hutch, and the remaining 3 chick cockerels are on their own in the brooder in the garage so that they can't see/hear the girls and fight.

Adult hen

Chick Hen

Chicks' House

Guinea Pig

RIP Little Quail

The smallest chick out of the 8 has died.
I don't know why, as it has survived for 4 weeks.

RIP Little Quail

The male hasn't come back so we are down to 9.

Huge

The chicks are looking huge now, they are nearly 3 weeks old.
They are still in the brooder, and are eating chick crumbs now, not turkey crumbs, just because they don't sell them in the shop we went to.
There is one little one, which is 1/2 the size of the others! but he/she is the best one.

You can start to see which ones look like girls and which ones look like boys, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

The adult female's head has healed well, and I'll keep them with the male in the day, but not over night.

Growing Up

The chicks are huge compared to last week, and the adults look even bigger now next to them.

The adults are about 9 weeks now, and should be layin soon. I've put a lamp next to them, on in the morning and when it gets dark, so that they have 14 hours of light, and to encourage them to lay.

The male has been chasing the 2 girls round, trying to mate, so hopefully they'll start laying soon.

The chicks have grown loads since last week, they're 9 days old now. They are still eating Turkey Crumb, and will do for a few more weeks. Most of their wing feathers are grown, so they are hopping up and down in the brooder and jumping about.

:(

The umbilical cord chick has just died :(
I wasn't expecting it to live but it's still a shame.

More...

We're up to 8 chicks now.

I've just dampened the shell down, and got the shell off the stuck egg, but it is stuck to the umbilical cord! :S

Up to 6

The 6th chick has just hatched :D

The one I helped isn't looking good :(

Up to 5

There was one more chick born after I got back from school, so we're up to 5 now!!
I tried to help one out that has been stuck in his shell for over 24 hours, but it was a bit stuck to his shell, so I left it half in its shell and put it back in the incubator.

Hatched

I've got 4 chicks in the incubator!

We got back after the christening, and nothing had happened, and then within 2 minutes 1 hatched, and then 3 others followed :D

A video of one of the quail hatching

The 1st egg to chip still isn't hatched.

Pipping

I woke up and Dad said they were pipping, 1 of the eggs was cracked a bit, and 2 others at the back are wobbling.
We're going to christening, so I'm going to leave a camcorder on them incase they hatch while wa are out.

Brooder

The brooder:


The eggs are now flat and waiting to hatch, I've put water in the water tray to raise humidity.

Day 15

Today is the day I stop turning the eggs, and leave them flat to hatch.

I have already put a non-stick mat in the incubator, just incase they hatched early and now I need to put a wet sponge in the bottom of the incubator, to raise humidity. I bought a huge tub of marbles so that I can put it in the water dish and they won't drown.

I was either going to use:
a wooden brooder
OR a glass brooder
I'm going to use the fish tank because the chicks could jump out, and it could be a bit cold. I'll cut a piece of wood and drill holes in the top and wire up the lamp. I just need a red fireglow bulb now.

Day 13

I've just candled the eggs and I can still only see 1 egg with veins in it.

The other eggs have really patterned and dark shells so you can't really see the inside.

I'm hoping half of the eggs hatch, out of 19.

I wired up the bulb and plug for the brooder and it works, all I need now is the bulb. I could use a ceramic, infra-red, or a normal reflector. The infra-red and ceramic are expensive, so I might use a normal reflector, but even then you can buy coloured ones so the light isn't as intense for the chicks.

I also ordered 500g of turkey crumbs off ebay for the chicks, it cost 82p + £2.60 for the postage. Apparently turkey crumb is better than chick crumb as it has a higher % of protein, which quail need.

Rotten Egg

There was an egg in the incubator yesterday that stunk and I've been reading about exploding eggs which ruin in incubator and all the other eggs.

I smelt all of the eggs and found the one I thought was rotten and I got dad to do the same and we both said the same egg. I took it outside and cracked it open with a knife and it was full of a yellow liquid and a brown blob.
I'm not sure if it was infertile and has been cooking or if it was an early death or what.

Well I'm down to 19 eggs now.

:D

I went to go and put some tin foil on top of the perspex to reflect some of the heat back towards the eggs, and the thermostat kicked back in. I don't know what happened or how it managed to work again, but the best thing is that it is up and running!

I hope that the eggs will hatch now and weren't left too cold, it'd be such a shame and a waste if they didn't hatch :(

The adult quail are fine, they seem huge compared to when we got them and I can't wait untill they are laying.
Oh and I now have a hygrometer, which has been in the incubator for a few days and seems accurate :D

:(

I've just got back from moving scenery all day and the incubator is broken :(
The temperature was down to about 27oC and the thermostat isn't working.
I've quickly put a normal bulb in to bring the temperature back up, and checked the wiring of the thermostat and it is all fine.

Mom said that the maximum it's been off is 4 hours, but hopefully a lot less, the eggs didn't feel too cold.
I just hope that they will still hatch and that they weren't too cold for too long.

I'll leave that bulb in to warm it up and then see what I will do, I might have to use Hughies thermostat.

Quail + Eggs

I've just been to Quinton to get the eggs for the incubator. I was planning to get 12 for £1.50, but the man gave me 24 because he had loads spare!
The eggs should hatch after about 18 days.
He also hatched some quail for a pet shop and they let him down so I got a trio of quail :D They are 5/6 weeks old.
I gave him £2 and he was going to give me change! He had some chinese painted quail aswell, which I liked the look of but had to resist!!
Thanks soo much keef! And thank-you Sarah for taking me :D

So 24 eggs and 3 quail for £2, thats really good! They might live either with the quinea pig or in their own hutch, but its tipping it down at the moment so they are in the kitchen running around.

4 of the eggs are cracked, but I wasn't expecting to have 24 anyway so it doesn't matter, just means we can eat them!
The female (on the left)
has a more spotted chest,
and the male (on the right)
has a brown chest.