Please Help Quail Incubation Problems

[tcollier]

     OK guys I am having some problems here.  I have built my incubator and have hatched chickens in it with very good success.  I have tried two batches of Coturnix quail and failed miserably.  First batch 20 eggs and 1 hatched.  Second batch 70 eggs and 3 hatched.   I have included pictures of my incubator so you can give me pointers and such.  It is using the GQF thermostat and 225 watt heating element and a 110v fan.  the fan blows the air into the back through the heating elementdown between a false back wall and the real back wall.  the air comes out at the bottom and goes back up to the top.  It stays rock solid on 100 degrees and 55% humidity.  I have an automatic turner in it but it is not pictured.  It sits on the rails above the hatching rack.  It is an Little Giant with Chicken and Quail rails.  The light you see inside is just to use when viewing inside and not left on all the time.  Automatic humidity system is also installed.  Please help!!!

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

Where are your intake and exhausts vents? You have to be able to circulate fresh air as well.

How often are you turning the eggs?

Are you blowing the air over the water pan?

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[kingwolf]

humidity could be a little low you should run it around 60% but if its more than that steves got the right questions for you 

[tcollier]

The air intake and exhaust holes are in the back between the real back and the false back where the air flows down to the bottom of the incubator.  It is getting good fresh air flow.  As I said in the first post I have a Little Giant Automatic Egg Turner that sits on the rails above the hatching tray and they are turned automatically.  Fan is right behing the water pan and the heating element is right behind that then the air goes down behind a false back out the bottom up through the hatching tray then through the eggs on the egg turner up to the top shelf then over the water pan and back to the fan.  Like I said I got good hatches out of my chicken eggs.  24 out of 28 and 5 out of 6 in the two hatches I have done in it.  Just having issues with the quail I tried to hatch.   

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

The air intake and exhaust holes are in the back between the real back and the false back where the air flows down to the bottom of the incubator.  It is getting good fresh air flow.  As I said in the first post I have a Little Giant Automatic Egg Turner that sits on the rails above the hatching tray and they are turned automatically.  Fan is right behing the water pan and the heating element is right behind that then the air goes down behind a false back out the bottom up through the hatching tray then through the eggs on the egg turner up to the top shelf then over the water pan and back to the fan.  Like I said I got good hatches out of my chicken eggs.  24 out of 28 and 5 out of 6 in the two hatches I have done in it.  Just having issues with the quail I tried to hatch.

OK, bear with me:

Coturnix quail = 17 days incubation
Circulated air flow Temp = 100*
Humidity (wet bulb, F)* = 84 - 86 (51-56% relative humidity)
Final egg day rotation = 15 days
Temp during the final 3 days of incubation (F)* = 99.5
Humidity during the final 3 days of incubation (wet bulb, F)* 90-94 (72-83% relative humidity)

If you have all this and your hatch rate is none existant, get your eggs from another supplier.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[tcollier]

Steve

Thanks for all the info it confirms what I thought about temps and times for the eggs are.  My first two purchases were from different people, but I have a bad feeling that the outside temps we were having when the eggs were shipped could have been my problem.  I did just make another purchase of eggs from a different person so I will see how this goes.  I have 120 more eggs on the way so my fingers are crossed.   

Thanks
Tom

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

Steve

Thanks for all the info it confirms what I thought about temps and times for the eggs are.  My first two purchases were from different people, but I have a bad feeling that the outside temps we were having when the eggs were shipped could have been my problem.  I did just make another purchase of eggs from a different person so I will see how this goes.  I have 120 more eggs on the way so my fingers are crossed.   

Thanks
Tom

Good luck Tom, let us know how this one works out for you.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[CharlieHorse]

 

Nice job on the incubator, looks good!

Do you candle the eggs?  Did you break any of the unhatched eggs open to see if they are developing at all?

Good Luck on that next setting of eggs.

[tcollier]

I do not candle the eggs.  Yes I did break some open and all I found were embryo's that died at a very young age.  Dark yellow/orangeish yolks with a few blood vessels.

Here are a few more pictures of the incubator so you can see a bit better about the airflow.  You can see the fan mounted on one side of the false back and the heating element on the other the air in this picture would move from left to right then down the back and out the bottom.  Also here is the float valve I set up to keep the water topped off in the water pan inside the incubator.  It is a small float valve and my guess is it is the exact one that is used in the GQF sportsman incubators.  It is actually a float valve for a reverse osmosis system on an aquarium.  But it works perfectly.

After having a very long talk with a quail breeder and troubleshooting the issues we came to the conclusion it had the be the weather which was extremely hot when the quail eggs were shipped.  High 90's here and at the location they came from with heat index it was 105 or so.  But due to my success with the chicken eggs on two seperate batches it can't be the incubator.  This breader said that Coturnix eggs were almost as easy as chicken eggs to hatch and there should not be an issue with any of the conditions from the incubator.  If it were Bobwhites that would be different.  Also stated they had hatched turkey, quail and pheasants in the same incubator at the same time each type of egg on a different tray and of course different hatch dates with no problems at all.   

[backcountry]

hows the incubator problem coming along
im he guy that talked to you on the phone and got the last batch of eggs from


thanks tim rhodes