I have been using the GQF incubators for over 30 years and they work very well. GQF also is very good at replacing parts if they fail within a certain time frame. I have never had a problem with their customer service, very nice people. Also I have never had a problem with the wafer thermostats, you just need to replace them every few years because they do ware out.
I've had good success with an Incuview incubator. All plastic - built in humidity and thermometer, forced air fan (although it's good to have backups inside) and egg turner. It holds around +/- 50 quail eggs. Holds humidity well and rebuilds humidity quickly (like the small Brinsea models) - which can be important for impatient hatchers (first timers especially) who can't - not - look and mess with the eggs. Also like the Brinsea incubators, it's a relatively automated process and doesn't need much attention until hatch time.
I wanted to see in when hatching better, but didn't want to keep opening the lid. I thought of an algae scraper I once had in a fish tank, and invited something like it for each window of my incubator. What I did was take two small flat disc magnets, those kind just a bit larger than a quarter, and two pieces of felt that wouldn't scratch plexiglass and put it all together like a sandwich. Magnet - felt - widow - felt - magnet. One for each window. You just slide the magnet on the outside around and the one inside follows it and wipes the fog off. Don't lift it or the inside one will fall and may damage a chick or egg - as long as you don't lift, they stick together well.
I know im randomly asking but does anyone know a tool to get back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid lost my account password. I appreciate any tips you can give me.
@Shiloh Kieran thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Shiloh Kieran DAMN IT REALLY WORKED :O Literally hacked my IG login after roughly 45 minutes of using the site. Thank you so much you really help me out !
I've got Little Giant still air incubator without egg turner about 2 years ago (about $50), got a couple of hatches with it. Needs a lot of your attention - watching the temp and humidity (using another thermometer/hygrometer), turning eggs, but it does its job OK. Just added a fan kit to it, hope my hatching rate will improve. But this year I found in Walmart online store the one with the egg turner and fan (Yescom Automatic Digital 56 Eggs Incubator), and it cost under $90. Works great and besides adding some water when the humidity drops, you don't need to do anything. Very pleased with it. But, whatever incubator you have, you should test it first before putting eggs in it (check the temp in it for about 24 hours, using another thermometer).
My wife and I love your videos. We just started our quail journey. I noticed your shirt in this video. I'm a 10 year plus scouting leader and love the shirt!!!
Great video. I'm in west central mo. Watched most all of the videos you posted on quail over time. You got me over the edge to try quail. I now have several pens. I've never used a farm innovator. But have used the LG and the 1588. In my experience I had 20 to 30 percent hatch rate in the lg. Went to the 1588 and now hatch 80 to 90 percent. So if you can afford it go 1588 imho. Keep up the good informative vids.
Awesome to see another show me stater in here. I wonder if you had a temp problem in your little giant. I always recommend verifying the temp with a couple of calibrated thermometers just to be sure. But yeah, if you can afford the 1588 it is the way to go.
I’ve requested to join the Facebook group. I haven’t started raising quail yet but going to start this spring. I’m going to raise Bob Whites to release back into the wild. Really enjoyed your videos I’ve watched all 102. Lol took me a week or so. Great job
Hey Chris, Noah here from Texas. those are great incubators. Personally I use the HDD brand. I have two 48 egg capacity. just purchased the 2nd in march 2021. I purchased my first one 4 yrs ago and the thermostat and heating element just went out. so i purchased another incubator while the parts came in. mine have been great. paid around $60 free ship on eBay. they are plastic so they wont break easily and do come standard with the egg turner every 2 hrs. i have had real good results with both
Hey new subscriber here I want to tell you thank you so much for making this video is very helpful although I have some good experience on raising chickens I know that Quail are absolutely a whole different world thank you for all this information is very helpful
Thank you so much for watching. I am glad you found the video helpful. I have lots of quail videos so you should be able to find what you are looking for.
Love your video. Very educational for me. Thank you. I order Moroly 56 eggs Incubator for $96 from Amazon. From the reviews, it has good success rate. It has egg turner but not change sides.
I tried the link for the Little Giant and added the quail rails, but could not check out because for some reason Duncan’s Poultry could not ship the incubator to my address. They can ship the quail rails, but not the incubator 🤔🙄. Anyway, I hope you still get some sort of compensation, because you provide/share the best, most detailed info for raising quail available on RU-vid! And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them ALL. Your hatching series is fantastic (but that’s standard for your videos), thank you! Now I need to order my eggs and get to building the brooder and hutches. I’m getting excited for my new adventure, and my mouth is already watering for those yummy eggs and quail 🤗. You should compile your knowledge into a book! I’d buy it.
THank you so much for all the kind comments. I am sorry the link didn't work out for you but don't worry about me getting compensated. It is a nice thing when it does work but I just appreciate that you made the effort and I don't intend for you to have to go through any more effort just to make sure I get a few cents off the sale. :)
A former Boy Scout, I noticed what looks to be a Scouting shirt. If you work with the Scouting program THANKS. Would like to know your thoughts on keeping quail in an outdoor aviary. I think I would like to have a walk in aviary for quail. About 8' by 12'.
I was an assistant scoutmaster for my son's scout troop for a long time. Those days are past now but I remember them fondly and still support the scouts often. I think an aviary would be nice. You won't be able to pack it as densely as you would a wire cage because the waste will build up fast but in an 8 by 12 aviary I think you could probably get about 20 to 25 birds.
I sometimes use a GQF Styrofoam incubator but typically it's for drying the chicks further before they go into the brooders. As the person below states, RCOM is the only way to go IMO. I have a Pro 10 Plus and a Pro 20. I plan on getting a Pro 50 before next laying season. I hatch only exotics - Mearns (Montezuma) and Mountain quail and have REALLY good hatch rates. I also hatched fertilized chicken eggs that I ordered from another state this past summer. RCOM is made in Korea however they have a distributor in the USA (Kansas I think). Just way simpler to program your humidity and be done.
I have heard a few things about RCOM incubators lately. I am not really that familiar but I guess I need to look into them. On another note, I am interested to hear more about the Montezuma and Mountain quail that you raise. I am getting ready to shoot a video on the different types of quail and was planning on mentioning them. I will have to check out a few of your videos. And if you have any pics you would be willing to share or better yet some video footage, I would be glad to put it in the video.
Chris, you are the reason I started raising quail. Thank you so much for all of the info you share! I have raised chickens for many years but have to say that quail seem to be much easier to raise. I have a Hov-A-Bator incubator and it is really great. I have only used it twice and my hatch rate is improving each time, so I'm still learning. I live in west central Illinois and our winters can be a bit more brutal than your MO winters. My husband and son built my quail cage and it is probably a bit more "beefy" than it needed to be. My "dusting room" in the cage is about 24" x 21". The dusting pan is round (a large plastic plant saucer dish) but it doesn't cover the entire floor of the dusting area. Do I need to find something that covers the bottom to prevent drafts in the winter? This will be my first winter with quail and I want to give them the best chance for survival. Recently, our night temps have gone down to the mid-to upper 40s with low 70s during the day and the quail seem to have adjusted okay. I am concerned when the temps go below zero as they will sometimes in the winter.
You shouldn't have to worry about covering the entire floor. I do like to make sure that they can all fit in the dust bath but i find my birds out in the wide open often when it is the coldest. I hope that helps.
It is possible if you live close to southwest Missouri and I happen to have some available. I am not set up to sell lots of birds or to ship unfortunately.
I recommend the Brinsea Ovation 28 for larger quail egg hatches. You can hatch 28 chicken eggs, or about 36-48 quail eggs with the regular egg trays. Buy the large/small egg trays and you can increase that to about 72 eggs. We've hatched 72 eggs with about 80% hatch rate. Brinsea is the cadillac of home incubators. There are several models, but we have the Ovation 28 Advance, which has the egg turner, digital temp reading, digital humidity reading and you can set dates to turn on/off the egg turner or allow a cool-down period for water fowl eggs. You only need to add water as needed based on the humidity reading. The unit is also MUCH easier to disinfect than styrofoam models. Here's a video of the Ovation 28: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H-3R22p2jyQ.html
Make a video of switching the rails. It'd show how to take the motor off. When off you demonstrate how the eggs swing works. It never turns an egg it swings them back and forth. Switch from chicken to quail rails. I would but mine is incubating eggs.
Hi, thank you for your videos! I followed the amazon link for the Little Giant on amazon, and noticed the egg turner that comes with it seems to be for chicken eggs, but below the description the section that says “items commonly purchased with this item there is a little giant quail rails 6302. Is that the egg turner that you use?
Yes. Unfortunately, you have to buy the egg turner and the quail rails separately. You can use the regular egg turner but you won't be able to fit as many eggs in there without the quail rails.
Chris this is going to sound crazy but when you clean your incubator try to wipe your windows with shaving creme. This will cause all the humidity to pearl up and rain off. This will make your vision clear up.
Thx, I just purchase the little giant with your affiliate link and planning on incubating some geese and ducks for our neighborhood lake and some chickens and quail to eat.
I wasent able to get one at my store with a fane in it so I took a PC fan and a old phone charger and made a fane for it. It sit on the side of the egg Turner where there is space a d works great. When I can afford it I will order the heater fan for the little giant.
I started out with a incubator like the one you have and had some decent hatches with it. Later on l moved up to a GQF cabinet incubator and my hatch rate went up to a average of 80 % or more.The last hatch out of 300 eggs 11 did not hatch. 3 were clear eggs 8 had chicks in them but didn’t hatch . With these types of incubators everything is mostly automatic. but like you said they’re a bit pricey.
They sure are nice but yes they are pricey and take up a lot of room. Plus, I just don't need to hatch that many eggs. just feeding my family and there are only 3 of us.
That is tricky for sure. I usually give them about 24 to 48 hours after the first chick hatched and then just hope for the best. I usually get a few more hatching after removing the first hatches from the incubator as well.
Anoher comment mentioned applying shaving creme then wiping it off. According to him it prevents fogging. Haven’t tried it myself but thought i would pass it along.
Also, and of more concern to me personally, our water doesn’t boil at 212 F. We’re about a mile high, so the difference is significant. Ambient moisture in “dry” pottery taught me that in a somewhat explosive fashion. I’m at a loss as to how I would go about calibrating a thermometer, esp since the boiling temp varies with barometric pressure. Too much-way too much math for me. For pottery I just hold the kiln at 180 F for an hour or so. Obviously that’s not going to work for incubating eggs. Is there some thermometer I could buy that would be accurate out of the box?
Thank you for the advice. Yes, I have the best incubator that you have suggested but the problem here the reliable and healthy quail fertile eggs with good bld. line can't find. I always got abnormality or deformed quails. Not lucky to find an honest breeder quail farm.
That could be a problem with your incubator. Temperature fluctuations or slightly low temperature can cause those issues too. Make sure that you don't have your incubator in a place that temperature fluctuates a lot like a window where the sun shines through and heats up the incubator or over an air conditioner vent. Might be good to calibrate your incubator as well to ensure it is reading temperature correctly. Just put a couple of known accurate thermometers inside it and see what they read (make sure they are accurate first).
I actually use a few different thermometers. I haven't found one that I think is so much better than another so I haven't really made any recommendations on that. I would look into a medical thermometer or a non digital meat thermometer that can be calibrated. make sure it reads low enough, a lot of meat thermometers don't go down below 100. Sorry I can't give you a specific model.
people i have hatched a lot of quail but not one from these units that chris or these others are trying to sell you i built my incubators with styroform coolers and have not had a fail hatch yet as a matter of fact they can take those units and throw them in the garbage for i swear by my unit that i built 100%
A lady on Backyard Chickens said it would work to just set one side of the incubator up on a riser, then the other side up, instead of opening the lid all the time for turning. I’m getting a turner, but I was wondering whether you could see that working? I’d be concerned about any water in the reservoirs sloshing, but maybe it’s not a thing, really. Curious... it sounds like a good option if a person didn’t want the extra expense of a turner.
I don't see why that wouldn't work. Like you said, it might slosh the water out but other than that it sounds like a great plan. Honestly, you can just open the incubator up and roll the eggs around a little with your hand to "turn" them but either way would work.
Slightly Rednecked I just read this in “Story’s Guide To Raising Ducks”: “Incubators, especially still-air models, must be level to perform well. If the incubator is operated while askew, the temperature of the eggs will vary in different areas of the machine, causing eggs to hatch poorly and over an extended period of time.” So I guess my “bright idea” isn’t that bright after all. Figured I’d better try to undo any potential damage I might have inadvertently caused by posting it. Oops!
Thanks, you are the professor in incubation, please my question is , I bought an incubator jN8_ 48 model for geese eggs , but after waiting for 30 days non of the eggs that hatch, after floating the eggs found most of them sinked but uptil now they are there in the incubator, what would be your advice to that, Thank, Dr Ahmed Adamawa Nigeria.
I believe that goose eggs can take up to 35 days to hatch so you may need to give them a bit more time. If they fail to hatch and you are sure they are fertile I would check with a few calibrated thermometers (make sure they are calibrated and accurate) that the incubator is reading the temperature correctly. That is usually the biggest problem with a failed hatch.
I just got the little giant from your link. Got it about a few hours ago. Put calibrated thermometer in it. The temperature is very unstable, and the unit is constantly turning the heater on and off. The temperature I get is different for each vent hole I stick the thermometer down. Did you have this problem or does it seem like I got a faulty unit?
It is common for the temp to fluctuate a little. Especially when you first plug it in. And if it is a still air unit there will be some differences in the temp based on where you put the thermometer. As long as it is averaging out to about 99.5 (101 for a still air) it is probably fine. I would give it a day or two and see how it does.
I have went through different incubators but have sum problems, some don't turn which is ok if you are home. Other one turn but when they turn the eggs move onto the side and down stay point side down is this a problem?
I don't feed any vitamins to my birds. I am so sorry to hear about your problems. I am not sure what could be causing it but I don't have those issues. Most of the time death in chicks (in large numbers anyway) is related to the heat of the brooder. It is either too hot or too cold. If the birds are all huddled under the heat lamp then it is too cold. If they are all as far from it as they can get it is too hot.
@@Slightlyrednecked Either too cold or they are not getting the proper nutrition....specifically not enough protein. Game birds need higher levels of protein than chickens.
I don't use vitamins or medicated feed. I start them the first week on Purina Game Bird Starter which is 30% protein which I've ground finer. The second week they get the 30%, but I no longer grind it. If they don't seem to take to it - then I make the ground available again (every hatch can be ready at different times). Then they get Dumor 24% game bird chick starter. I feed them that from then on. Make sure they always have food and water, and watch how the chicks feel about the temperature. Like Chris says - they'll tell you if they are too hot or too cold. Make sure that their waste isn't the problem. Keep their feed, water, and bedding clean. Don't just add bedding - get the dirty stuff out (I had someone killed a batch of chicks I sold them because they kept adding bedding to cover the old - and the bedding underneath was rancid. I switched from brooding in my shed to doing it inside - and switched from shavings for bedding to horse bedding pellets because of it. They will cost you more - but they are much better at soaking up moisture and controlling odor. It also isn't as bad about having flakes get into the water and siphon it out into the bedding. Don't add water to the horse pellets like you do in a horse stall - just pour them into the brooder dry.
I have a Hovabator with the mechanical diaphragm regulator. I regard this as a vary badly made, over priced product. The mechanical temperature regulator is really sloppy. My first time using it, I got a few chicks to hatch but once I tried to re-calibrate it, I could never get it to stabilize at a proper temperature again. The diaphragm is like a mechanical altimeter. When air pressure drops, the gas in sealed diaphragm expands enlarging the diaphragm. While it is expanding or retracting due to heat, it is also affected by barometric pressure. This means that it can only be close to what you want and not completely accurate. A digital electronic unit on the other hand is an embedded processor that is sampling the probe which is not effected by air pressure. It directly detects temperature electronically within a fraction of a degree on each sample. The screw adjusting up or down on this mechanical unit, rests sloppily in it's bracket. It doesn't center straight but can cam sideways slightly. When the temperature started climbing over 100 degrees, I tried to lower the temperature slightly with a quarter of a turn, it ended up raising the temperature several degrees and killed my hatch. I have just ordered a digital thermostat from Amazon as a last effort to try to salvage the unit. I do appreciate videos. I give this a thumbs up even with the recommendation for the Hovabator
G. Q. F. Manufacturing.com has a Styrofoam, model 2370, with a fan, and is a digital LED bright red controls, for only $66.90 and be sure to also buy their 4" long stainless steel thermometer for $24.00 dollars, as the cheap paper thermometer which comes with this incubator, is NOT accurate. I also want to point out, that G.Q.F. has the thicker side incubator, where as the Little Giant, or Miller M.F.G. is a thin wall incubator, not as sturdy, wont last as long as the G.Q.F. And if you live in the souther part of the U S A ? ThenG.Q. F. is located in Savannah Georgia.
They can be a good business but you would have to go very big to make it worth it. If you have good pure bloodlines you can sell hatching eggs for about 50 cents each.
Hi Chris I just hatched quail chicks and one of them stands on their legs and tries to tweet but it can’t make a sound it only makes this shhhhh sound it eats with the others and looks like it is doing well. Please help is something wrong
I need some answers/help My quail are hatching and they are on day 13. I was supposed to stop turning them tonight but they started peeping last night and started hatcing this morning. They're not botton quail so they're coming out really early
Sounds like your incubator may be running a little hot. That is generally what causes birds to hatch early. Get a few calibrated thermometers and verify that your incubator is reading the temperature correctly.
I have a Little Giant incubator, humidity said 63% and heater is on and temperature is at 99.2 but I have no success w my eggs... what am I doing wrong?
hard to say exactly. the first thing i would check is the temp. put a couple of calibrated thermometers in there and see if they are reading the same temperature as your incubator. it may be actually a few degrees lower or a few degrees higher than what it says and you may have to adjust it. You can join one of my live broadcast (Thursday evenings as 7:00 central) and we can try to do additional trouble shooting if you need to but that is where I would start and is most likely the issue.
Hey so I woke up this morning and saw one of my qual with a shut eye I looked closer and it almost looked like pink eye but I don’t know if it was a peck or like dirt from there dust bath or something please help
More than likely it got it's eye pecked. That is pretty common. There isn't really a lot you need to do for it. Most of the time they recover just fine. Occasionally one will lose an eye but it doesn't seem to really affect them adversely.
Chris I need some opinions, I live in NC and hurricane Florence is headed my way. We are subject to loosing power for a few days and I have 56 eggs in incubation. I have the exact same little giant incubator that you have, my eggs are almost at 15 days. Do you or anyone have any suggestions that I can try to keep from loosing this flock of quail if power failure is imminent? Thanks
well, short of a generator you may have a hard time. I do have a deep cycle battery and an inverter that is kind of a cheap way to power things. It will run the incubator for a while (probably overnight if needed) but not for days without the battery being charged. In a pinch, I could hook the inverter up to my truck battery and run an extension cord to the incubator but again, I couldn't do that for days on end.
I'm gonna attempt to incubate some coturnix quail eggs with a Janoel 12. I've been reading a lot on temperature and humidity and I'm confused by all the ranges. I live in Texas about 45 miles from the Gulf. What would you suggest I set my temp too and what humidity range should I look for? Would a dry hatch be okay for the first 14 days?
Dry hatch should be fine for the first 14 days. You want to bump the humidity up a little when you lock them down (day 15) but try to keep in between 65% to 75%. The temp should always be 100 F. I use 99.5 in my forced air incubator and 101 in a still air incubator but your incubator is smaller so should be at 100.
i have the little giant.. i don't have the forced air.. can i buy just the forced air part? or should i buy an entire new one with the forced air piece?
Oh no. I haven't had any of those problems myself. Hopefully they will be able to help. My experience with the company (Miller Mfg) has been that they have pretty good customer service.
I have a gqf sportsman and I'm constantly adding eggs. Do you think it's a good idea to have a still air styrofoam incubator just for lockdown? If so would having still air make any difference on lockdown?
it isn't a problem. The quail eggs will sit in the chicken egg cups but like Dana Kaiser said, you can get the quail rails for the egg turner at Amazon if they don't carry them in the store. Unfortunately, I don't think they sell the egg turner with those rails already installed.
I haven't found a plastic one that works better than the Styrofoam models. They just seem to hold temperature better. I am not against plastic incubators though.
You can turn them by hand. Just open the lid and roll them around a little a few times a day. or you can set the incubator at a slight angle and just change the side that is angled a few times a day.
Hi? I have a quail who is just a bully to everyone else, pecks everyone else, and people peck her back. She always provokes the otheres, and besides making a new habitat, what should I do? I DO NOT want to cull her, please do njot say that,
Unfortunately there may not be much you can do if you don't want to separate her or cull her. Some birds are just aggressive by nature. Many times they will calm down when the breeding season is over and the days get shorter (below 12 hours a day of sunlight)and sometimes they just calm down with time. If she isn't seriously injuring other birds you can just give her some time and see if that does the trick.
When my chickens eat their eggs, it was started by a specific chicken learned behavior. I suspect they craved protein and needed space. Plus cages worth egg rollout would help.
These are domesticated birds and they have been domesticated for so long that they have lost the instinct to go broody and incubate eggs. it does happen from time to time but is very rare.
Thanks for your valuable informations. I am from Sri Lanka. is there a way to email you with some questions reg purcchasing procedures. None of the items are available in Sri Lanka.
Do you think it’s a better choice to purchase a new lesser quality incubator (farm innovator) or a used higher quality incubator (GQF) that’s been used for a year and a half?
