In October 2008 I decided to hatch quail eggs in my incubator.

I got a 90% hatch on all fertile eggs which I was really pleased with.

They are really cute and so small they fitted on a tea spoon.

Below is a video of them investigating the incubator a day after the hatch, just before they were placed in the brooder.

On 3rd of January i was pleased to hatch 6 silkie eggs with my incubator.

I originally purchased 12 eggs, 9 were fertile and six made it out.

Considering the time of year and that the eggs were mail order,  i was happy with the result.

Below is a video the healthy chicks enjoying their first taste of life, notice the new wet looking one that hatched seconds earlier.

As promised I did my 8th day candling.

Six alive and kicking.

My last hatch was 8 of 12 eggs, so far so good then.

I have been a bit sloppy on the egg turning in comparison to last time.  Maybe because of my previous success I have grown over confident.   I am going to revert back to tunning the eggs three times a day  religiousley.  

I’m going to leave them alone now and concentrate on turning them for the next week.

i will take another look with the candler on the 15th day, fingers crossed.   If i can i will take some photos next time.

Today I bought six light sussex eggs for hatching to give the incubator another run.

First job was to get them home carefully and bring them up to room temperaturefor for 24 hours.

I numbered the eggs 12 and 6 on alternate sides to help with turning.  We turn the eggs three times a day at 6am,  12pm and 6pm, the numbers help remind us of when they were last turned.

I made sure the incubator was holding the required temperature and added the eggs.

Made a few small adjustments to the thermostat, they are now sitting at about 102 F and the humidity is between 55 and 60. PERFECT

I will report back on Day 8 if everything is going smoothly and candle the eggs to see how things are progressing and if they are fertile etc.