Quail egg incubation guide
Quail are the quickest and easiest birds to hatch at home. Coturnix (Japanese) quail hatch in about 17 days and lay their own eggs about 7 weeks later, so you can hatch all year round.
Coturnix (Japanese) quail
- Incubation: 17 days (16–18 is normal)
- Lockdown: day 14
- Candle: around day 7 (hard with speckled shells)
- Temperature: 37.5 °C / 99.5 °F forced air
- Humidity: 45–50 %, then 65–70 % from lockdown
Bobwhite quail
- Incubation: 23 days
- Lockdown: day 20
- Candle: around days 7 and 14
- Temperature: 37.5 °C / 99.5 °F forced air
- Humidity: 45–50 %, then 65–70 % from lockdown
Work out your quail hatch date
Setting the eggs
- Use eggs less than a week old. Rest shipped eggs pointy end down for 12–24 hours before setting.
- Quail eggs are small: use quail rails or egg trays for the turner, or lay them on their side and turn by hand.
- Turn at least 3 times a day, always an odd number, until lockdown.
Candling quail eggs
The speckled shell hides a lot. Use a very bright, small LED torch in a fully dark room and press the egg against the light. Around day 7 you can usually tell a clear (infertile) egg from a developing one. If you can't, leave the egg in. Many quail keepers skip candling and simply remove eggs that smell or leak.
Lockdown and hatch
At day 14 (Coturnix) stop turning, take the eggs out of the turner rails and lay them on a non-slip surface such as shelf liner. Slippery floors cause splayed legs in quail chicks. Raise the humidity and keep the lid shut. Quail usually hatch within a few hours of each other.
After the hatch
- Move chicks to the brooder once they are dry and fluffy. Start around 35 °C (95 °F) and lower it by about 3 °C (5 °F) a week.
- Quail chicks are tiny and can drown in an ordinary waterer. Put marbles or pebbles in the water dish for the first week or two.
- Use a fine, high-protein game bird starter crumb, crushed for the first days if needed.