Kai: We decided to give some hatching eggs a go, and get some more experience in raising chicks.

The incubator is now working on 6 barn yard mix chicken eggs, and 10 button quail.
In the past, we have successfully raised pigeon eggs in the incubator, but when we tried incubating our coturnix quail’s eggs, we had little luck, probably related to genetic or dietary issues, so we are more hopeful for these new quail.
Button quail are not a typical homestead bird, as they provide little meat, and very small eggs. They are however, a popular pet and aviary bird, and can feed other small animals if necessary. The woman we got the hatching eggs from was using her button quail for pest control in her garden.
They would probably be great in a planted aviary, or a bioactive enclosure, which is what I’m going to try.

This would be the first time incubating chicken eggs, and we’ve never had button quail before, so we are very excited to try something new.

When using an incubator for artificial incubation, temperature and humidity is based on what the parent bird would be providing from their own body if incubated naturally; devices can’t always be accurate, so this can make hatching an art, which is why we wanted to gain a little more experience in it. We will let you know how it goes!