Having helped my mother raise quail, chukar, pheasant, Huns, and ostriches, in Missouri. We've found when the rain fall is high like it was early this year, there are less eggs hatching due to decreased sunshine. Quail have 2 breeding and laying periods. If the early spring breeding season is not warm enough, the hens will not lay many fertile eggs. They will need to be in a more enclosed structure. The next breeding season is around the first part of July and usually warmer, the clutches are larger and more fertile. Quail will lay late morning, around noon until mid afternoon, around 2. We've found eggs in the pen later in the afternoon. But usually between 11 and 3. Two hens will use the same nest and we tried to keep male to female ratios 1:3. And placed the male overage in another pen to keep fighting to a minimum.

The incubator rooms were kept at a steady 65 degrees. The incubators were kept at 95 to 97 degrees with humidity of about 95%. We also ran small room air conditioners to keep a steady flow of fresh air and to help control moisture. All the rooms had doors that closed tightly and we had rag throw rugs at the base of the doors to keep the temperature inside steady. During really humid days, we had to keep the air conditioners going to keep the room temperature steady

If you gather your eggs, and need to clean them, use a damp cloth only. There is a protective coating on quail eggs that protects the embryo from infection and this coating should not be washed off. We only clean the really dirty eggs, muddy, and leave a lot on the shell to protect the cuticle, or the integrity of the shell. We keep the eggs in the incubator room, slightly cleaned, with the point down in the egg racks. We don't touch the eggs after racking them and only touch the edge of the racks as we put them in the incubator.

Fertility of quail eggs is determined by the birds themselves. We hatched a lot of eggs for game bird producers. On a per live hatch, we would get a dollar amount per bird. If we had to keep the chicks for more than 4 days, there was a charge for feed and water and space taken. Quail chicks peck at anything.  We used bathroom paneling to protect the walls which was painted white to help with cleaning.  

As an example, we had one breeder/producer who sent us 4,500 eggs to hatch out and because his birds weren't fed a particular type of feed with minerals and calcium. We barely hatched out a quarter of the 4,500. We had no control over the hatch out. His birds were too cramped and not free fed all they could eat. We were paid for our time and trouble plus the expense of occupying 2 large incubators for nearly a month. The problem with these chicks was they were too wet. And not knowing this until after the hatch, we had no control. By being too wet, we mean, there was too much moisture inside the egg. And the chicks would literally drown in their eggs. We had to decrease the humidity in the hatcher's to help the chicks 'dry out' enough to break the shell or pip. The high moisture in the shell made it to soft to break when the chick started to pip

The time consuming part was when the hatch started, we had to physically help the chicks break out of the shell. We hand birthed about 1,000 chicks in 24 hours and weren't sure as to how many would actually live to 3 days. The crucial time is the first 48 hours. Each chick had to be cracked out, beak out so it could breath and gain strength to finish hatching. Then we made sure each one got a drink of medicated water to help it's insides work better. If the chick wasn't strong enough to finish hatching, we would gently pull the shell off with tweezers. We were very careful to not tear the lining of the inner shell where the blood vessels were attached. If we broke one, we made sure to hold pressure on the tear to allow the tear to harden with blood so the chick could draw what nourishment it needed from the shell lining.

As for raising quail in your back yard. You can try but quail don't naturally raise a clutch in captivity very well. You need an incubator, hatcher, brooding room, (heat lamps, water and feeders). And the big one, imprinting. The first 72 hours is crucial to imprinting for the wild or captivity. The first four weeks of imprinting is how the bird will act as an adult. Flight or 'hysteria' flushing. If you've seen a clutch of quails burst into the air when startled, this is imprinted the first 4 weeks of life. Quail chicks look like large bumble bees and are just as active. The tiniest hole is an opportunity for escape and they will. And they run, constantly. The startle reflex causes them to run and hide. So provide them with safe 'holes' or shade to hide.

This was her 'hobby'. She still breeds Gold crested pheasants, guinea hens and chickens. And hatches her pheasants for sale. Her next adventure is peacocks. Her game bird 'bible' is Game Bird Propagation by John Mullin. 0-929902--00-10 We used it as guideline not as a for sure example. Because each persons techniques are different. She has all her feed specially mixed at the feed mill.

We kept fresh water available to the chicks and adults at all times. Each brooder room had its own faucet.  Feed was crumbles with cracked corn, milo is the favorite seed of quail and alfalfa for greens.

Care has to be taken with raising quail.  Certain breeds have to follow conservation regulations and licensing. Some of our birds have escaped and though they stayed within range of the barn, they interbred with the wild quail and there are some really fat looking bob whites running around in Central Missouri.

Happy Hatching!