Breeding Guidelines. Session TWO! A Training Series on breeding chicken, quail and more

In our first session on breeding guidelines we spoke about how to get the best from your fertile eggs. We continue now with how to hatch them! See our blog https://steemit.com/homesteading/@quailbreeder/what-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg-a-training-series-of-how-to-successfully-breed-chickens-quail-guinea-fowl-etc

The incubators from left, are examples of popular automatic 220 volt mains OR 12 volt battery powered. The 48 egg draws only 80 watts and 96 egg 100 watts. The low current needed is a boon for the off grid enthusiasts!
The one on the right is a manual incubator, 220 volt only and is used often as a hatcher or for breeding cultures too!

I designed and made this this manual incubator, for the small breeder or beginner. It holds 36 quail eggs OR 16 chicken eggs. The wheel on the side turns all the eggs at once
In contrast it needs 120 watts electricity, cannot run off a car battery and you need to turn the eggs three to five times a day

Place the incubator out of direct sunlight and away from droughts
The temperature must be 37,5 c and the humidity between 55% and 60%
Switch it on with the required amount of water and let it run for at least a day to stabilize before loading your eggs. Make a habit of checking readings as often as possible!
A good incubator should have a built in alarm that sounds when either the temperature or humidity deviates off the normal

The eggs and incubator need to be sterilized with an avian safe disinfectant like Virukill
Prepare a solution of 1,5 liters using warm water and disinfectant heated to a maximum of 39 degrees centigrade - 103 degrees Fahrenheit. This is enough for around 50 chicken eggs, 80 pheasant or guinea fowl or 200 quail eggs

Using rubber gloves take a few eggs and place them in the solution for a few seconds. Should an egg float discard it as it will either be cracked or starting to go bad

This thermometer is superb quality and shows both Centigrade and Fahrenheit, minimum and maximum temperatures and is really very accurate, unlike like 99% of the many that I tested. Its probe can also be used in water AND it is easily found for sale on the net!

In our previous blog I mentioned that dirty eggs must not be washed. Now however, they are disinfected and going into a sterilized, controlled environment where temperature and humidity are optimized for embryo development
You can gently rub any excess dirt off while submersed in the liquid if necessary. But don't keep them in longer than about 30 seconds
Do not dry the eggs or shake them off, but simply place them, sharp point down in the incubator after dipping. Close the lid and only open when necessary to add water

Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch, guinea fowl 28 days and quail only 16 days. These apply to the most popular species grown as a hobby or commercially in South Africa
Pheasants and ducks vary hugely between species. Please check with your local breeders before incubating

The eggs must be removed from the trays or rollers THREE days before they are due to hatch. At this stage the embryo no longer needs turning and the turning device would crush them if left in the trays!

Its important to note that the humidity usually rises (depending on the number of eggs used and the size of incubator) This happens when the eggs are first set and again when the chicks hatch. It can go as high 68 % This is normal and you don't need to adjust your machine, it will return to the original setting within a short time

A chick can take as much as 24 hours to break out of his shell, from pipping. This is the first little crack that can be seen on the shell

Session THREE will continue from here to discuss;
Hatching
Analyzing unhatched eggs - Improve your hatch rate!
Brooders and reducing deaths in chicks

And more. . ..