Are Quail Eggs Easy to Hatch?
If you love all things cute and qualie, you might be looking into hatching some of these lovely eggs at home. Are quail eggs easy to hatch? Yes! Here are a few tips for hatching and future caring to ensure you’re able to enjoy these beautiful birds in your home, garden or farm.
THEY’LL BE HATCHING IN NO TIME
Coturnix Quail, also known as Japanese Quail, take just 15 to 17 days to incubate. This means you won’t have to wait long before your incubator starts peeping and filling up with little bumblebee sized balls of fluff. If you’re thinking of hatching some at home, check out my hatching recommendations. And remember, you can fit more quail eggs inside standard incubators as they’re much smaller than hen or even bantam eggs.
Whereas the majority of chicken eggs take 21 days (I saw this because smaller bantams often begin to pip at day 18 or 19) quail eggs have a shorter incubation time. Pop the eggs into heat and in only just over a fortnight’s time, babies.
QUAIL UNZIP FAST
Hatching is broken into numerous stages, including the internal pip, external pip, yolk absorption and the final unzip.
Internal pip - the chick breaks the lining between itself and the inner air cell. It takes it’s first breath of air and rests.
External pip - As the air in the air cell depletes, the chick uses it’s egg tooth to smash a small hole in the outer shell to allow more air in.
Yolk Absorption - Hatching is an extreme sport! After the external pip, and with a good flow of air coming in, chicks often sit and wait for a few hours (sometimes up to a day or even two) before progressing further. This allows the chick to gain strength, but also to absorb the final remnants of yolk - which the body uses for fuel. At the time of the external pip there are many small blood capillaries running through the membrane around the shell too. During this waiting time, the chick takes much of this blood back into its body before the final hatch.
Unzip - the final process when the chick is ready is to ‘unzip’. With its head normally tucked under it’s wing, it works it’s way around the shell in a circular motion using its egg tooth to break the shell. It’s here that many chicks become stuck - if humidity drops and you open the incubator too much, the membrane can ‘shrink wrap’ the chick, sticking to its body and preventing it from being able to hatch.
A chick unzips
Only minutes later it begins to emerge
Unlike many chickens, ducks and other fowl, quails unzip quickly! They can go from pip to hatching in only a few short hours so keep an eye out for the newcomers.
FRAGILE BABIES
In my experience, quail are super fragile when first hatched and require a lot of care and attention. Whereas I might remove chicken chicks or ducklings from the incubator as soon as they’ve fluffed up, I tend to leave quail for at least 24 hours.
Don’t worry about food - the yolk absorption I mentioned earlier is enough to sustain newborns for 48 hours. Let all of your quail eggs hatch and fluff up and then leave them in the incubator where it’s nice and toasty for at least another 12 hours.
Be very careful when moving them too. They do not like to simply sit in your cupped hand and will likely walk straight off and plummet to the ground. They are also not the smartest of chicks when it comes to staying warm so I prefer to use an enclosed brooder with bulb rather than a heat plate as chicks will wander away from the plate, get cold and die. In an enclosed brooder (you can use something really simple like a plastic tote with a hole for air and a bulb cord put through the top) it remains warm and they don’t need to be concerned about their temperature. Offer chick crumb and place water in an extremely shallow bath with pebbles or marbles in as they can also easily drown at this age. See my other article which has more information on raising coturnix quail.
Quail chicks are super cute and grow incredibly quickly. Quail eggs are also easy to hatch, so happy hatching!