Incubating Coturnix Quail is great fun and is essential if you want to keep your flock going, as a result of captive breeding over many years, Quail tend not to incubate their own eggs so to increase their numbers or to replace old or table birds we must do it ourselves, a purpose built egg incubator is the most reliable but there are lots of stories around about broody bantams successfully hatching and  rearing clutches of tiny quail, we have never tried it but maybe one day.....   Here's how we do it, hopefully you may find some of it useful.

Firstly if you are buying your eggs from someone who is posting them, to get the best results ensure that you let them settle at room temperature for at least 24hrs, maybe even longer depending on the trip they may have had, store them close to your incubator, point end down, tilt the box to one side, and if possible, swap the tilt at least three times during the 24 hrs to ensure that everything is free and nothing sticks to the sides inside the egg. 

If you want any chance of achieving a good hatch, advance preparation is essential, ensure that your incubator has
 been thoroughly sterilised and running at approx 37.5c for at least 24 hrs before you need to introduce the eggs.

Once the eggs are in, maintain this temperature and a relative humidity of at least 45%, this bit we have never really measured accurately but we do fill the water containers up and then just leave them, more importantly in the early stages, is the turning cycle, if you don't have an incubator that does this automatically, turning the eggs at least 3 times a day is essential so that the developing chick moves around and doesn't get chance to stick to the inside of the the shell.
 
At day 15 you can stop turning the eggs, as now the chicks will be busy moving around on their own and starting to look for a way out, and they don't need you turning them over when they are just settled in to the right position for hatching, now's the time to make a slight adjustment to the temperature, this needs to be reduced to around 37.0c to take into account the heat now being generated by the chicks inside the shell, also we now increase the humidity to around 75-80% to ensure that the membrane does not dry out during hatching, again we have never really measured this accurately but we fill the bottom of the incubator, the eggs are on a raised tray in ours so this is easy for us.

Soon, all things being well, you should start to hear them cheeping inside the egg and if you watch closely some of the eggs will suddenly move where they are making their way round the inside of the shell, once out the chicks will be fine for around 24hrs inside the incubator after which they should be removed to the brooder, it's really important that the brooder has adequate heating and that it has been running a while in preparation for the chicks arrival.  
We prefer to use red heat bulbs, as these not only provide good warmth but the light they produce isn't to bright for the young chicks, these are hung on cord or chains so that they can be moved up as the chicks develop and need less heat.

There is a mountain of information available out there, (all will say something different) we don't make any claim to knowing any better but this has worked for us over the years and like everything, as time goes on you refine the method and learn from your mistakes (of which we have had a few) but that's what makes this past time such a pleasure ! 

If you have any problems or just need to ask a question please do not hesitate to contact us.