# Chinese Painted Quail hatchling help



## ayrshire bob

Hi, looking for some advice on best conditions for a young CPQ. My mum & I bought my dad an incubator for his birthday, and a dozen CPQ eggs. After 21 days the first & only one has hatched. 

It is now in a large deep RUB with a ceramic her emitter for heat, it is 108f under the lamp and there is a gradient to 86f on the other side. It was originally on sand paper substrate but it couldn't walk properly so he put in some saw dust and it's doing better. 

We have chick crumb and niger seed for it to eat and a jar lid with water in it for drinking. We have added a few sheets of paper towel to sit these on as well as sprinkling some seed through the whole RUB. 

Can anyone offer any advice or help? My dad is experienced with about 60 years of bird keeping and breeding, but has never incubated the eggs and reared them manually, so any tips would be great. 

Thanks in advance 

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## ayrshire bob

Well the wee chick unfortunately passed away. On opening the remaining eggs there were 6 more that were formed but hadn't hatched. Any advice? 

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## ljb107

Shame the chick passed away. Something must have gone wrong though if only 1 hatched out of 21.

What was the temp and humidity in the incubator and how much and when did you add water?

They're also better off on kitchen roll as they will try to eat sawdust/shavings.

Also wouldn't bother with the niger seed next time.

Hopefully i'll be able to help


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## ayrshire bob

Thanks for the help. Incubator was 37.5C the eggs took a few days to get to us, thinking was maybe to do with that? We had about 100ml of water in it, topped up once or twice a week. Any tips will definitely be appreciated! Do you deal with Quail? Will use kitchen towel next time. 

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## ljb107

ayrshire bob said:


> Thanks for the help. Incubator was 37.5C the eggs took a few days to get to us, thinking was maybe to do with that? We had about 100ml of water in it, topped up once or twice a week. Any tips will definitely be appreciated! Do you deal with Quail? Will use kitchen towel next time.
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7100 using my many minions!


Try and up it to about 37.7c next time. 

Sending eggs shouldn't really be a problem. We used to send loads and had a very good hatch rate with nearly all eggs hatching.

You should always let them stand for 24 hours or so, pointy end down before putting them in the incubator though. 

Sounds like too much water aswell. We only used to put a very small amount in a few days before they were due to hatch.

Yeah, used to have probs almost around 1000+ quail, partridge, francolin, chickens and bantams.


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## ayrshire bob

Wow! My da would love a chat with you lol. So up the temp by 0.2, no problem, we let them stand the last time, but just in the box, didn't know to do it pointed side down. And how many days should they normally take? We read 17/18? How much water would you start with in the incubator? 

So the brood box? Paper towel, chick crumb, water and we had temp of 99f. Would you change any of that? 

Thanks again 

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## SilverSky

Just to add, don't give seed until they're big enough to have grit. 
For Chinese quail you'll find chick crumb is massive, you'll need to grind it up, or use layers mash initially. 
Did you have the eggs posted to you? This can effect the hatch rate unfortunately, we've never had the results of home laid when eggs have been through the post.


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## ljb107

ayrshire bob said:


> Wow! My da would love a chat with you lol. So up the temp by 0.2, no problem, we let them stand the last time, but just in the box, didn't know to do it pointed side down. And how many days should they normally take? We read 17/18? How much water would you start with in the incubator?
> 
> So the brood box? Paper towel, chick crumb, water and we had temp of 99f. Would you change any of that?
> 
> Thanks again
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7100 using my many minions!


They're usually a about 16-17 days. 

We've always ran them completely dry up until a couple of days before hatching, then just add a small amount of water, say a shot glass amount - but you have to fine tune this yourself and see what works best for you - depending on the temperature and humidity outside where you live/where you have your incubator, as we used to run incubators that used to hold hundreds of eggs so we had to add more water than you will - such as a coffee mug full haha.

Another thing is to only open the incubator if you need to turn the eggs or add the water a few days before hatching, as the temp and humidity will drop every time and could delay hatching.

I have great memories of lifting the lid on our one incubator, completely full of chinese painted and harlequin eggs that hatched, and them swarming out of it, running everywhere! hahaha.

In the brooder we just used to use kitchen towel or fine sandpaper, fed on chick crumbs that a crushed a little sprinkled on the floor with pop bottle lids filled with marbles for water - dipping their beaks in the water every now and again just so they learn where it is and what it is lol.

As for the heat in the brooder, you don't worry about the heat, you watch the chicks. If they huddle under the heat source - its too cold, if they fill up the corners and are always away from the heat - its too hot and if they just walk around pecking about looking pretty happy then you have it just right - lifting the heat source higher as they get older to wean them off the heat.

Hope this helps


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## ayrshire bob

That's fantastic! I will pass that on to my dad. So the high humidity might have have a negative affect? So would you add water on day 14 or 15?

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## DWABrett72

I agree with the above comments


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## ayrshire bob

Got 24 eggs on the go now. Dad saying he has heard you stop the eggs turning a couple days before they are due to hatch. Is that right or wrong? And if right how many days before should it be stopped? 

Thanks again for all the input! Appreciated! 

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## debsandpets

Should really stop turning them 3 days before due to hatch, so day 14 as quail are a 17 day average hatch.


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## ayrshire bob

debsandpets said:


> Should really stop turning them 3 days before due to hatch, so day 14 as quail are a 17 day average hatch.


Thank you :2thumb:


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## strabo

temp around 37.5 c 99f you will get a bit of a fluctuation but try to keep it at that. takes around 16 - 17 days to hatch out.
as for water i fill the reservoir when i put them in then again on day 14 
that the day you switch off the turner if you have one 
when they start to hatch i tend to leave em alone for the first 24 hrs as you can loose all the humidity in the hatcher taking out the newly hatched ones and will stop others coming out, they will be ok for 24 hrs then take em out and put in a brooder.
i personally use a rubber meshed mat for the floor as they get a good surface to walk on, as they can get splayed legs if left on a slippery surface.
like others have said sawdust and chippings ect isnt very good as they can eat it an cause impaction then they die.
a 60w bulb around 4 to 5 inches from the bottom of the brooder is good enough to keep the temp around 99f for the first week. after that move it up higher for a week or two then change to a 40w around 80f, the next is a 25w between 70f 55f tilll fully grown.

watch out around day 9 or so cause the little buggers will fly up and out of the brooder if you not careful so some sort of lid (meshed) is recommended 

as for the food i used chick crumb only without any problems, i do put it in a blender for a few short bursts to make it a bit smaller and easier for them to eat, after a while there is no need for this. then i feed em growers pellets
again break em up a bit as before but not for to long you will end up with dust...

and use a shallow dish for water, i put some marbles in the bowl in case of accidents they can get out easier, or you can get a drinker with a shallow dish that they use with not probs.
hope you find this helpful.


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## ayrshire bob

strabo said:


> temp around 37.5 c 99f you will get a bit of a fluctuation but try to keep it at that. takes around 16 - 17 days to hatch out.
> as for water i fill the reservoir when i put them in then again on day 14
> that the day you switch off the turner if you have one
> when they start to hatch i tend to leave em alone for the first 24 hrs as you can loose all the humidity in the hatcher taking out the newly hatched ones and will stop others coming out, they will be ok for 24 hrs then take em out and put in a brooder.
> i personally use a rubber meshed mat for the floor as they get a good surface to walk on, as they can get splayed legs if left on a slippery surface.
> like others have said sawdust and chippings ect isnt very good as they can eat it an cause impaction then they die.
> a 60w bulb around 4 to 5 inches from the bottom of the brooder is good enough to keep the temp around 99f for the first week. after that move it up higher for a week or two then change to a 40w around 80f, the next is a 25w between 70f 55f tilll fully grown.
> 
> watch out around day 9 or so cause the little buggers will fly up and out of the brooder if you not careful so some sort of lid (meshed) is recommended
> 
> as for the food i used chick crumb only without any problems, i do put it in a blender for a few short bursts to make it a bit smaller and easier for them to eat, after a while there is no need for this. then i feed em growers pellets
> again break em up a bit as before but not for to long you will end up with dust...
> 
> and use a shallow dish for water, i put some marbles in the bowl in case of accidents they can get out easier, or you can get a drinker with a shallow dish that they use with not probs.
> hope you find this helpful.


That's great! Thanks 

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