Hatching quail eggs takes 17 to 23 days depending on the species, with Coturnix (the most commonly raised) hatching in 17 to 18 days. The process requires a steady temperature of 100°F, careful humidity control, and regular egg turning for the first two weeks. Here’s everything you need to get from fertile egg to healthy chick.
Incubation Times by Species
The species you’re hatching determines your entire timeline, so it’s worth confirming what you have before setting eggs:
- Coturnix (Japanese) quail: 17 to 18 days
- Button quail: 17 to 18 days
- California (Valley) quail: 21 to 22 days
- Gambel’s quail: 21 to 22 days
- Bobwhite quail: 23 days
Coturnix are by far the most popular for backyard hatching because of their short incubation period and fast growth. The rest of this guide uses Coturnix timelines, but the same principles of temperature, humidity, and turning apply to all species. Just adjust your lockdown day and hatch expectations accordingly.
Storing Eggs Before You Start
If you’re collecting eggs over several days or receiving them by mail, proper storage matters. Keep fertile eggs at 50 to 65°F, which is cooler than room temperature but warmer than a refrigerator. A basement, garage, or cool closet often works. Store them pointed end down, slightly tilted, and gently rotate the angle once or twice a day to keep the yolk centered.
Hatchability drops noticeably after about a week of storage, and quail embryos have difficulty developing from eggs stored longer than two weeks. For the best results, start incubating within seven days of the eggs being laid.
Setting Up the Incubator
Turn on your incubator at least 24 hours before adding eggs. This lets you confirm it holds a stable temperature and gives the internal environment time to settle. There are two main types of incubators, and each requires a different temperature setting.
A forced-air incubator (one with a fan that circulates air) should run at 100°F throughout the entire incubation period. A still-air incubator (no fan) needs to be set 2 to 3 degrees higher, around 102°F, because heat layers inside the unit and the reading at egg level will differ from the reading at the top. If you can only afford one upgrade, a small fan-equipped incubator makes temperature management far easier.
Set humidity to 45 to 50% for the initial phase. Most incubators control humidity through water channels or trays in the bottom. Fill them according to the manufacturer’s instructions and use a separate hygrometer to verify the reading, since built-in sensors can be inaccurate.
Days 1 Through 14: Turning and Monitoring
Once the incubator is stable, place the eggs on their sides or pointed end down in an egg turner tray. Turn the eggs at least three times per day, and always an odd number of times so the egg doesn’t rest on the same side two nights in a row. If you have an automatic turner, it handles this for you, typically rotating eggs every couple of hours.
During this phase, your job is consistency. Keep temperature at 100°F and humidity at 45 to 50%. Open the incubator as briefly as possible when turning by hand. Small, brief temperature dips when you open the lid are normal and won’t harm the embryos, but prolonged drops or spikes can cause problems. The embryos are losing moisture through the shell at a controlled rate during this period, and that moisture loss is essential for healthy development. Too little humidity dries embryos out too early. Too much prevents the necessary water loss that helps chicks transition to breathing air on their own near the end of incubation.
Candling to Check Development
Candling means shining a bright light through the shell to see what’s happening inside. Quail eggs are small and often have dark, speckled shells, which makes them trickier to candle than chicken eggs. A bright, focused LED flashlight works best.
Plan to candle on day 7 and again on day 14. On day 7, a fertile developing egg will show thin red veins spreading from a small dark spot (the embryo), with a clear air cell visible at the wide end. An infertile egg looks uniformly clear with no veins at all. Remove any clear eggs, as they won’t develop and can eventually go bad inside the incubator.
By day 14, a healthy egg will appear much darker, and you may see movement inside. Strong red vessels should still be visible. Warning signs at this stage include no movement, faded or broken blood vessels, or a dark ring inside the egg. These indicate the embryo has died, and those eggs should be removed as well.
Day 15: Lockdown
Day 15 is the turning point for Coturnix eggs (adjust for other species: roughly three days before your expected hatch date). This is called “lockdown” because you stop turning the eggs, increase humidity, and then leave the incubator closed until hatching is complete.
If you’re using an automatic turner, remove it and lay the eggs on their sides on a non-slip surface like shelf liner or a piece of rubber mesh. This gives the chicks stable footing as they work their way out of the shell. Raise humidity to 65 to 70%. You’ll likely need to add more water to the incubator’s channels or place additional wet sponges inside.
The humidity increase is critical. In the final days, the chick positions itself to pip through the shell. If humidity is too low, the membrane inside the shell dries out and shrinks around the chick, making it nearly impossible for the bird to rotate and break free. This is one of the most common causes of “dead in shell,” where a fully formed chick dies without hatching.
Days 17 to 19: The Hatch
Chicks typically begin hatching on day 18 or 19, though some early arrivals may pip on day 17. Pipping is when the chick uses a small temporary structure on its beak called an egg tooth to poke through the membrane and shell. You’ll first notice a tiny crack or raised bump on the shell. The chick often breaks through the membrane a full day before it completes the hatch, so patience here is essential.
From the first visible pip to the chick fully emerging can take 12 to 24 hours. During this time, resist the urge to open the incubator. Every time you lift the lid, humidity drops rapidly, and that’s exactly what can cause the membrane to dry and trap chicks still working their way out. If some eggs have pipped and others haven’t, leave them all alone. Quail chicks hatch in waves, and the stragglers often catch up.
Newly hatched chicks will be wet and wobbly. They’ll stumble around the incubator, bumping into unhatched eggs (this actually helps stimulate the remaining chicks to pip). Leave hatchlings in the incubator until they’re fluffy and dry, which takes a few hours. They can survive up to 24 hours in the incubator without food or water because they absorb the yolk sac just before hatching, giving them a built-in energy reserve. The egg tooth falls off within about 24 hours of hatching.
Moving Chicks to the Brooder
Once dry, transfer chicks to a prepared brooder. For the first week, keep the brooder temperature at 90 to 95°F. A heat lamp or radiant heat plate positioned at one end of the brooder lets chicks move toward or away from the warmth as needed. If chicks are huddling directly under the heat source and piling on top of each other, they’re too cold. If they’re pressed against the far walls with their beaks open, they’re too hot.
Quail chicks are tiny, roughly the size of a bumblebee at hatch. Use a shallow water dish with marbles or pebbles in it so chicks can drink without drowning. Offer a high-protein game bird starter feed (around 28 to 30% protein) from day one. Sprinkle it directly on the brooder floor for the first day or two so chicks learn to peck at it, then transition to a small feeder.
Reduce the brooder temperature by about 5°F each week. By the time Coturnix chicks are five to six weeks old, they’re typically feathered out enough to handle room temperature and no longer need supplemental heat.
Common Reasons Eggs Fail to Hatch
Even experienced hatchers rarely get 100% hatch rates. Understanding what went wrong helps you improve the next round.
Eggs that never develop at all are either infertile or experienced very early embryo death, often from temperature spikes in the first few days or from rough handling during shipping. If you’re buying eggs online, expect some percentage of clears. Embryos that die in the middle of incubation often point to sustained temperature or humidity problems, or to eggs that weren’t turned frequently enough. The embryo needs turning to prevent it from sticking to the shell membrane.
Late-stage deaths, where a fully formed chick dies inside the shell in the final days, are most commonly linked to humidity issues during lockdown. Too-low humidity causes the membrane to shrink-wrap the chick. Too-high humidity throughout incubation can leave excess fluid that the chick essentially drowns in while trying to pip. Temperature fluctuations compound both problems, since temperature directly affects how quickly moisture evaporates from the egg. Keeping both factors steady and within range across the full incubation period gives you the best chance of a healthy hatch.