A “failed hatch” is rarely one culprit—it’s a chain.

Here’s the most important takeaway up front: plumage color has nothing to do with whether a Coturnix is “jumbo” or what size eggs it lays.

The incubation of coturnix quail eggs has long been a subject of interest among aviculturists and hobbyists alike.

In our earlier post we covered the essentials: quail lay most steadily with about 14–16 hours of total day length (sun + supplemental light), and light only needs to be bright enough to read at quail height—not stadium-bright.

New year, clean slate. Your first hatch isn’t a one-off—it’s the first checkpoint of your breeding program. If you missed our guide, start with “Starting a Breeding Program: The Zero G Way.” This hatch is where your written SOP (your own Standard of Perfection) meets reality: health and body composition before color, production traits measured on a schedule, and records you’ll actually use.

A breeding program can be as simple or as complex as you want—what matters is intent. When you choose characteristics that you value and then track those choices across generations, you’re breeding with a purpose.

If you’ve ever wondered why the same incubator can perform totally differently at sea level vs Colorado elevation, lets alone one elevation to another… you’re exactly the kind of person we’d love inside our Elevation Project.

Backyard hatchers often warn that opening the incubator during hatch “shrinks” membranes around chicks so they can’t turn and zip.

Treats are fun, foraging is healthy, and Coturnix quail love both, but your base ration still builds and flies the plane.

The best advice we can give heading into a new year is simple: grow slowly and deliberately......

Incubating Coturnix quail over the holidays can be a fantastic gift and a smart production play. For the right person, a holiday hatch means chicks grow out through late winter and are sorted, settled, and laying by spring, perfect timing for garden season and farmers’ market planning.

Year-end isn’t just for inventory and wish lists—it’s the perfect window to reset your sanitation and biosecurity for quail.

At its core, a brooder for Coturnix quail (or quail in general) is just a safe micro-environment that gives chicks four things on Day 1: warmth, dryness, traction, and easy access to feed and water.

Winter doesn’t and shouldn't stop you with Coturnix quail. You can keep quail outside all winter (even at the high elevations and temperatures here in Colorado) and keep production steady, as long as you design for what they actually do need. They want their essentials available all the time: dry footing, constant feed and water, and a place to get out of the wind while fresh air keeps moisture moving out.

Cedar smells “clean,” repels pests, and looks great in a bag—so why do so many keepers warn against it for quail, especially chicks? Short answer: aromatic compounds and fine dust from cedar are tough on avian airways, and quail are small, fast-breathing birds with delicate respiratory systems. The safer play is low-dust, well-drained bedding that stays dry, neutral-scented, and mold-free, plus a brooder plan that puts traction and temperature control first.

Running quail isn’t about heroics; it’s about stable systems. Your kit (and your mindset) should keep birds comfortable, workflows predictable, and you calm when reality throws a wrench. Treat every task like a pre-flight checklist: prep, confirm, execute, log. When something goes wrong—and it will—fall back to a simple reset: stabilize water, feed, heat, and light first; then diagnose. That sequence keeps birds safe while you think.

In Behind the Scenes Pt. 3, we’re spotlighting Brent—owner, forward-observer-turned-farmer, and the guy who turns whiteboards and checklists into calm, repeatable systems.

Raising Coturnix quail doesn’t stop when the temperature drops. One of the most unique advantages of these birds is that they can be hatched all year round — even in the heart of a Colorado winter. With the right setup and awareness, winter hatches can thrive just as easily as spring clutches. But when it comes to brooding in cold weather, preparation is everything.

Hello, I'm Kelli Knecht. I operate a small business we call Feathered Knechtions (pronounced connections), and I wanted to do a quick introduction of myself and let you know what I'm all about over here in my neck of the woods (central Utah).

When winter closes in, we don’t close the barn—we adjust the mission. Coturnix respond to day length, not brute lumens. Our job is to deliver a calm, predictable “sunrise-to-sunset” that tells their bodies, “keep laying,” while avoiding stress, overheating, or power waste. Treat lighting like nutrition or ventilation: measured, intentional, and boringly consistent. Decide on a program, write it down (timer settings, check points, backup plan), and fly it every day the same wa