How Long Do Quail Eggs Take to Hatch? Coturnix and Bobwhite Timelines

Coturnix quail eggs (the Japanese quail most backyard keepers raise) take about 17 to 18 days to hatch in an incubator, and bobwhite quail eggs take about 23 to 24 days. Those are the figures in the incubation tables from Mississippi State University Extension and Texas A&M’s Incubating and Hatching Eggs bulletin, and they assume a steady incubator at about 99.5 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Run a little hot and chicks come early; run cool and they come late.

The day count matters because almost everything in a quail hatch is scheduled from it: when you stop turning, when you raise the humidity, and when you give up on the last eggs. If you want those dates worked out for you, you can set your eggs as a clutch on Creatures with a free account and get an expected hatch date, a hatch window and a lockdown task. For everything else about keeping these birds, start at the quail species page.

This guide covers the timeline for both common species, what shifts the hatch day, a day-by-day plan for a Coturnix hatch, what to do when eggs run late, and how to keep the hatch on record so next time you know what actually happened.

How long quail eggs take to hatch, by species

“Quail” covers several birds, and they do not share a calendar. Check which one you have before you count days.

• Coturnix quail (Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, sometimes sold as Pharaoh, Jumbo or color varieties): Mississippi State Extension lists 17 days; the Texas A&M table lists 17 to 18 days. Most well-run hatches start pipping around day 16 or 17 and finish by day 18.
• Northern bobwhite quail: Mississippi State lists 23 to 24 days; Texas A&M lists 23 days. Bobwhite are a native game bird, not a domesticated egg layer, and their eggs run almost a week longer than Coturnix.

Sources do not agree to the day. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s incubation table gives a single “quail” figure of 16 days without naming the species, while the extension tables above give 17 to 18 for Coturnix. Treat 17 to 18 days as the normal Coturnix window, with an early chick on day 16 not unusual. For other quail sold in the hobby, such as button (king) quail, follow the figure your egg source gives you and confirm it against your own records; we did not find an extension incubation table for them.

If you are hatching more than one kind of poultry, keep the calendars separate. Chicken eggs take 21 days, whether they come from layers or from an exhibition breed like the Shamo, while duck eggs take about 28 days and turkey eggs about 28 days. Texas A&M’s advice is to incubate only eggs with similar incubation lengths together in one machine, because the lockdown for one batch is the wrong condition for the other.

What changes the hatch day

The species sets the target. Your incubator and your eggs decide whether you hit it.

Temperature is the big one. Mississippi State Extension is blunt: a consistently low temperature gives a late hatch, lower hatchability and large, soft, weak chicks, while a consistently high temperature gives an early hatch, more malformed and weak chicks, and is the more harmful of the two. Short dips matter less than you might fear, because the inside of an egg changes temperature slowly. The same guide notes eggs can sit at 90 F for three or four hours without killing many embryos, but 105 F for 30 minutes kills many. If your quail hatch two days early, suspect a thermometer reading low; if they drag past day 18, suspect one reading high.

Still-air versus forced-air. The 99.5 to 100 F figures are for incubators with a fan. A still-air machine layers its heat, so Mississippi State adds 2 to 3 F to the recommended temperature, measured at egg height.

How old the eggs were. Texas A&M reports the best hatchability from eggs stored less than 7 days after laying, a rapid drop after 10 days, and that storing eggs longer than two weeks can stretch the incubation period by as much as a day. Stale eggs are both slower and less likely to hatch.

How you count. Some keepers call the setting day “day 0” and some call it “day 1”. Neither is wrong, but mixing them is how a keeper ends up stopping the turner a day early or opening the incubator on what is really hatch day. Pick one convention and write it down.

A day-by-day plan for a Coturnix hatch

This is a practical timeline built from the Mississippi State and Texas A&M tables, counting the day you set the eggs as day 0. For bobwhite, keep the same steps and shift lockdown to around day 20 to 21 and hatch to day 23 to 24.

Before you set: collect and store the eggs

Choose clean, uncracked, normally shaped eggs. Do not wash them; the Utah State University fact sheet Hatching and Caring for Chicks warns that washing can push bacteria through the shell pores. Store them pointed end down at 55 to 65 F with fairly high humidity (Texas A&M suggests about 70 to 80 percent relative humidity), and set them within a week if you can. Texas A&M also recommends letting stored eggs warm to room temperature for 4 to 8 hours before they go into the incubator, so condensation does not form on cold shells.

If you are buying hatching eggs rather than collecting your own, the Utah State fact sheet advises sourcing from flocks in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) to reduce disease risk. Ask the seller.

Days 0 to 14: steady heat, steady humidity, regular turning

• Temperature: 99.5 to 100 F in a forced-air incubator, checked at least twice a day with a separate thermometer you trust.
• Humidity: Mississippi State lists 85 to 86 F wet bulb for Coturnix (84 to 87 F for bobwhite); Texas A&M lists 86 to 88 F for Japanese quail. At 100 F dry bulb, an 87.3 F wet bulb is 60 percent relative humidity, so these settings sit in roughly the high 50s percent range. Follow your incubator maker’s instructions for how to get there.
• Turning: at least three to five times a day by hand, using an odd number so the same side is not always up overnight, or every couple of hours with an automatic turner. Mississippi State notes that eggs left in one position can let the yolk float up and squeeze the embryo against the shell.
• Ventilation: open the vents a bit more as the embryos grow. Mississippi State’s table opens the additional vent on day 8 for Coturnix and day 12 for bobwhite.

Around day 7 to 10: candle once, quickly

Candling (shining a bright light through the egg in a dark room) lets you pull clear and dead eggs before they spoil. Quail eggs are harder than chicken eggs: Texas A&M notes that dark or speckled shells are harder to candle than white ones, and a quail egg’s blotches can hide a lot. What you are looking for is a dark spot near the large end with thin blood vessels spreading under the shell, compared with a clear egg that lets the light straight through, or a blood ring that marks an embryo that has died.

Keep it short. Texas A&M says brief cooling of under 10 minutes during careful candling does not harm the embryo, but warns against letting a hot candling light heat the egg, since even a brief period at 104 F kills embryos. With a 17-day hatch there is little to gain from repeated candling, and the Utah State fact sheet advises against candling late in incubation so the chicks stay at a constant temperature. Expect some clears: Texas A&M puts typical fertility at 90 percent or less of eggs set.

Day 14 to 15: lockdown

Stop turning. Mississippi State lists no turning after day 15 for Coturnix and after day 20 for bobwhite; Texas A&M moves Japanese quail to the hatcher on day 15 and bobwhite on day 21. Some keepers lock down Coturnix a day earlier, on day 14, so the eggs are settled well before the first pips. Lay the eggs flat (off the turner) on a surface the chicks can grip, keep the temperature at about 99 to 99.5 F, and raise the humidity: Texas A&M’s hatcher setting is a 90 to 94 F wet bulb. Fill the water before you close the lid, then leave it closed.

Days 16 to 18: hatch

You will usually hear peeping before you see a pip. Texas A&M notes that hatching is hard work done in bursts with long rests, and that the whole process can take 10 to 20 hours per chick, so a pipped egg that sits for hours is normal. Resist opening the incubator: every opening drops the humidity that pipped chicks need. Leave chicks in until they are dry and fluffy; Texas A&M suggests moving them out once more than 90 percent are dry, because chicks left too long can dehydrate.

Do not pull chicks out of their shells. Both the Texas A&M bulletin and the Utah State fact sheet say attempts to help a chick free itself usually fail, and that chicks too weak to hatch usually do not do well.

When quail eggs are late, early or not hatching

Nothing by day 18 (Coturnix) or day 24 (bobwhite). Check your thermometer against a second one before anything else; a low reading of even a degree slows a hatch. Then give it time. Texas A&M advises discarding eggs that remain unhatched one day beyond the predicted incubation period, and the Utah State fact sheet says a chick that has not hatched one or two days after the hatching period likely will not survive. For Coturnix, that puts the realistic end of a hatch around day 19 or 20.

Chicks came early and look weak. A consistently high temperature is the usual cause, according to Mississippi State. Recalibrate before the next set.

Chicks pipped but got stuck, or look sticky. Mississippi State links sticky embryos that cannot turn in the shell to low humidity, either in the incubator or from eggs that lost too much moisture in storage.

Large, mushy chicks dead in the tray, or full-term chicks dead in the shell. Mississippi State associates these with too much humidity and, especially, poor ventilation late in incubation, when embryos need the most fresh air.

Spraddled legs or chicks that cannot stand. Mississippi State lists low humidity as one contributor. A chick that cannot stand, will not eat or drink, or is clearly struggling after hatch needs attention now: call a veterinarian who treats poultry or birds rather than trying a home fix.

Keep notes on every egg you pull and when. Texas A&M points out that records of when embryos died are what let you find the problem; early deaths and late deaths point to different causes.

After the hatch: the first days in the brooder

Quail chicks are tiny, fast and fragile, so get the brooder running and warm before the first chick is dry.

The Utah State fact sheet covers the essentials that matter most for quail:

• A lid. Game birds jump even as freshly hatched chicks, so a screen lid is essential.
• Heat they can move away from. Give a heat source with room to escape it. Chicks huddled under the heat are cold; chicks spread out at the edges are too hot. Lower the temperature gradually each week.
• Shallow water. Use water containers with shallow reservoirs to limit the risk of drowning. Quail chicks are small enough to tumble into an ordinary chick waterer, and a common precaution is to fill the drinking ring with clean marbles or pebbles so they can only sip.

For bedding, the Utah State fact sheet suggests wood shavings to absorb moisture and hold warmth. For the first few days many quail keepers lay textured paper towel over the floor instead, because newly hatched quail are tiny and need footing; if you do, keep it dry and change it often.

Bobwhite are a native game bird, and rules for keeping, hatching or releasing them can differ from rules for Coturnix. The Utah State fact sheet notes that regulations may apply to game birds that do not apply to ordinary poultry. Check with your state wildlife agency before you buy bobwhite eggs.

For the money side of all this, from hatching eggs to incubators and feed, see how much a quail costs. For a deeper look at running an incubator, the chicken-focused incubator hatching guide covers temperature, humidity and candling in more detail; just swap in the quail day counts above.

Track your quail hatch on Creatures

A hatch is a short project with a lot of dates in it, and most of what you learn from it is lost if it lives only in your head. Creatures has egg clutches for exactly this. Here is what it does today.

Set the eggs. Signed in to a free account, go to set a clutch, or use the Set eggs button Creatures shows once you keep egg-laying birds or flocks. You enter where the eggs came from (a specific hen, a flock, eggs you bought, or “not sure”), how many you set, the set date and the species, and whether they are in an incubator or under a broody hen. You also pick your day-count convention (day 0 when set, or day 1 if set before noon), so the dates match how you count.

Get the dates. For Japanese quail and Bobwhite quail, Creatures has a reviewed incubation forecast, so the clutch shows an expected hatch date, a hatch window (days 16 to 18 for Japanese quail, 23 to 24 for bobwhite) and, for eggs in an incubator, a scheduled lockdown task to stop turning (day 15 for Japanese quail, day 20 for bobwhite). If your eggs are set under the general “quail” species or another bird without a reviewed forecast, the clutch still works: you enter your own expected incubation days, or leave it blank and just see the day count. You can reschedule a check if your own plan differs.

Record what happens. From the clutch you can record a candling check (counts of what you saw, which must add up to the eggs you looked at), lockdown, the first pip, and notes with the incubator’s temperature and humidity. If you want to follow particular eggs, you can label them individually; otherwise the clutch tracks them as a batch.

Record the hatch. Record hatch saves the totals so far, chicks hatched and eggs that did not hatch, and you can save again as more chicks arrive until you mark hatching complete. The clutch then shows the hatch in numbers. From there you can keep the hatchlings together as a brood group, join them to an existing flock, or create individual profiles for the birds you want to follow, with name ideas from the quail name generator. Your clutches also appear in an Egg clutches section on the Breeding dashboard; the Breeding dashboard guide explains the rest of that page.

Clutches are private to you unless you choose to share a hatch card. There is no Help Center article for egg clutches yet, so the closest guides are recording births and creating a litter for how offspring connect to their parents, and tracking animals without individual profiles for keeping a batch of chicks as a counted group. If you hatch chickens too, the chicken hatch records guide walks through the same idea of keeping partial and final hatch counts honest.

Quail egg hatching FAQ

Can quail eggs hatch in 16 days?

Yes, some Coturnix chicks hatch on day 16, and the Merck Veterinary Manual lists 16 days for quail. A whole batch hatching that early, though, usually means the incubator ran warm. The extension tables put the normal Coturnix range at 17 to 18 days.

How long can I store quail eggs before incubating them?

For the best hatch, set them within 7 days of laying. Texas A&M reports hatchability falling quickly after 10 days of storage, and storage beyond two weeks can add up to a day to incubation. Store them pointed end down at 55 to 65 F.

When should I stop turning quail eggs?

Around day 14 to 15 for Coturnix and day 20 to 21 for bobwhite. Mississippi State lists no turning after day 15 for Coturnix and day 20 for bobwhite.

Can I hatch quail eggs with chicken eggs?

It is better not to in the same machine. Coturnix hatch around day 17 to 18 and chickens on day 21, so one batch would be in lockdown while the other still needs turning. Texas A&M recommends incubating only eggs with similar incubation lengths together.

How long after the first pip will a quail chick hatch?

Often within several hours, but Texas A&M notes the hatching process can take 10 to 20 hours per chick. Leave the incubator closed unless something is clearly wrong.

When should I give up on unhatched quail eggs?

Most keepers stop waiting one to two days after the expected hatch, which is around day 19 or 20 for Coturnix and day 25 or 26 for bobwhite. Candle any doubtful eggs before you throw them out.

Do this next on Creatures

Whether you are about to set your first tray of Coturnix eggs or you have a brooder full of chicks, these are the next useful steps.

• Plan the hatch, then keep the birds on record: Add your quail, a breeding hen or a keeper bird, so its hatch date, parents and notes stay together. You can start while signed out and finish the free signup in the same flow. See adding an animal to Creatures.
• Log the hatch and the follow-up care: Add a record for a hatch, a weight or a health note. The record sheet opens for visitors to look around; a free account saves what you enter. See adding a record, and use reminders and upcoming care for brooder-off days and checks.
• Get told when quail are listed: Set a quail listing alert and we will email you when a matching listing is posted. Visitors can sign up right in the form. See saving searches and using your watchlist.
• Hatch and sell quail yourself? Create a farm or breeder profile so people looking for quail can find you. No account needed to start. Then read getting listed in the breeder directory.
• See what is available now: Browse quail on the marketplace. Listings come and go, so the alert above is the surer way to catch the right birds.
• Find keepers and farms: Search the breeder directory for trusted quail breeders and farms, and ask about their flock and how they collect and store hatching eggs.