Getting Started with QuailBreeder

To get started, you first fill out the three main catalogs describing the equipment you actually use: incubators, brooders and locations. Open the Home tab, choose Settings, and the app will walk you through them. This takes about ten minutes for a typical backyard setup — and it is time well spent, because once the app knows your machines and cages, every later screen can count, warn and plan for you.

Steps to Follow

Incubators

QuailBreeder supports the three classic incubator types: a Setter, which holds the eggs for the main incubation period with regular turning; a Hatcher, which takes them for the final days, when the eggs lie still until the chicks emerge; and a Combination machine that does both jobs in one cabinet. For each incubator you enter the number of trays and the egg capacity of each tray.

Why so specific? Because capacity is what the app plans with. When you create a batch, QuailBreeder checks how many eggs fit into the chosen machine, helps you distribute them across trays, and — if you run a separate Setter and Hatcher — reminds you to define hatcher trays for transfer day. If you own several machines of different sizes, enter them all: the app tracks each one's occupancy separately, so you always know which incubator has free trays before you collect the next eggs.

Brooders

A brooder is the warm nursery where chicks spend their first weeks after hatch. For each brooder you specify the maximum number of chicks it can safely hold — that single number is what lets the app warn you about overcrowding before it happens.

Overcrowding in the first two weeks is one of the most common — and most avoidable — causes of early losses. When a hatch turns out bigger than expected, it is tempting to squeeze everyone into one box 'just for a few days'. If you have entered honest capacities, QuailBreeder shows you at hatch time whether the incoming chicks actually fit, and you can prepare a second brooder in advance instead of improvising at midnight.

Locations

Locations are groups of cages dedicated to a specific purpose. Typical examples: cages for keeping parent stock (your breeders), cages for egg production, and cages for growing birds for meat. A location can be a rack of cages in the barn, a whole room, or a single large aviary — what matters is the purpose, not the geometry.

Thinking in purposes pays off later. Egg counts are collected per egg-production location, growth and feed are tracked where the meat birds live, and your breeder stock keeps its own history. When you move birds from a brooder into a location, the app knows what those birds are for — and your statistics stay clean. Start simple: one location per purpose is enough for the first cycle, and you can always split a location into several once the farm grows.

Finally

Creation of a New Batch

Select Batch on the tab bar, then input quantity of eggs at this batch. • You have the ability to create batches retroactively, to do this, click on the date above the quantity. Please note that this is only possible before placing the eggs in the incubator. • If you are using a Setter incubator, you also need to define the trays in the Hatcher incubator. • By clicking Undo – you can delete the last action. • When you have identified the eggs in the trays, press the Start button to begin incubation. • You can set up 2 kind of notifications: ○ Push notifications ○ Automatically create corresponding records in your favorite calendar • This can be done in the Settings on the Home tab.

Practical tips for your first cycle

A few things experienced users wish they had known on day one:

Enter real capacities, not optimistic ones. The app's warnings are only as honest as the numbers you give it — measure your trays and count your cage space once, properly.
Let the app's notifications do the counting. Trusting the reminders for transfer and hatch days — instead of your own mental arithmetic — is the habit that saves the most eggs.
Record events on the spot: eggs set, chicks hatched, losses in the brooder. A number written down two days later is a guess, and guesses ruin your viability statistics.
Use the Undo button without shame. Mis-taps happen with cold fingers; deleting the last action takes one second and keeps your history truthful.
Turn on the calendar integration if you share the work with family — everyone sees transfer and hatch days in the calendar they already use.
Don't aim for a perfect setup on day one. Configure one incubator, one brooder and one location, run a small batch end to end, and refine the catalogs as you learn what your farm actually needs.

Download the app and start optimizing your quail farming!