Quail newbie looking for feedback - Page 2

I will get some of that from walmart. I read that the little boogers can dislocate their hips if they slip and I do not want that to happen!

I gave in and candled my eggs. I'm almost positive I have quite a few fertile eggs, as I saw some veining and what kinda looks like the dark splotch that eventual turns into an embryo. I counted at least 3 that were not fertile. Oh well. I'll keep incubating all of them and see if maybe something changes for the ones that looked empty. 

Can a cracked egg still develop a chick? I have a cracked egg, but it has veining and the same dark pre embryo splotch as the fertile ones. Can that one be saved or is it a lost cause?

Wow! Total difference from yesterday with my button eggs. I actually saw beating hearts in three of them! Those little hearts were not there yesterday! I feel so elated that I was even able to see them so clearly. Hah, I drug my husband into the bathroom to see them and show 'em off. My Cot eggs finally came today. 5 were cracked and dented, the rest I'm hoping are viable, since the mailman stuffed my package into my mailbox with everything else. 

Good news is, I candled the Cot eggs weren't broken and the brown spots on the eggs are spaced out enough to give me an excellent view of any development in them. Day four I'll candle them to see if there's any noticeable development. Man, this is actually so exciting! 

Well, there is definitely 8 fertile eggs. All with veining and hearts beating. From here on out, it's hands off the button eggs. I did make sure to mark the fertile eggs differently than the ones I couldn't see anything in. I'll candle them before I stop turning them, just to see if they're developed and didn't die off. 

So since I'm now incubating my Cot eggs with them, when the button eggs go into the final hatching stages, does anyone know a way to keep my humidity up when I have to open the bator to turn my Cot eggs? The humidity stays consistently around the 60% mark, even when I open the bator to turn them all, but don't hatching eggs need a higher humidity threshold? I don't want the wee boogers to run into problems because I need to open the bator to turn my Cot eggs.

Would loading up on hot and wet paper towels in the final stages of my button incubation help? I already have a water dish with sponges in it for humidity, and recently added a hot, wet towel to keep the humidity up as well. 

For my chicks, if I manage to hatch any at all, I'll keep a breeding pair or two, then sell the rest at the local farmers market come spring. Goes for both the buttons and cots. I definitely do want to keep a few female cots for nonfertile egg production at home, but not so much as breeding them. Hopefully though, some cot eggs will hatch into tuxedos. As that is the only cot color I do want to breed. According to the guy I got the eggs from, there should be more than a few of those in the bunch. I know it's not a sure thing, but I'm hoping to get at least two.

I already have cages set up for them. Now it is just a waiting game!