DIY incubator troubles

[Hseru]

OMG guys, my eggs are here! I have a bit of a problem though. The best kind of problem. I ordered a dozen eggs, and the awesome seller sent me 18. I just don't have the space for that many, so I have to find a way to narrow it down.

I'll be checking for cracks imminently, but how do I choose which ones to keep otherwise? Here's a pic for reference.

There's some lovely eggs here, small and large, that lavender looking one top left really caught my eye. Thoughts? I need to par this down to 12 if at all possible.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'd incubate for two days, then candle for spiderlings/redder yolks (very gently, because they're fragile at that stage) and then replace any that haven't developed. You'd have to be careful about lockdown times,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-quail-egg-candling-guide.71783/

If you don't want to do that, candle each and every one of them before putting them in the incubator. Check for especially porous shells, cracks, double yolks, and weird eggshell shapes. I suspect that your "lavender" egg is porous; it should probably be the first to go. Of course, I've only ever seen quail eggs in the grocery store, so I might be mistaken.

 

[Hseru]

I was able to nix 3 of them, 1 for a big crack down the middle, 2 for being dirty. The rest seem to be in good condition, and I can even see the intact air pocket in some of them, so hopefully the postage didn't bang them around too badly.

I was hoping that oddly colored one might be a celadon egg. It's almost blue. That'd be super special

I'm going to go through them again with a stronger light source and search for thin shells and whatnot. That was an awesome thread you linked, I may do that and just narrow down the ones that don't make it further.

 

[fire370]

I would stack the remaining eggs on top and incubate a few days and then narrow down possibly. If nothing else, leave them all stacked for the duration because you’ll lose a few at the end.

 

[Hseru]

Good idea! Thanks to both of you. I got down to 14, and I think I can manage that with my space. Now to let the babies rest for 24 hrs and into the bator they go.