First Eggs - Quick help needed

[optic1]

My Coturnix girls shocked me with some eggs today since their not 6 weeks old till thursday.

How do you store the eggs for this 5 day period I here about before incubation.

Also should you give them a chemical wash. I have a commercial sanitizing rinse that I could make a weak solution out of or would that be a bad idea.

Thanks,

 

[JJMR794]

Easiest way to store them is in an egg carton--- turn/ tilt the carton at least 2x daily up to 4 if you can and keep them cool--- not cold. they will last upwards of 10 days before fertility/ viability starts to decrease. Personally i do not wash eggs as this removes the "bloom" the hen leaves on them and will decrease your hatch rates. I certainly would not wash them with anything other than plain water, eggs are porous-- chemicals can enter and render the egg non- viable for hatch

 

[optic1]

Good info, it backs up other things I have read. I checked the sticky in egg hatching but some of the additional links are broken now. JJ U Da Man.

 

[steelshot]

That exactly right just as JJ stated dont wash them in anything other than water and the water shoud be 110 degrees as cold water will still allow bacteria in. If they have just laying you may also want to give them a week or two to allow fertility to increase. Good luck.
Steels

 

[optic1]

The only hard part is keeping eggs cool. I'll have weather in the 50's tonight which would be OK. But if it goes outside of that, I don't know where to put them. Everything in home is at least 70. I think the fridge is out. Plus the humidity is dry here, i'm reading 28% on all my digitals and wonder now if storing them for any length of time will dry them out.

 

[optic1]

Quote:
I'm just prepping to get all my ducks in a row. Oh sorry Quail. I'm sure they will need some time to get their sexual acts together. The eggs were laid on screen and are nice and clean. I don't see any reason to wash them unless you guys feel the need. I did feel sorry for one girl she was trying to sit on an egg but it rolled up against the dust box. It was cute with her butt in the air and all fluffed out trying to back up against the box. I have left the lights on the whole time and the roo's who have hit the magic age of maturity are crowing all night. Ah puberty. But how did they learn to yell, "I feel the need, the need to breed".

 

[macnugget]

that should be fine

 

[UmbraVulpis]

Quote:
I managed to find a refurbished wine cooler fairly cheap. It's done wonders for my hatch rates.

 

[optic1]

Yea I gotta do something like that. My wife is laughing tonight because I have them on our grill with the lid closed and an extension cord going to the auto turner. 55 degree's ouitside. Gonna be cool out here for a few days. MacNugget is sending me a few eggs so I might practice with this batch of mine and pop them in with his when I get the Jumbo's. My incubator seems to be running dead on the mark, both temp and humidity.

Don't light that grill.....