Got my first egg this morning!

[duckncover]

One of my button quail pairs laid their first egg this morning at 59 days old. When should I know that the eggs being laid are fertile. 2 out of my 3 pairs I've caught mating in the past few days. I always see people saying they check for fertility by cracking the egg open and looking for a "bullseye" I'm not sure I can crack one of these tiny eggs open without scrambling it lol.

 

[sourland]

If they are mating, I would automatically assume that the eggs are fertile.

 

[duckncover]

If they are mating, I would automatically assume that the eggs are fertile.

Yes I have seen two of them mating early in the morning. The third pair has a male and a white bird that is not sexable so if I see an egg I guess I'll know.

 

[duckncover]

How long can I save eggs for before putting them in the 'bator?

 

[Nabiki]

I wouldn't keep them for more than a week before incubating.

 

[duckncover]

Okay problem. So I have found 7 additional eggs since posting this. In 2 enclosures housing one pair each. Did I miss eggs laid previously? I noticed an egg in each enclosure at like 4:30 this morning. An additional egg around 7pm in the blue face cage and 3(?!) more in the tuxedo/silver cage. The white/cinnamon blue face cage haven't laid anything as the white was not confirmed sexed yet. The two single bachelors have not laid either lol. What's going on here? Do I have a pair(s) of hens or do they lay every so many hours instead of daily and before and after work are making it seem like theres too many.

ETA: found a brand new egg in the tuxedo cage a few minutes ago. I'm going to go ahead and assume they are both hens. Time to switch?