Newbie Help Please - First Hatch- Egg Tansporting and Settling

[bbqsfarm]

I just got my first quail egg order. (Bobwhites) I have set them at at angle to allow them to rest as I have read about. I am starting with eggs from 2 different breeders. The first came by USPS. I am picking up the other eggs in the morning. I am getting them from a guy just down the road about 2 miles. Will I also need to let those eggs rest before putting them in the incubator and if so for how long? They are getting a 2 mile car ride.

Kind of silly but I really know nothing. This is my 2nd year with quail but I have never hatched any from eggs. We have Bobwhites and Buttons for now. This year I am hoping to also add California. I have 4 pens and runs built.

Can anyone point me to good threads about when to candle, info needed when they first hatch etc. I am also getting pre hatched babies May 17th or so. What would be a safest way to incorporate them all together eventually? Do I need to keep them seperate or band them later down the road. Thinking long term about in breeding etc.

To my suprise I was just going to use and Still air incubater and hand turn but my husband is totally gotten on board and showed up tonight with a new incubater that is circulated air with a turner. This will hopefully improve the hatch rate?

 

[James the Bald]

I can answer the "candling" part of your questions; at least I hope I can. I've read posts about members who candle on day 7 and later on before going into lockdown. As for me, I want to handle the eggs as little as possible, so I only candled on lockdown. Lockdown is 4 days before "hatch day"; you will have to forgive me as I don't know what hatch day is for Bobwhites. On lockdown, what you want to look for is "no light shining through". On my first hatch, I had candled and found 5 eggs that the light passed completely through... the only way I can describe it is that it is similar to holding a plain white sheet of paper over a flashlight, and the light shines completely through. Those are infertile eggs and should be tossed. The remaining 13 eggs that I candled had very little light, closer to holding a pair of dress sox over a flashlight; a very small hint of light passed through. Those were viable eggs that went back into the incubator.

At this link, there is a video on candling. This is a chicken egg, but you get the idea on how it's done.

As for your eggs that went 2 miles... letting them rest won't hurt them. BTW, I'm jealous that you have access to quail eggs AND live chicks so close to your house. Everyone should be so lucky.