i apologize in advance if these are dumb questions, but i am very new to aviculture! i just got my first birds about a month ago, 40 texas a&m quail, and they have just started laying eggs today. my questions are: i got 6 eggs today, and one of them is a little smaller and looks kind of chalky on one end, what does that mean? is the egg safe to eat? i was thinking it could be calcium related, but i'm not sure. i also noticed that i found some of the eggs in pairs, together in the same little nest. are they from the same bird, or will they find another egg and just lay one next to it? and my last question is do i have to wait to start incubating eggs or are they ready for hatching on their first lays? i used to be into reptiles and i know a lot of reptiles will lay "blank" eggs their first time or two laying. thanks in advance, these forums have taught me literally everything i know about the birds so far!!
Chalky egg - don't worry, it's probably because the hen just started to lay. It might have spent a little too long in the 'painting area', starting to get a second coating. Paired eggs - I think they prefer laying next to another egg. Waiting before incubating - I don't have coturnix, nor do I own an incubator, but on here, people usually recommend waiting for 2-3 weeks before incubating the eggs.
Eggs sometimes don't come out perfect... Unless it becomes a normal every egg thing it's nothing to worry about... Why sit and incubate eggs when you can sneak your blood line into someone else's nest and have them do the work Also if a bird sees an egg somewhere to them that indicates someone else already decided it was a 'safe' place to lay... There is some debate on this, it's not about the 'fertility' as the first eggs very well can be fertile, the debate revolves more around the viability of early eggs... The reason being is the bird's body is still figuring out how to make and egg, as well as the eggs generally being smaller, given time those 'kinks' work their way out and the viability generally increases and the babies hatched are generally stronger... That isn't to say you can't get viable strong chicks from the get go, but many breeders wait a few months before they start incubating just the same... I have even read that some breeders wait until the second laying season before they collect eggs for hatching, probably extreme in regards to eggs, but this way you get to see the new feather out after a molt and decide if that bird is really worth breeding...
This is a great article/post about various egg issues (with photos). https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems
