Timing of Second Generation Quail

[Silk Madness]

What is the best way to prevent this (see photo). I have been collecting my quails' eggs as they lay them and just put them straight in the incubator in the order in which they are collected. However I am now starting to have babies hatching at all times of the day and night any day they please. I thought the best thing to do was to put them in when they are fresh, for the best hatch rate. But I can see where that raises a problem...

 

[DK newbie]

Usually people would gather eggs for a week or so, depending on their setup, number of quail and so on, and then set all these eggs at the same time. If they are stored well, most should be fertile even if they've been stored for a week before setting them. Two days before expected hatch, you'll go into 'lockdown' - stop turning the eggs and increase humidity to something like 65%, open the incubator as little as possible. This should give the best results. You then won't set the next batch of eggs before the first one has hatched. Doing it this way, you'd get chicks about every 10 days or so. There are many ways to do it, and I don't even incubate eggs myself - this is just what I've read on here.

 

[Silk Madness]

Yes, I suppose I should start consuming them as well, but somehow it doesn't seem as appetizing when your pet quail present you with these perfect and beautiful eggs. If I could just get them to be consistent about the number of eggs they lay I could sell them. But that hasn't happened yet. I do notice that the birds on the warmer side of the coop lay more eggs so I should put another light in on the other side of the coop. Now if I could get the buttonquail to lay, but they are really tiny, I can't imagine them getting an egg out.

 

[DK newbie]

I have a button that lays a double yolk egg every other time she lays - they are huge but somehow she manages to do it ^^
The normal eggs are small, but cute and they taste well.