Even if you don't know anything about quail, I have a question...Now if you do.. what do I mark the eggs with?

Question

If you don't...

Okay, I have a make-shift incubator set up in my basement, and is up high to prevent my cat from getting to them. Because of this, it can't be set on solid ground, and it's fairly wobbly... what can I gently hold the eggs with or use to prevent the eggs from moving? And no.. I cannot use an egg carton... these eggs are no larger than a quarter... they cannot be enclosed in anything, as they need to be exposed to the air in the incubator. Does anyone have any idea that might work?

As for those that have hatched quail before... What can I use to mark the eggs so I know what side they are on when I flip them? Is pencil okay? What about marker? I wasn't thinking marker would be too good of an idea as there may be some kind of chemical that could harm the chick. What did you use?

Thanks you in advance for your help! =)

~PieGuy360

Answer 1

a pencil is okay to use

Answer 2

I read that you need to use pencil just put a cross on one side so you can see if they have been turned and do not use marker it would harm the chick.

Answer 3

In India we usually use paddy husk and dry grass to incubate the chicken eggs with hen on them. If u think it's more crude. We used dry sand, paper splits,loose cotton for our love birds and pegions.

I used pencil to write no. of days(has to be very delicate because eggs r so small), and sketch just to put small dot on the side

Answer 4

Use pencil - not marker, but since I've hatched quail (button quail anyway) I can understand why you might want to use marker.  With button quail at least, since their eggs are mottled and blueish-green, you can't see pencil.  What I used instead was a tiny piece of stick on felt on the lower end of the egg (the part where the chick does not hatch from).

In terms of something you can use to prevent them from rolling around - why not just get some bermuda grass and nesting material?

Abba makes some great nesting material that you could place in the incubator and set the eggs in.

Answer 5

What about a box full of that funky grass they use to hold easter eggs in easter egg baskets? Or just straw or hay?

Or shredded newspaper? Or packing peanuts, the Styrofoam kind? Would very fine, high-quality play sand work? You could almost work the eggs into it and keep them really stable that way...

As for marking, pencils "leads" are graphite. If you just rubbed the side of a pencil lead lightly on the eggshell, you'd just be leaving a small film of graphite on the shell. I can't see how that'd hurt anything...graphite is just carbon, and that's not toxic...

Answer 6

How about foam egg crate ( mattress pads are made of it) and you can use a pencil to mark them