Candling Turkey egg help / advice for a newbie

I have a Turkey question as well. I had a hen and gobbler given to me on Christmas, my step-father thought it was a great joke! We have chickens and other animals but never made any attempt at hatching. The hen made her a nest in the barn right away and was laying almost every day. At first I was collecting the eggs, but got a little behind and now she has been on the nest about 6 days "Broody". Possibly she may get up in the middle of the day but I have not seen her up yet. Is this normal? I have been taking her water and feed, I'm getting a little concerned. Should I make her get up? She is alert, just don't want an any animal, prank gift or not, sick or dead because of my neglect.

Its best to leave her alone and she will hatch the eggs for you. Just learning myself with a incubator cause its too cold here and our hen does not stay on the eggs. So I believe its best to leave her be and enjoy the little ones in 28 days.

SgtBakYardFarmr said:

I have a Turkey question as well. I had a hen and gobbler given to me on Christmas, my step-father thought it was a great joke! We have chickens and other animals but never made any attempt at hatching. The hen made her a nest in the barn right away and was laying almost every day. At first I was collecting the eggs, but got a little behind and now she has been on the nest about 6 days "Broody". Possibly she may get up in the middle of the day but I have not seen her up yet. Is this normal? I have been taking her water and feed, I'm getting a little concerned. Should I make her get up? She is alert, just don't want an any animal, prank gift or not, sick or dead because of my neglect.

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My suggestion is that when you have a great question like this one to start a new thread so you can get the help you want. Lost of people here to help. I only know chickens, they get off once a day to stretch and eat and visit with her friends, then back to the nest for another 23 hours. Like clock work. I don't think turkeys are any different. SO i understand your need to put food and water close by.

I have seen this same question asked in it's own thread! What's up with these duplicate postings? Was this in error?

Hey guys! This is an old thread, but helpful nonetheless. Question - if we put the eggs in as they are laid, then what to do about the 'lockdown period' where they are supposed to be higher humidity / not turned? Is it ok to just keep things the same throughout?

Thanks for the advice!

BravoPavo said:

Hey guys! This is an old thread, but helpful nonetheless. Question - if we put the eggs in as they are laid, then what to do about the 'lockdown period' where they are supposed to be higher humidity / not turned? Is it ok to just keep things the same throughout?

Thanks for the advice!

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you should not keep adding eggs as they are laid. You need 4 days of higher humidity and lower temps to have a successful hatch, and that will most likely be too low of temps for developing embryos that are not at the lockdown stage. Buy another/make another incubator for lockdown/hatching.

Ok, thanks for clarifying! That's what I had thought. So if I date each egg, put them into the incubator as they are laid, and then take them out and into the separate incubator/hatcher on day 24, will that be ok? We don't have a separate egg turner yet to have them held on stand-by before entering the incubator. Since you seem to know what's up, and be willing to help, can I ask you another question? (Ok. A few more) Maybe you can help decipher this situation. Our group of birds that the eggs are coming from are 18 strong, half male and half female. They are being raised for meat, and initially weren't intentioned to be breeders, but when they started laying, we thought, 'hey! lets incubate those!' We've seen a tiny bit of breeding, maybe...kinda....(they are out of sight most of they day, so they could be sneaking it in). They are about 8 months old, we think. (Got them as juveniles) I'm worried that the male to female ratio is too high, making for too much competition for anyone to be able to really mate. But some females are laying eggs in nests, and sitting on them sometimes, while others are laying them randomly about. The turkeys are being rotated around the pasture with an electric fence, so the females don't get to establish and keep a nest, unfortunately. And separating out a few gals and one lucky boy isn't currently an option, although that's what we'll do with the next batch. So here's what I want to know - I'm wondering how likely it is that our eggs are fertile, given the serious competition, what do you think? Also, if I collect the eggs from the nests that the females have made daily, will I get them out of the heat in time for them to be placed 'on hold' in a dormant state? How often should I be collecting / how long should I 'hold' / and how frequently can I add to the incubator?

Thanks so much for your help! We are just starting out and really want everything to go well! Eventually we will have a better setup, which will eliminate some issues, but this is our 'learning curve' group so we are just trying to do the best we can with what we've got! Thanks again for taking time to answer these questions, I really appreciate any input you can offer!

Crack an egg that is "on hold" open and look for a blastoderm. Eggs start to lose 1% hatching rate per day after the 10th day. Collect them daily.

Great, thank you!