Bad egg?

Hello all! My turkey eggs are about two to three weeks old right now (I believe). While on vacation, I didn't expect the animal-sitter to go out looking for eggs and prepping them for incubation and everything. So, I let the turkeys have their fun and lay a few eggs to raise themselves. Yesterday, when I went out to candle eggs, some were completely see through, while others were like looking through rocks. However, one of the eggs much have been bad and busted in the nest. I removed the rotten egg (it just leaked a little out and the inside was an army green color), decommissioned that nest and moved her nest over to a nest where two other hens are currently residing and sitting on a nest of assorted eggs (two turkey eggs and a muscovy egg). Tonight I would like to go out and candle the eggs again and throw out the rotting eggs. How can I be absolutely positive that I am throwing out the bad eggs? Since the one bursted, all of the eggs from the one nest smell like rot. Also, how do I go about the momma hens? They all three hiss and I am worried about them breaking an egg or getting too stressed out.

Thanks!
Emily

Bump!

Bump!

Personally, I just leave my broodies alone. I don't candle. I've only had one incident of rotten eggs breaking in the nest and that was last year when I had two broodies sharing a dog crate. Most of the eggs ended up getting broken at some point or another, and the ones that didn't break rotted. (I think my rooster was a dud). If you see movement, you know the egg is still alive. You know that if it's clear it's no good. Are they all at the same stage of development? If so, if you see one that's not as developed as the others it's probably not good. If they're at different stages, it's anybody's guess if you don't see movement. Sorry, that's about all I've got for you. Good luck with your hatch.

Thanks Bobbi-J! I would do the same as you, but I have three hens (sometimes four) all on the same nest. I would still not worry, but they are all in a 2'x2.75' area and sometimes accidents happen and the eggs explode (the last two or three eggs were from the gases building up in them and exploding). There are several nests in the single nestbox (no matter how many times I try to split them up, it never happens) and some of the hens have started laying their own eggs again. So there are several nests with the hens all laying eggs at different times.
Thanks though for your advice! Do you have any advice for splitting up hens so that they all choose their own nest boxes? There is ten nest boxes, all near eachother, but they all choose the single nest. Ugh. Turkeys. I knew they were community nesters, but I didn't think it was going to be this hard.

I'm not familiar with nesting turkeys (we used to raise them, but we'd get them in the spring and process them in the fall). But to me it sounds like you would need to separate the setting ones from each other and the ones still laying, or your hatch is going to be a mess and all spread out.

How would you go about that? I've moved them to different nests then got rid of the nesting box that they all love, but they will abandon their eggs and all go choose a nest together. I've thought about putting them in the large dog kennels, but we only have two of them and then I worry that if they need out to do something or if something isn't right, that they will not be able to get out.

I was thinking more of separate pens, but like I said, I'm not familiar with turkeys. I always separate my chickens when they're nesting to prevent birds getting into the nest breaking eggs, or laying more eggs. I tried two hens nesting together last year. By the time the 21 days were up, they broke 3/4 of their eggs and the rest of them were rotten. Won't do that again!

Thanks for the idea! Maybe that will come next year. This year is becoming a nightmare for nesting. Ugh! I think next year, smaller pens for each of the hens will work out wonderfully. Do you use dog kennels or just built several smaller pens for each of the hens?

I have one coop where I can just close off half of it. Last year I had two broodies in that pen so I divided it so they both had their own space (didn't want the later-hatching one to abandon her nest and steal the earlier-hatching one's babies.)



I have a pen on either side of the doorway, but also can open it up between the two of them so the chickens can have access to the whole coop.