Broody vs Incubator

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amynrichie

Songster
7 Years
Jan 29, 2013
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Nebraska Panhandle
I posted this in the turkey forum with no success, so I'm postinghere as well:

I set 20 turkey eggs in the incubator, and about a week later two hens went broody on a small clutch. I have 19 left in the bator, and the girls have 10. I'm thinking of switching the eggs, and giving them the bator eggs because they are further along. I would then put their 10 in the bator, and slip the poults under the hens as they hatch/ dry off. My thought was NOT to give them a staggered hatch in the nest, but I want them to raise all the poults if possible.
The bator eggs are due in 7 days, and the 10 currently under the hen are 4-7 days behind.

Last year, my Mama accepted the late hatchlings one poult at a time for the next five days. That's what I was thinking of doing with this batch. I"m a little concerned about the girls brooding together. I HOPE it will go ok. They broke one egg, but only because they were in a nest box together that was not big enough. I moved them to another area, on the floor and they are sitting tight.

Any thoughts? I just KNEW they would go broody as soon as I set the bator!
400
 
Good luck with your endeavor. I currently have co-broody girls who are doing very well together. They occasionally have a tiff between themselves but it is usually worked out pretty quickly.

My position would be --- how valuable are the eggs/potential chicks to you? Are you ready to set up a brooder if the introduction doesn't take? Will you be able to closely monitor post hatch to see how the girls do?

If it is kinda an experiment, like my co-broodies are, and the eggs aren't super valuable, I say, give it a go. I don't like moving/transferring eggs just because I am afraid I will trip and crush them all or something.

It sounds like you have thought it out pretty well and if you have had luck before, maybe it will work.

Just consider that the new hatchlings will need to be warmer and wont need to eat like the older ones to start with so that might pose an issue with the moms moving away from the nest site, but if you have them with food and water close I think the impact would be minimal.

Good luck!
 
I do have a brooder set up currently housing big kids. They are *this* close to moving outside, so I do have a backup plan. If it was just one hen. . . I was new to the broody business last year, but I'm really new to the co-broody business this year!
 
Well, this was my first try with it and it turned out okay. They are coming up on 3 weeks old and all is well. I really think it depends on bird and flock personality. Good luck.
 
You've done it before: the staggered fostering, and it's worked for you. So, in a lot of regards, you're the expert here! I think that I'd likely be thinking like you in the same situation: swap out the eggs to get the most chicks under the Mama's as soon as possible. The only negative I can think of is related to my experience with co-brooding ducks. They successfully hatched 24 ducklings together. It was comical to watch them sitting on the big nest and muttering to each other, while swapping eggs back and forth. But, after the hatch, one Mama waddled away from the nest and never looked back. She left her sister to tend all 24 babies. Now, in your situation... if that were to happen, you'd be left with one Mama for 30 babies. Worst case scenario, you'd have to split the brood, and rear some of them in a broody box. Also, are poults harder to hatch? Do you think they'd fare better under the hens, or in the bator for hatching?
 
lazy gardener said:
 Now, in your situation... if that were to happen, you'd be left with one Mama for 30 babies.  Worst case scenario, you'd have to split the brood, and rear some of them in a broody box.  Also, are poults harder to hatch?  Do you think they'd fare better under the hens, or in the bator for hatching?
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I'm leaning toward the hen on this one, but I don't really know for sure! LOL, this my third year with turkeys, and only my second year with a broody mama. I will have to say, this sure is fun!
 
lazy gardener said:
You've done it before: the staggered fostering, and it's worked for you. So, in a lot of regards, you're the expert here! I'm pretty comfortable with the fostering, at least with my older mama. The young hen I'm not so sure about.

The only negative I can think of is related to my experience with co-brooding ducks. They successfully hatched 24 ducklings together. It was comical to watch them sitting on the big nest and muttering to each other, while swapping eggs back and forth. But, after the hatch, one Mama waddled away from the nest and never looked back. She left her sister to tend all 24 babies. Now, in your situation... if that were to happen, you'd be left with one Mama for 30 babies. This gives me some more food for thought. Now I will have to come up with a back up plan for my back up plan! I'll plan for the worst case scenario, and hopefully my girls will surprise me by being the best co-broodies ever!
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