Hatching Turkey eggs

[MagsC]

I am getting some turkey eggs as part of a package next week. In hatching them, what method has everyone had the most luck?
They are going in an incubator separate from chicken and guinea eggs and I will be using a digital thermometer/hygrometer.
I tried twice last year, absolutely nothing. But not giving up!!!!!!!!!!

 

[feedman77]

Temp are the same for turkeys as for chickens.

Turkeys take 28 days to hatch.

Humidity I dry incubate and then raise to about 70 percent for lock down and hatch.

Good luck

 

[kmartinez]

I use a Brinsea incubator with turner. I keep a humidity gauge inside and basically fill with water and do for them what I do for chickens but keep my humidity a little bit higher because turkey eggs are tougher. Honestly the Brinsea does all the work as long as it has water and my temp is right i dont have to touch it. Last season I did three hatches of turkeys out of all 3 hatches i lost 4 of them. One died the other 3 never broke out of the shell.

IMO make a box and put it in your garage if you try to raise a turkey in a spare room in the house its a mess a big one. My turkey box is made of wood fence slats and 2x4. the box measures 3ft X 6ft using 2x4s as the frame and nailing the fence slats pretty sure its 3 ft tall cant remember how many slats off the top of my head when up the side. It was easy and cheap each dogear slat was 1.22 and for the ends i cut them in half and stacked them up the side. bottom was laying on my garage concrete floor and i used dog pcee pads and after they grew up a bid i would put shavings mixed with a bit of hay.

My chicks use the box to but it easily swallows chicks, that box housed 13 turkeys at a time and they where a nice size when i released them out in the yard

 

[Kennyog]

Turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch.I would keep the temp. at 100 degrees F. Humidity at 45%-55%. Stop turning on day 25.Up the humidity to 55%-65% last 3 days.Good luck!

 

[onthespot]

and put some fresh chicken eggs in with them at day 7 so they hatch at the same time, the chicks will help the turkey poults learn how to eat and drink and your survivial rate will go up. Sometimes they die of hunger and thirst, standing literally on top of the food I have heard. This has not been my experience, but some people have had it happen to them, so hatch out some little chicken tutors for your poults!

 

[chickenlittle32]

I've never had the problem either...but don't want that chance of happening...but when I'm hatching...I'm hatching alot ..LOL oh...and guineas...thats a totally different story....but fun!!

 

[ChanceRider]

I've never had a problem with newly hatched poults dying either, but I do place brightly colored glass "stones" in the feeders and waterers. They peck at the bright colors and "discover" the food. I have 13 turkey eggs in the 'bator right now, but no fertile chicken eggs available, so the colored glass stones will have to do.

 

[MagsC]

Thanks everyone.

I was going to be setting some chicken eggs at the same time as the turkeys (different incubators though) so I guess I will have to get dozen or so eggs to put in a week later with them. Shouldnt be too tough to find.

 

[~SunSetsWest~]

I saw an episode of dirty jobs where they were at a turkey farm and the new poults had thier crumbles mixed with green dye (food color I assume) to attract them, seemed to work quite well.

 

[MagsC]

Thats a good idea.....