High Altitude Heritage Turkey Hatch-A-Long

[Hayduke27]

No action for egg 1. I don't think it made it. I might give it through the day, but I don't anticipate a hatch. Oh well,

Not much news on the others. I may candle again this evening, at least the 2nd batch, and try to toss some non-growers out of the incubator.

 

[Hayduke27]

Time for an update. I candled batch 2 earlier this week. Only 1 egg was alive, but it was very much alive and I could clearly see the embryo moving around. I removed the remainder of batch 2. The batch was set on 4/15, so the hatch date for the remaining egg is 5/14.

Tonight I candled the third batch of 12. They are roughly 2 weeks in. There are 2 nice living eggs, embryos moving around. The rest are clearly not developing (no pun intended), and I removed them from the incubator.

So as of tonight I have 3 eggs in the incubator. They are about a week apart for hatch schedules. All are very much alive and thriving as of today, so we'll see if we have luck hatching any of them out.

In other news, the turkey chicks I bought are growing rapidly. This is my first time raising turkeys. I've raised chickens and quail, and it's very interesting seeing the difference in the growth cycle of each bird. It's amazing how fast the turkeys grow!

 

[Hayduke27]

The update I didn't know if I'd be making: I moved another egg to lockdown, expected to hatch Saturday, and tonight it popped out of its shell! One of the fastest hatches I've witnessed and at least 48 hours early! It's been a big day and I will post more details later, but after all this there has been some success!!

 

[Hayduke27]

So yes indeed, a baby turkey hatched out and is healthy and happy. I am excited. This has been a long process.

I went to the incubation room on Wednesday night to check the humidity levels, and the egg was already completely zipped, the baby was peeping, and the egg was moving a lot as the chick was kicking. Within the next 15 minutes the chick was out and free of the shell. This was about 48 hours before I was expecting the hatch.

I have 2 more eggs in the incubator that I will be checking in on tonight. I think they are both still developing fine, last time I candled I saw movement in each. The turkey chicks I bought a few weeks ago are far too big to hang out with this chick right now, so hopefully I'll get another chick or two to hatch to keep this guy company. I can't remember off the top of my head, but they are roughly a week from hatch day.

 

[Hayduke27]

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@Hayduke27 Did your last 2 shipped eggs ever hatch? All your turkey are beautiful.