thick yolks, eggs not fertile - tom or hen problem

[faykokoWV]

I have midget white turkeys and they are almost a year old now. The hens have been laying eggs since November, but I have not gotten any fertile eggs. I have three hens and one tom. Mr. Tom puffs our and does his dance... but i have yet to see him do his thing. DH says he has seen it, and the hens have muddy backs.. so something's been there. I have noticed that the egg yolks are super thick. Is a really thick yolk normal, or is this causing the hens to be infertile?

There is a cover on the turkey run, and the run is only 5 feet tall, any chance he's not able to hop up there due to clearance issues??? I really want to hatch some babies (I've tried incubating three different batches with no development at all)

Any advice????

 

[HEChicken]

I don't have any real advice, but two thoughts jumped out at me when I read your post. First, is how you are determining fertility and second is your incubation procedures.

Are you determining fertility solely by their failure to develop, or are you also looking for the bullseye on the yolk?

Failure to develop while incubating could be because they are infertile, or because your incubator isn't working accurately, which is why I asked the first question.

 

[faykokoWV]

I don't have any real advice, but two thoughts jumped out at me when I read your post. First, is how you are determining fertility and second is your incubation procedures.

Are you determining fertility solely by their failure to develop, or are you also looking for the bullseye on the yolk?

Failure to develop while incubating could be because they are infertile, or because your incubator isn't working accurately, which is why I asked the first question.

I've looked for the bullseye, and I haven't seen a clear one. I thought it might be an error of interpretation, which is why I tried incubating. I had chicken eggs in the incubator at the same time with all three batches and they developed fine. I have a brinsea, so they are pretty fool proof (thank goodness lol)


Is it normal for turkey egg yolks to be super thick?

 

[HEChicken]

That I couldn't tell you! I want to get MW's but so far have only kept chickens and quail. I'm hoping to branch into MW's this year or next.

Well, if they are not developing and the chicken eggs are, it sounds like you are right and they are not fertile. One thought I did just have.....human males aren't always virile. Perhaps it is the same for male animals too?