Candling turkey and duck eggs in a homemade kerosene lantern incubator

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Seeing the egg hatch has to be on my list of the greatest miracles I have witnessed. I am awed and humbled by this marvellous transformation from egg to chick. Indeed creation is the work of an intelligent designer.

Yes, it is a wonderful, aw inspiring event!
And it will be that way for every one that hatches. I've hatched for many years now, and still have the same feelings.

 

[aart]

It's not fully dry yet and it's just seeking warmth and trying to walk all over the place. Is that okay?

Congrats!! It's amazing, eh?!

They are like drunken sailors for the first few hours or so...it'll find it's feet.
I leave them in the incubator fro about 24 hours or so...take them out in groups of at least 2 to put into the brooder. What are you using for brooder heat?

 

[HelenAbim]

Congrats!! It's amazing, eh?!

They are like drunken sailors for the first few hours or so...it'll find it's feet.
I leave them in the incubator fro about 24 hours or so...take them out in groups of at least 2 to put into the brooder. What are you using for brooder heat?

I am still going to use a lantern. It's the best option available to me. The poult hasn't fully fluffed out yet. It is drying though but slowly and everything seems okay just that it's lonely and has no companion. I didn't expect the hatch today and was surprised it went smoothly. I obviously did something right.
How many hours should it take to dry and for it to look like a chick?
I also noticed some poop in the humidity water underneath the eggs from the hatch- green with white. Is this normal?

 

[HelenAbim]

This is the time I can easily take care of hatchlings. We are in the dry season right now. It's like our own summer in this part of the earth. It's sunny all day and hot.
Would it be okay to place my brooder outside in the sun? It's movable and sturdy. I want to avoid Vitamin D deficiency from brooding inside- it has happened to me before.

 

[aart]

Hard to say how long until dry...depends on ambient humidity..usually a few hours or so.

You could put brooder where it will be 'solar heated'.....you'll just have to make sure it doesn't over heat by balancing some shade with good ventilation. Chicks need to be kept pretty warm the first day 85-90F, but they also need to be able to move away from the heat to cool off too. Might be hard to do with a passive solar set.
They should get all the vitamins they need from a good chick starter ration, but maybe that' not available to you.

Here's my notes on a chick heat, the electrical parts won't apply to your situation but the behavioral and thermometer parts should help...and yo might already know this from having chicks before, but...

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

 

[HelenAbim]

Hard to say how long until dry...depends on ambient humidity..usually a few hours or so.

You could put brooder where it will be 'solar heated'.....you'll just have to make sure it doesn't over heat by balancing some shade with good ventilation. Chicks need to be kept pretty warm the first day 85-90F, but they also need to be able to move away from the heat to cool off too. Might be hard to do with a passive solar set.
They should get all the vitamins they need from a good chick starter ration, but maybe that' not available to you.

Here's my notes on a chick heat, the electrical parts won't apply to your situation but the behavioral and thermometer parts should help...and yo might already know this from having chicks before, but...

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

In times past, I used electricity to brood as it was fairly constant and only had a kerosene lantern as backup. Now the reverse is the case so I will be heating the brooder with a kerosene lantern. I am about uploading some pictures for you to see at this point of how far I have come with the hatch.

 

[HelenAbim]

Pictures from the incubator everyone.

 

[HelenAbim]

The slimy stuff in the eggshell was not there when it hatched. I put it there for the sake of the picture. I don't know what it is but I believe it is normal. The chick came out clean.
I placed the shell on the ground to be able to get a picture.
Hop everything looks okay? Does anyone else knows what I am doing wrong? I put a little wad of tissue for the chick to rest on as it's claws were getting caught in the mesh wire holes. Is that okay? It's textured tissue paper.

 

[WVduckchick]

Congratulations!!
Poult looks great, empty egg looks fine too. She made a perfect zip! The goo is normal.

Tissue is ok under her, just keep it dry. If it starts to gather moisture, replace it. Many of us use rubber shelf liner, not sure if you have something similar available.

Hoping for more hatchlings to come!

 

[lazy gardener]

Seeing the egg hatch has to be on my list of the greatest miracles I have witnessed. I am awed and humbled by this marvellous transformation from egg to chick. Indeed creation is the work of an intelligent designer.

Our God is truly an awesome God, and all of creation attests to His greatness.

I am still going to use a lantern. It's the best option available to me. The poult hasn't fully fluffed out yet. It is drying though but slowly and everything seems okay just that it's lonely and has no companion. I didn't expect the hatch today and was surprised it went smoothly. I obviously did something right.
How many hours should it take to dry and for it to look like a chick?
I also noticed some poop in the humidity water underneath the eggs from the hatch- green with white. Is this normal?

Yes, that poop is perfectly normal. If the water is easily accessible, and you can clean it out, then you can do so, however, the primary importance is keeping enough humidity so the membranes don't dry out as the remaining poults hatch. An other concern is that as chicks hatch, they immediately start looking for new and novel ways to commit suicide. So, you'll need to be on the look out for how the little one can get into trouble. One of their favorite methods is drowning. A chick can drown in a tablespoon of water! No open containers! Their second favorite method is strangulation. Look for any way she can get her head stuck!