Duck or hen brooder for my turkey eggs?

[Safronsue]

I’ve got 4 fertile turkey eggs. I’ve got an incubator as well as some runner ducks and a couple of jersey giant hens who I would much rather use for the job. How should I best go about encouraging broodiness and not jeopardise the turkeys? Put a clutch of chickens eggs down and see if someone sits? Include the turkey eggs with the chicken eggs or keep safe and try add them later? I do not want any more chickens ....only the turkeys.

Great forum, I’ve not been on here for years...since I asked for and got advice on my runner duck eggs I bought online. They are running about quacking and amusing as ever and keep down flies and biters in my garden in Greece.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

In my experience, you cannot get a non broody to hatch eggs period, no matter how many you leave in the nest. They either are or aren't broody.

I would not suggest trying to get a duck to raise turkeys... ducks quickly take their young to the water for swimming. While it may be fine for chickens to raise water fowl, it is not fine for water fowl to raise non water fowl. Drowning or chilling would be real dangers.

I suggest incubate your turkey eggs if you want them to hatch before they get too old. And IF someone goes broody before they hatch, consider adopting the poults to them.

I'm getting turkeys this year too!

Good luck and happy hatching!

 

[chickens really]

Definitely can't force Broodiness in Birds. A Chicken can raise turkeys though.
Incubator is a better choice.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC!

I have used many broody ducks to incubate and hatch peafowl, so you could do the same with turkey eggs, though you would need to remove the poults as soon as they hatch.

As said above, not much you can do to make them go broody.

Here is a good article on how Leggs Peafowl incubates their pea eggs:
http://www.leggspeafowl.com/incubation---hatching-peafowl-eggs.html