Feeling down. Set 40 turkey eggs, 5 hatched

[whenchickensdream]

I am really feeling down although very happy to have at least 5 cute little Blue Slate poults. I had candled at 10 days and removed 10 eggs that were clear or had died. The rest were doing so well. When I cracked them open today they had stopped developing probably around day 20 or so. I keep trying to think what would have happened to all 25 and yet have 5 (thank goodness) very healthy and vigorous poults. Any ideas? The temperature was constant as I checked it, of course, every time I turned the eggs.

Last time I put in 24 eggs and we had 13 hatch. I don't expect to have a perfect hatch but did expect a little better than this. Some eggs I washed and most I did not. It didn't seem to matter.

Thank you for listening to me moan and groan. You are always so great at listening and understanding. Please be kind as I am being hard enough on myself trying to figure out what I did wrong.

 

[Dogfish]

Heat spike? Were the eggs that dies near the turner motor? It puts off some heat. More than you would expect.

 

[kuntrygirl]

So sorry to hear what happened.

Mother nature has a way of controlling the universe and what happens. You didn't have any control over what happened. This could have happened to any one of us on this forum. Sorry that it happened to you. YOU didn't do anything wrong.

Just look on the bright side, you were able to get 5 cuties.

I have never used an incubator before in my life, so I couldn't even begin to explain what happened. Sorry.

Good luck in that they all grow up to be healthy turkeys.

Keep us posted with pics.

 

[NYRIR]

So sorry.I know how hard it is to put so much effort into hatching and even have one fertile egg not hatch.I myself hand turn...and you get so excited toward the end.

Storey's Guide to Raising Turkeys has a trouble shooting section on incubation..it says..
Problem : Poults fully formed but dead without pipping;may have considerable amounts of unabsorbed yolk- low average humidity in bator,humidity too low or high at time of transfer to hatcher
temperature, ventilation or improper turning
chilled eggs
disease or flock in poor condition
Problem: Many dead germinating chicks- Faulty incubator temperature
Lack of ventilation
Improper turning
Low-vitamin rations

Hope this helps you figure out what went wrong...
Sorry it didn't go well...but your 5 BS poults are adorable

 

[Arielle]

So sorry about the poor hatching percent.

Many good points to consider; incubating by humans is very complicated it seems. I've not incubated any thing YET. I keep reading and learning. One aspect that has my attention is the nutrition level of the hen. I've been reading about increasing the nutrition of moms, both horse and hen seem to benefit from a higher plane of nutrition during baby production time. I just haven't found what the specifics are for hens. Probably like horses: adequate protein and vitamins and minerals supplemented. Just a thought.



edited to add: Verified the increase in quality of feed: 18 % protein in a breeder pellet.

 

[whenchickensdream]

Thank you all - you make me feel so much better. The first hatch where we gathered all the eggs from the very first one laid did so much better. Yes, you are right, I need to focus on the little guys upstairs one who is already strutting his stuff (for a few seconds at a time anyway).

 

[java girl 2]

I only got 7 poults out of 27 eggs and 1 died

 

[whenchickensdream]

So sorry. I got up this morning and was watching the 5 run amuk and thought how cute they were. I will try again in a few days.

 

[greeneggsandham]

Don't feel bad. I had to toss 18 that had started to develop, but we lost power for several hours and when it did come back on my bator had a heat spike that I didn't catch right away. When I checked them there was a distinct order so I smelled everyone and ended up with two turkey and 8 chickens eggs that seemed to not be affected. This morning I woke up to one blue slate and one ameracana and two more pipped.

Enjoy your new babies.

 

[ColbyNTX]

You put in 40 eggs, are these all from your birds? What is the age of your flock and what is your tomn ratio? How did you store your eggs before hatching and how many days. What kind of incubator are you using? What kind of incubator are you running, table top or cabinet? Forced air or still? Humidity and temp at incubation and lock down? Give a bit more info and maybe we can help to see what went wrong. The 5 poults you got look good.