First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter

[Wisher1000]

Good Morning, Turkeys!


And Turkey Hatchers!

Today is the day to set chicken eggs
to act as tutors for your turkeys, or just because you want to hatch chickens for
Cinco de Mayo!
Today is also the first day to enter photos for our
Poultry Yoga Contest!​

Official Rules
1. Entries will be accepted April 14 through April 21 only. Post them to the thread and PM each to Wisher1000. Entries are limited to three photos per person.
2. The contest is open to anyone participating in the First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch. You do not have to be present to win and you do not have to be hatching. Lurking, posting, or laughing at us qualifies as participation.
3. Straight jacket is required. Notify ChooksChick of your size and color preference.

2. The prize is a hardback copy of "Extraordinary Chickens" by S. Green-Armytage. The winner will be determined by popular vote. Final decisions or tie breakers will be determined and the sole opinion of The Committee. The winner will be required to provide his/her mailing address to Wisher1000 and to post a picture of self in said straight jacket.
3. Participation and mileage may vary, void where prohibited. Many will enter, one will win. Paid employees of the First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch and their families are not eligible. Batteries not included
6. Caution: Receipt of this prize may (or may not, but probably will) increase or cause the desire to hatch every breed featured in the book. BYC, The First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch, The Poultry Yoga Contest, nor it's affiliates, coordinators, sponsors, or participants can be held liable or responsible in any way. Wisher (hereafter known as "Contest Master") and other contest coordinators are absolved of any responsibility now and in the future for any collateral damage. Collateral damage includes, but shall not be limited to: extra expenses for additional coops, extra expenses for additional chick/chicken feed, additional family members becoming hatch-a-holics, permanently disfigured noses from pressing against incubators or any other side effects not mentioned herein. If you, or a family member need help with your hatching addiction, please call either: 1-800-STOPMEE (if you want to quit) or 1-800-LUVCHIK (if you want to continue and meet other crazies). Oh, heck, just join us in this hatch-a-long and have fun!

​

 

[yinepu]

Would you share, again, you method of lockdown. Temp, humidity,etc.

My family has been hatching them out using the same parameters that Porters has been using.. and from what I was told.. we've been doing it that way for well over 100 years through all the generations

since I'm using the Reptipro here's what I had:
99.5 degrees (can go up to 100 with no problems) for the temp at shelf level (some people have issues with getting the correct temp at shelf level with a Reptipro.. I think they are over thinking it.. so I use temp at shelf level and it has never failed me)

during the winter i don't add any water since the bator is in our bathroom.. so stays humid enough in there for them.. during the summer I add water to bring the humidity up a bit (it gets insanely dry here)... 40 to 45% in the bator during incubation... you could probably go a bit drier for incubation without any problems.. though at hatch i always make sure the humidity is really up there

around day 24 to day 25 I candle and check for any internal pips.. then take them out of the turner or quit turning (depending on if I was hand turning or not)

lower the temp down to 98 - 98.5 and then raise the humidity up to 80% or higher (personally I think this is the key to having poults hatch without any getting too weak or stuck..)


these poults have been pipping and zipping with no problems at all... no stuck or sticky chicks.. and no wore out chicks that couldn't hatch on their own
now we're just waiting on the late hatchers (well.. they were due TODAY.. so they aren't really late... lol)

 

[Wisher1000]

Yeah.....we pretty much have no rules, unless of course, you count the rules for the Poultry Yoga Contest. Check those out on Post #624.

Speaking of The Poultry Yoga Contest......

Get your pics of your birds in their yoga poses and enter by the end of the day on Saturday! I only have one pic entered so far and the prize awaits. I was looking through the book yesterday and found this bit of information.

​

"Chicken" is the plural form of "chick" just as "oxen" is the plural form of "ox" but it has come to be used as the singular word for fowl and an 's' is now added to make it plural. (I thought that was interesting.)

Wouldn't you love to win this book?!

 

[Arielle]

I found this site while lurking. A.T. Hagen posted it originally, and it looks like a superb site.

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs32.htm

 

[debs_flock]

Had my Easter Hatch babies out in the yard today for a fun game of "Worm Keep Away". That game is funner than football I tell ya!

I watched a round of "Worm Keep Away" today too! It was great fun for me and the 25 chicks that were chasing the possessor of the worm. It went on for nearly ten minutes, I don't think the worm was enjoying the game or the finale.

Deb

 

[yinepu]

Wisher so excited for you!!!!!

Wednesday/Thursday should be lockdown for all people that set turkey eggs on Easter and the same day for people who set chicken eggs a week later. I am planning on going to lockdown on Wednesday evening since I had one of my turkeys hatch on a Thursday last year for the Easter hatch. Remember your checklist of things to have handy. Brooder ready, high protien food, very shallow water dish and any "emergency items" you like to have on hand. My list of "emergency items" includes liquid baby vitamins (no iron), provadone iodine, lots of paper towels, lots of q-tips, tweezers, band-aids and I have added baby parrot food to my list this year. Now that we are getting close you probably want to check that you have all the things you like to have handy now.

for those who don't have access to baby parrot food.... you can grind up some regular starter (game bird, turkey or chick depending on the type of bird) in a coffee grinder.. it will work the same way as the baby parrot food .. just add some water and use a syringe to feed.. you can also add the extra vitamins right into the mix

 

[yinepu]

This is my understanding too. And I remember, not sure of source now, that because of the higher humidity, 80%+, the temps need to drop more. ANyone one know?

Yinepu, do you follow this? I seem to remember you had a different method?

when I raise the humidity I drop the temps by a 1 to 1.5 degrees.. seems to me the reasoning behind it is that at warmer temps the air can hold more moisture.. but it also starts to restrict the amount of oxygen that it can hold.. (which is another reason why the plugs and vents on a bator need to be OPEN at lockdown) so dropping the temps allows more oxygen

to break it all down
humid air = less oxygen
hot air = less oxygen
hatching chicks need more oxygen
hatching chicks need more humidity
hatching chicks in hot humid air = chance of carbon dioxide poisoning

so by dropping the temp a smidge allows for more oxygen for the chicks.. however vents being open allows for better air exchange than them being blocked

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THAT IS TURKEY SIZE !!

Advice please...

I am borrowing a brinsea octagon 20 eco, it has 21 eggs in it... so far 6 poults have hatched and it's starting to look crowded, when is it safe to move them to the brooder? This is my first time using it & only second time incubating, last time i used a homemade one and it wasn't nearly this exciting

There were 4 in it when I went outside and 6 when I came back, they're like popcorn

Umm, with CHICKENS, as soon as the chick is fluffed up and dry, I try to take them out of the incubator. I say "try" because if there are any pipped or zipping eggs, I don't open the incubator. Chicks can stay in it as long as 48 hours or so.

With that said, I understand the concern about space inside the thing as more and more hatch. If there are THAT many piling up inside, I close my eyes, do a very quick little incantation, then snatch out the fluffiest and driest chicks as quickly as I can.

So I am waiting for a turkey expert to respond. My turkey eggs are in two MiniAdvance EX incubators, with even less room inside than the Eco models!.

x2 I have a concern about enough oxygen. THeir need for oxygen increases when they hatch and run around. I also pull fluffed chicks out. If it's the closest, I don't worrry if it is not fluffed as the brooder is 95-100 for new chicks.

I recently had to rescue a chick. I missed that the sponges had run dry, bad me, and the chick did not progress after 24 hours, so I opened it enough to make the cap and let it push it's wasy out from there. I do think that pushing with their feet to hatch is important to their development and ability to walk well.

 

[Arielle]

I have two out and two pipped. I had to help the second one a little because it had gotten stuck. Now I understand the problems with the fan drying out the chick too quickly if they rest too long after zipping. I snuck it out got the stuck shell off it, wiped it down with a warm moist paper towel and popped it back into the bator to dry with it's blue buddy. I have to say, I adore the blue color. Of course you couldn't tell that from the blue chickens I have, blue merle dogs and the blue roan horse could you? Chores are done now gotta get that homework done. UGH I want to watch turkey TV not do homework.

Oh I almost forgot. Had a bit of excitement today. I forgot to put the extra safety latch on one of the horse's gates today. Miss "kick the stalls and get into trouble" got the gate open. I realized this when I heard the dogs going bonkers. I went outside to figure out what was going on and three of my horses are happily munching the neighbor's backyard. Some days that youngster goes too far.

I have one of those. SHe can open almost any gate.

Quote: Once they are hatched humidity is no longer an issue.

Balancing oxygen and humidity--oxygen wins in my book. I will help a stuck chick if necessary. If gotten pretty good at it!!

 

[yinepu]

None of them really look 'fluffed' up but there are 9 in there now (they've all hatched in the last 6 or so hours) I opened it and removed 9 of the broken eggs to make a little more space, I also added a wet cloth to get humidity back up... should I open the vent more to give them more oxygen or does that make it lose too much humidity? I'm trying to get my homemade hatcher heated up so I can transfer them to that so I can keep the humidity up initially for them, it didn't perform very well on it's initial hatching test so I didn't want to use it for this hatch but I didn't even think about using it as a short term brooder... hopefully it heats up quickly

I'm worried about the other eggs getting disoriented from all the chaos in there

chicks don't normally "fluff up" a lot when the humidity is really high.. since the brooders are warm I pull freshly hatched chicks all the time from a bator..

the vent should always be OPEN during hatch.. otherwise the chicks can be weakened or even die from carbon dioxide poisoning