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

[HappyAcresKY]

I get 90 to 100%... but that's on home grown eggs..

last year I bought some shipped turkeys eggs..
first shipment was in really bad shape (lots of cracked eggs.. loose air cells).. out of 11 eggs received only 2 of those hatched.. most were scrambled in transit (18% hatch rate)

second shipment was 19 eggs.. 14 hatched (74% hatch rate)


you will find that some people have really low hatch rates because they incubate with too high of humidity (and too low at hatch).. so you'll have to take that into consideration since it's a very common error and will really bring down the average hatch rate

I had really good hatches with home grown eggs but not so much with purchased eggs, they weren't shipped, I drove about 1 1/2 hours to pick them up but had really bad results. Does any type of transportation decrease viability?

 

[yinepu]

I had really good hatches with home grown eggs but not so much with purchased eggs, they weren't shipped, I drove about 1 1/2 hours to pick them up but had really bad results. Does any type of transportation decrease viability?

it depends on how much vibration they have to endure.. the more vibrations and bumps.. being shaken and so on the more they will be damaged

other things that may have affected the hatch rate would have been fertility and nutrition of the parent stock

so even if you took the quickest route and had very little vibration.. if the fertility was low or if the parents weren't fed properly the eggs would have had lower viability

what is the best humidity for incubating? and hatching? (turkeys) This is my rookie year

I dry incubate so long as the house humidity is around 50% or higher.. so no adding water unless the bator humidity drops down into the 20% range

then when the first egg has an internal pip I raise the humidity up to 80% or so

if you monitor the air cells you can tell if they need more or less humidity during incubation.. too high of humidity will make the membrane too tough to break through and the poults won't be able to turn and pip since they would more than likely be bloated or have no room to turn

high humidity at hatch is needed to help soften the shells

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I spent my entire childhood barefoot! Even lost my shoes on the way home from school in the middle of a snowy winter day in Maine. With the addition of horses and dogs I now wear shoes outside. Inside I'm barefoot. LOL

Quote: I was hoping to hear from you!! I had an interesting conversation via phone this morning with a woman looking for SQ BR turkeys. We had a lovey chat for some 20 minutes--It's amazing how birds can bring people together--we talked about hatch rates but I didn't feel I had hatched enough to know what it should be. ANd I was very curious, too. ANd just for the record, I don't have SQ turkeys, just really lovely temperaments on my BR.

 

[dsqard]

Arielle I think hatch rate depends on a lot. Last year I received 6 BR eggs from Denny and all six hatched. This year I had 15 shipped eggs and 12 "home grown" eggs out of which I got 6 poults. Only two of those were from my eggs. Since the poorer hatch rate was on my eggs I am thinking I did something wrong during incubation. I have seven more of my eggs in the bator now to see if what I think went wrong was the issue. I am probably going to candle tomorrow to see if I have anything going in these. I am thinking it is a combination of incubator/fertility issues that went wrong with the last batch.

 

[dinahmoe]

well,i got 2 palm babies.not too bad since i started with 6 shipped eggs and this was my first time with turkeys.i think if i do it again that i will let a natural incubator do it tho.
one of them is small and has a swollen eye.hatched with it swollen.
here they are


here is the one with the swollen eye.it has gone down a little

update on the turkeys

the little one didn't make it.i tried the dropper but it just wouldn't ever eat.

the other one is a doll.it is so calm and loves to be carried around(is that strange?)
it is in with chicks now and has learned to eat and drink but i just hatched guineas so i may put it in with them so the turkey can be on game starter.i may try and find it a friend but so far i am happy with one.
he/she is so sweet.

 

[Arielle]

Arielle I think hatch rate depends on a lot. Last year I received 6 BR eggs from Denny and all six hatched. This year I had 15 shipped eggs and 12 "home grown" eggs out of which I got 6 poults. Only two of those were from my eggs. Since the poorer hatch rate was on my eggs I am thinking I did something wrong during incubation. I have seven more of my eggs in the bator now to see if what I think went wrong was the issue. I am probably going to candle tomorrow to see if I have anything going in these. I am thinking it is a combination of incubator/fertility issues that went wrong with the last batch.

You are right that hatch rates can vary for so many different reasons. I was thinking more in the vain of a commercial operation and the expectations under perfect operating conditions. Cinco de Mayo netted: 0/6 shipped and 0/2 my own; by yesterday I had 5/6 of my own hatch.

My girls are segregated and only with the old tom now and no other toms to bother them. I so think less fighting and agitation is better for fertility IMHO,

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Very sweet!

 

[gryeyes]

I lost another poult today. There have been escapees from the brooder and I've awakened to hear soft, interested hooting from other rooms in the house. Nobody bothered any of 'em. As a result, I developed a false sense of security.

Somebody in the house, either Zorro or Lizbeth, "played" with an escapee poult while I was outside. (Dooley walks the other way from chickens, ducks and geese, tail tucked up safely between his short legs.) The poult had a torn abdomen with exposed intestines and other icky things...but still alive when I found it right next to the brooder bin. A really horrific injury. Zorro looked the most guilty.

I steeled myself and made the poult as comfortable as I could, then quickly cut off its head with kitchen sheers.

At least I know I can do it if I need to cull a chick someday.

Down to two poults, one I hatched and one from the feed store. The second feed store poult is the one that's gone.

 

[debs_flock]

I still can't get quotes to work (for about the last week), but that closeup is the cutest darn thing!!!

Deb

 

[dsqard]

I still can't get quotes to work (for about the last week), but that closeup is the cutest darn thing!!!

Deb

Deb I had the same problem the other day. To fix it I clicked on the Compatibility View. It is the "torn piece of paper" looking icon next to the refresh on the top of the page.