First egg from 7 month Narragansett hen. Need guidance.

[kmb221]

Went out to take care of turkeys this AM and there was an egg. What is the candling process? I brought the egg inside. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kmb221]

Do I need to incubate now?

 

[frank53061]

Keeping the eggs in a 60 to 70 degree temp dont put them in the fridge you should be collecting as meany as you want to incubate at this temp eggs are good for 15 to 20 days but the longer you keep them the less chance of hatching the first few eggs may not be fertile and are less likely to hatch.
Have you seen the Turkeys Toms and Hens doing the Dirty dance yet if not then there is even a smaller chance of the eggs being fertile.
you may want to just eat the first batch and what till you are pretty sure that the Turkeys are passing around the Love.
Have you Incubated eggs before if you have you know you want to set all the eggs in the Incubator at one time so you know what the hatching date will be 28 days after you set them in the Incubator or there about.

Good Luck.

 

[kmb221]

Thanks. I have seen them doing the dirty dance. I have not incubated before, but a friend has incubated chicken eggs. I wondering when to candle to see if the egg is fertile.

 

[Arielle]

I find these eggs are slower to develop so wait longer than a chicken egg to candle looking for an embryo as you are new to candling. WIth experience you will be able to determine if viable at an earlier time.


In general, the best results for hatching are eggs less than 14days; this varies, and if you need to set all at one time just know the older the egg the less likely to hatch. I tend to set eggs about every 7-10 days. Longer is ok too, hatching % just decreases a bit; but all the poults will arrive at the same time.

Try reading in the chicken hatching section; all the turkey stuff is there too.

 

[Debbi]

I have found with chicken eggs, that by day 8 you can really start to see things growing. Again, just chicken eggs now, so turkey eggs may be different, I keep mine in a temp as close to 55-60* as possible. Put them in an egg carton or egg tray, pointy end down, and turn them at least 3 times per day, while waiting to get some more eggs. You really only need to tip the carton or tray by propping it up on one side, then switching to the other side for the turning. I use a chunk of a 4x4" piece of wood to do this; or if you have an automatic egg turner, use that. The fresher the eggs, the better your chances of a good hatch. That said, I have hatched eggs that were 18 days old, one that was darn near frozen solid when I brought it in, and even some that had been in the refridgerator just for kicks! Mind you, these were chicken eggs, so I can't say yet if turkey eggs are that forgiving or not. I only candle my eggs twice, once at 8 days, and again before lockdown, (chicken lockdown is day 18, so I assume lockdown for turkey is day 25?). When incubating, keep watch for any weeping eggs and any stinkers. Remove them from the incubator at once! Good luck to you. I can't wait for spring now when I get my first poults, and then have to wait for my first eggs! It will be yet another adventure for sure!

 

[Bantam Chase]

Hope you've figured out what you're going to do with the eggs... the chicken section has a ton of great info on hatching, I built a hatcher from their guidelines and had a lot of success with chickens. I'll be in the same boat as you in the spring with the turkeys!

Totally OT - I live just south of York and want to add a second Nag hen, I'd be interested in purchasing one from you in the spring if you have any to spare! (or some hatching eggs, I'll grow 'um myself!) PM me and stay in touch!

 

[Celie]

I agree with all this good hatching advise I'm hearing, the only thing I do different is put them into my incubator ASAP for the best possible hatch rate and mark the expected "due to hatch"date on the top of every egg and fill the incubator as I go along keeping all the eggs in hatching order by date. I candle at 10 days and on day 25. May not be the best approach but it's just the way I have done it in the past. Maybe I should read up more on hatching too. My White Holland toms are dancing all over the place, backwards, sideways, pretty good dancers too! My 2 hens I have held over from last year are presenting themselves, but the younger girls don't seem too interested, tho. Just in eating when they see me in the feed-mobile golf cart! LOL I haven't seen them "spreading any love around, but they may when I'm not looking?

 

[zekii]

You can keep the eggs in a cool/humid place 40-50F 50-70% Humidity for about 14 days before you should gradually warm them up and start the
incubation procees. This time of year the eggs tend to be not as fertile versus from February onward. But if you get enough of eggs it would be worth a try to incubate them. After 7 to 10 days in the Bator you can candle the eggs, and if they are fertile you will easily see developement...veins etc.
Cheers,
Zekii

 

[Arielle]

My White Holland toms are dancing all over the place, backwards, sideways, pretty good dancers too! My 2 hens I have held over from last year are presenting themselves, but the younger girls don't seem too interested, tho. Just in eating when they see me in the feed-mobile golf cart! LOL I haven't seen them "spreading any love around, but they may when I'm not looking?

Gotta love those determined toms.