First time hatching turkeys!

[TheBirdLady2001]

Yes this is the dry hatch method.

I have been doing it about 4 years. It is the method I found worked best for me. It was a lot of trial and error.

Thank you - I will definitely try this and a normal hatch, to see what works best for me

 

[Rstine]

My hen has just started laying (2 eggs so far). We are anxious to get some in the incubator. Should we wait for a little while or are the early eggs as good as later ones?

 

[TheBirdLady2001]

My hen has just started laying (2 eggs so far). We are anxious to get some in the incubator. Should we wait for a little while or are the early eggs as good as later ones?

Maybe try cracking an egg open to see if it’s fertile. You might not get a very good hatch rate, because when she lays the eggs they will be out in the cold ( it also depends on how cold it is where you are ) until you can collect them. But it couldn’t hurt to try

 

[Coopher]

I let my hen hatch her own. The first time my hen laid 12 eggs. One broke but the balance of them (11 eggs) all hatched by her. No incubator. It was quite amazing. She was a first time mother with no mother training her on what to do. It was all instinct. Her second clutch was not as successful, but 5 of 11 hatched in early summer the same year.

I tried twice to hatch from an incubator. First time 7 eggs and one hatched. Second time 8 eggs and one hatched. Almost 3, but 2 just couldn't make it all the way out of the shell. We broke down and bought 5 poults. Mated one that we hatched with one we bought. And the rest is history. Looking forward to this years hatch.

Of course, if you are in the big business of raising turkeys, learning how to incubate might be the way to go.

Jim