first time hatching turkeys....

[crazypoultrychx]

so I started my turkeys and since I am only getting one egg a day I started putting them in the bator one a day.....I have 2 bators going as I have a new one with an automatic turner and an old one a cousin gave me with no turner....it took me 4 days to get the old one to the temp it needed to be...(increase and decrease labels were faded off).....so today is day 24 so I put two eggs in the other bator.....is there anything else I should know.....I went to a chicken swap this weekend and a guy there said that turkeys were REALLY dumb when they hatch and that I needed to put shiny rocks in the waterer so they will be attracted to it....same with the food......do turkeys need medicated food to start like the say chickens need?? is there anything else that I need to know....I candled the eggs and they all look viable.....I am so eager to see me new babies!~!!! there are 15 eggs in there so this is going to go on for the next 15 or so days.....

 

[R2elk]

so I started my turkeys and since I am only getting one egg a day I started putting them in the bator one a day.....I have 2 bators going as I have a new one with an automatic turner and an old one a cousin gave me with no turner....it took me 4 days to get the old one to the temp it needed to be...(increase and decrease labels were faded off).....so today is day 24 so I put two eggs in the other bator.....is there anything else I should know.....I went to a chicken swap this weekend and a guy there said that turkeys were REALLY dumb when they hatch and that I needed to put shiny rocks in the waterer so they will be attracted to it....same with the food......do turkeys need medicated food to start like the say chickens need?? is there anything else that I need to know....I candled the eggs and they all look viable.....I am so eager to see me new babies!~!!! there are 15 eggs in there so this is going to go on for the next 15 or so days.....

Hi Crazypoultrychx,

It would have worked better if you had saved the eggs for a week or even 2 weeks before putting them in the incubator. Unless you also have a hatcher or another incubator set up as a hatcher you are going to have one egg needing to go into lockdown every day. The conditions that are right for lockdown can be detrimental to the eggs that are not yet ready for lockdown.

You other questions are best asked in the Turkey forum. All of your questions have been answered many times before in the Turkey forum including multiple times in the Turkeys for 2013 thread located here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/725829/turkeys-for-2013

Good luck

 

[crazypoultrychx]

thanks....and like I sd....new to this.....if I keep the eggs and build them up can I just put them in egg cartons and flip them once a day or how do I keep them>>>?

 

[crazypoultrychx]

and yes.....like i said earlier I have 2 incubators running.....one for lockdown and one for turning....

 

[R2elk]

thanks....and like I sd....new to this.....if I keep the eggs and build them up can I just put them in egg cartons and flip them once a day or how do I keep them>>>?

There is some very good advice in the following thread about storing eggs before putting them in the incubator.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/690585/how-do-you-store-fertile-eggs-prior-to-using-an-incubator