Hatching Narragansett Turkeys - HELP??

[hatchaholic]

I have been trying and trying and trying to successfully hatch my narri eggs. I've had 1 out of about 30 hatch. From what I've read, I'm doing everything by the book...Many of them make it to the very last day(s), but never make it out of the shell. I've cracked the shells and looked at them and they appear to be formed perfectly. This is the first year my hens have laid, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.... Are they just more difficult to hatch than chicken eggs? I don't have any problems with chicken eggs.....

Any suggestions??

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Turkey eggs can and are more tempermental then a chicken egg. You can put a chicken egg thru hell and back and still get a good hatch rate from them do the same with other poultry eggs and you get nothing or very poor hatch rates.

Here is how we do it ....

99.5-100 deg incubator temps
40% humidity
25 days

Hatching...

Stop turning egg on day 25 and lay on their sides
drop temps down 1/2 deg from incubating temps
raise humidity to 60-70%
never open the lid/door for the last 4 days after the 4th day and the poults are dry you can take them out.


Sounds like to me you don't have the humidity high enough for them to break out of their shells, this helps soften the shells hard surface.

What are you feeding the adult birds ?? maybe too high of calcium in their feed and the shells are too strong ?? Are the adults good and healthy ?? non healthy birds make for poor weak poults

There is so many different things that can and do go wrong in hatching turkey eggs it takes alot of time and work to pin point it to one thing and alot of times it is a few different things that are happing that combined make for bad results.

 

[MandyH]

Yeah, what Harp said. The humidity is VERY crucial to hatching poults. I run mine around 77-78%. I have a sportsman hatcher and that works great for me.

 

[hatchaholic]

Yeah, I've been keeping the humidity high, so I don't think that is the problem. And, the adults are very healthy. I am thinking it may be the food. The shells are very hard...

I only have 7 turkeys and they are in with 100+ chickens, so they eat the chickens' food. Would that be the problem?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Yeah, I've been keeping the humidity high, so I don't think that is the problem.

During the incubation period or the hatching period ?? What is your humidity during the inc period and the hatching period ??

I am thinking it may be the food. The shells are very hard...

What are you feeding them ?? What is the calcium % in the feed ?? what protien is the feed ??​

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

How are you reading the RH% ? and is it accurate?

What type of incubator are you using?


The RH% should be in a range but it doesn't have to be spot on - I have never seen a poultry hen with an installed RH sensor, or a temp sensor for that matter. Ours for a GQF sportman runs about 40 to 50 % during the incubation and 60 -ish during hatching. However. we do staggered hatches in ours and use it as a hatcher as well, so every week or every other week the RH goes to the hatching level. That takes out the spot on RH%.

Fill us in on the incubator and how you are running it. Since you can hatch the chicken eggs the incubator shouldn't really be a factor but... We use the same settings. There is no reason to drop the temp when the eggs stop turning, 1/2 a degree doesn't really matter at the end and it's very hard to do at the same time you are rasing the RH%. lowering the temps is what is written in hatching manuals and doesn't really work in the incubator or under a hen for that matter. Most of the other BYC's that hatch turkey eggs will confirm this.

Are they pipping the shell? or not pipping? The RH at the end has nothing to do with with "soften the shells hard surface" the poult pips from the inside out and it's very wet inside the egg shell. It's as hard and solid as it's going to be once the egg is layed - As the egg develops it "draws down" and forms the air cell at the top of the shell, this is where the poult breaks into first and pips from there. If the poult can't pip and dies at the end or can't pip into the air cell your rh is to high. If it's to dry it will pip into the air cell but it won't be able to turn in the shell so that's as far as it will go.

I'm thinking your RH is to high from the beginning. and they aren't drawing down enough.

Steve in NC

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

There is no reason to drop the temp when the eggs stop turning, 1/2 a degree doesn't really matter at the end and it's very hard to do at the same time you are rasing the RH%. lowering the temps is what is written in hatching manuals and doesn't really work in the incubator or under a hen for that matter. Most of the other BYC's that hatch turkey eggs will confirm this.

The RH at the end has nothing to do with with "soften the shells hard surface" the poult pips from the inside out and it's very wet inside the egg shell.

Well Steve every one I know that hatches out turkeys or any eggs decreases the temp ???

Also the humidity high does soften the shell from the outside in. I don't know why you would think other wise ??

What would the high humidity do then ??

Lowering the temp and rising the humidity is very easy to do, in a reliable bator. Ours is always set to the perfect temps as we use separate 1550 hatcher from our 3 1500 bators. Works alot better to have a separate hatcher then using all in one ways, as you will not have the problems you would in an all in one staggered system.

Years back when we only had one cabinet we used our old Styrofoam bators as hatchers to get that right climate to hatch them successful and got a lot better results then we did before doing it all in the same bator on our staggered hatches.

This is even off of Kevin Porter's site on how to hatch eggs.......

You will now need to decrease your temp. down to 98.5 degrees and also increase the humidity by adding water, and you want the humidity to be at least 80% and if you can get it higher it will make an easier hatch for the poults as it will help to soften the shell.​

 

[hatchaholic]

Steve,

They are piping the air cell, but not the shell. My humidity is between 60 and 70 during the last 4 days. I have used 2 hygrometers and both read close to the same. So, is the humidity still too low during hatching?

I don't think it is a problem with the humidity being too high during the incubation. The air cell is drawing down...

Thanks.



Quote:

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

sounds like a bacteria problem that has gotten on the inside of the shell but didn't penetrate the inner membranes,a s they pip the air sac they get hit with the bacteria. It also can be the poults are just too weak to make the initial pip and they run out of air before they can pip the shell ?

 

[walkswithdog]

I've been following Steve's advice through four hatches of poults and most or all of them make it. I run it around 40% until hatch and up to 60 at hatch. I don't adjust the temps. I get 80-100% hatches on my own eggs. Two batches in a GQF, at a friend's house were done the same way at the same time as chickens yielded 80% on shipped eggs.

Perhaps I'd get 100% all the time if I tinkered but I'm comfortable with the result I'm getting.

My only total failure was shipped turkey eggs that never went.

So like any question here, multiple choice answers, LOL.