Hatching Turkeys in Brinsea Eco?

[Jocasta]

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Any updates? How are things going? I'm going to do the same thing for lockdown - fill both channels, put in a damp washcloth, and remove the dividers.

Stacykins, how is your hatch going?

keesmom, how long did it take all your poults to hatch, start to finish?

I hope some of you post poult pictures! I need something to oogle over while I (impatiently) wait for my babies to hatch. For the record, I appear to have 11 poults (out of 13 eggs originally set) and 4 chicks (out of 5 eggs originally set). The poults were from a local breeder, and the chicks were from my chickens. I'm so nervous about all the things that can go wrong!

The BESTEST update of all!!! 11 turkeys made it to lock down and 11 turkeys hatched!!! They are totally awesome and I'm absolutely loving how friendly they are. When I've hatched chicks in the past, they've always been so scitty and scared whereas these guys fight to be picked up!!! It's awesome and I'm loving it!!! Fingers crossed it continues this good until harvest (difficult to think of that right now!). So cool

One thing I wasn't prepared for was how long it took between that first pip and the first zip. It was 26 hours for the first egg that pipped to actually zip. I was getting very impatient!!!

 

[Stacykins]

Six out of nine turkeys hatched out today. The other three have not pipped, but I felt movement in one when I checked it as I was taking poults out of the incubator.

 

[serinat]

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Congrats! That's awesome! That gives me hope, as I have 11 ready to go into lockdown, too. When did they actually hatch? I know you said they were rocking before lockdown. Thanks for the info on the length of time from pip to zip, too. I'll try not to be impatient (haha).

Stacykins, your turkeys are ADORABLE! Thanks for the pictures. What breed are they? Did the rest ever hatch?

My eggs go into lockdown TONIGHT. I am so, so excited. This is kind of like being excited to have a baby, only more lighthearted, less worry, and less pain for me.

I'm going to do the fill-both-trenches-and-lay-in-a-washcloth thing, like Jocasta, and hope for the best.

 

[serinat]

Oh, and any tips for candling the turkeys? What will it look like if I candle the airspace?

 

[Jocasta]

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The air cell should be quite large and the rest of the egg should be very dark. If you see something solid in the air cell, this means they've pipped internally. If you can see light through the body of the egg, it's likely quit - use your judgement. I had to toss one before lockdown but it looked VERY different from the others. I cracked it and was relieved to see that there was in fact a dead poult in there and I hadn't killed it!

And Stacykins, those blue turkeys are absolutely gorgeous!!!

 

[Stacykins]

Thanks Jocasta! I am loving them

Only two eggs out of nine did not hatch, so I have seven little poults! I checked the eggs before tossing them with the float test, no life, though when I did an eggtopsy, they were fully developed, just dead in shell. Unfortunate, but I am glad to have seven healthy ones.

When I candled, I saw the same inside a turkey egg as I've seen inside a chicken egg. However, since turkey eggs mature slower, you won't see as much on earlier on in the incubation. By day 10 you can definitely see veins and development though!

 

[serinat]

We're in lockdown! Now I just have to wait...I didn't see any rocking or hear peeping, but I presume it's too early.

Did you have to re-fill your humidity troughs during lockdown, either of you? If so, how?

 

[Stacykins]

I never have had to, but if I need to open up the incubator to remove dried iddys and shells to make room, beforehand I fill a measuring cup with some hot water from the tap. I quickly pluck them and their shells put, then pour some of that hot water into the troughs and close up quickly. It provides a quick boost of humidity to return it to lockdown levels. The plastic fogs up for a bit, but slowly dissipates. I have opened it while there are active pips, but it was either that or dried chicks were cramped and playing soccer with unhatched eggs.

 

[Jocasta]

I did have to but they started pipping about 8hrs after lockdown were hatching with 24hrs of lockdown as they were all between 1-2days early. If I did need to add water, I would have opened the vent hole all the way and poked a straw in there and pushed it as far down as possible and then I would have syringed water through the straw.

As for removing the ones that are hatched, I wasn't planning on it - everyone said that them trampling all over the eggs yet to hatch wasn't a problem and to just leave them. I was happy to do that until about four of them started pecking at another and actually drew blood. I figured it was down to overcrowding (we had 9 at this point) so I took the incubator into the kitchen, ran the hot tap until it was all nice and steamy and then opened the lid as quick as I could. It took me three stages to remove all nine. They left the lil guy alone once they were in the brooder, and the two that were pipped hatched fine

 

[serinat]

I'm on my 27th day now, and no pips or rocking or anything. The suspense is killing me. I saw one of the eggs rock twice last night, about five minutes apart, but in all of my stops to stare at the bator today, no rocking. I can't hear peeps, either. Trying not to obsess...