Hatching wild turkeys, coexisting with chickens

[razorbackmom]

Hello!
I currently own 14 full grown hens and one rooster. About a week and a half ago I started incubating chicken eggs and two turkey eggs. I have had them in a still air incubator (no egg turner) for about 12 days and after candling them yesterday they look to be progressing like they should. HOW EXCITING! .

My first dilemma is realizing turkeys incubate for longer than chickens. So my chickens will be hatching about a week before my turkeys. Will the humidity change that will take place right before chicks hatching affect my turkey eggs? Also how should I go about turning the turkey eggs while the chickens are hatching? I shouldn't open the incubator during that fragile time of hatching and the first day after right?? Also do you think the baby chicks will damage the turkey eggs?

After the turkeys hatch I hope to place them in the brooder with one or two baby chicks. And then my next concern is introducing them to my grown chickens. Anyone have any experience with doing this? My chickens are part time free range but are locked up in the pen and large coop at night. I am concerned about the rooster or big chickens killing the turkey in the first few days they are together.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[R2elk]

Hello!
I currently own 14 full grown hens and one rooster. A about a week and a half ago a visitor at the park I work at stumbled across some wild turkey eggs.. Instead of leaving them alone they "rescued" them and brought them to my office. I have wanted a turkey for long time so i thought it would be worth a shot to try and hatch them. I have had them in a still air incubator (no egg turner) for about 12 days and after candling them yesterday they look to be progressing like they should. HOW EXCITING! This is my first time ever incubating anything and I placed several fertilized chicken eggs in the incubator with the two turkeys just for fun.

My first dilemma is realizing turkeys incubate for longer than chickens. So my chickens will be hatching about a week before my turkeys. Will the humidity change that will take place right before chicks hatching affect my turkey eggs? Also how should I go about turning the turkey eggs while the chickens are hatching? I shouldn't open the incubator during that fragile time of hatching and the first day after right?? Also do you think the baby chicks will damage the turkey eggs?

After the turkeys hatch I hope to place them in the brooder with one or two baby chicks. And then my next concern is introducing them to my grown chickens. Anyone have any experience with doing this? My chickens are part time free range but are locked up in the pen and large coop at night. I am concerned about the rooster or big chickens killing the turkey in the first few days they are together.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

My recommendation is for you to turn the wild turkey eggs over to your local game warden. As far as I can tell from reading the Arkansas regulations is that it is illegal to possess wild turkeys in Arkansas. Most states require a permit to have wild turkeys.

Arkansas' game laws and section 9 appears to deal with having wild animals.

http://www.agfc.com/enforcement/documents/agfc_code_of_regulations.pdf

 

[razorbackmom]

Feel free to assume the eggs have been determined to not be from a "wild" turkey.

 

[usmcplumber]

My turkeys where picked on for a bit but they grow fast and now they think they are chickens! I waited till they where just as big as my chickens.

 

[razorbackmom]

^ They are just so cool!

 

[hawsecav19d]

It will really depend how far along the turkey eggs where when they was rescued you may have them hatch several days early/late to the chickens that you know what day they was started on.

 

[ameracaunagirl]

From my experience, while one set of eggs are hatching, it wouldn't hurt to delay turning the others for a day. I had chicken eggs in with my quail and I left the quail in the incubator for about 5 hours then removed them quickly and popped them in the brooder. You won't have to worry about losing too much humidity as long as the other set of eggs isn't ready to hatch shortly after. In the small chance that the turkey eggs are older and they happen to pip at the same time, it would be safe to leave them all in the incubator for a period of time (some recommend 2-3 hrs min. and others 24-48hrs. min.) so that you don't end up with any shrink wrapped chicks. As far as raising turks and chicks together, I currently have 2 week old chicks and 1 week old turks in the same brooder. They love each other and I introduced the turks at 1 day old.

 

[ameracaunagirl]

Plus turkeys aren't as smart a chickens (although they aren't as dumb as one is lead to believe) so the chickens sort of teach the turkeys what to do.

 

[razorbackmom]

^ That is great information, thanks!

 

[razorbackmom]

The turkeys had been unincubated for several days before they came to me and when candled were just yolk. I assumed that the incubation period starts the day I put them incubation, so say they were laid 10 days before incubation. Does that affect incubation time?