Help!!!! i'm holdin a wild turkey egg to keep it warm what do i do?

[suzannaski]

i'm typing 1 handed here-
was haying, hit a turkey nest, only 1 egg survived, mum went through hayer. neighbor has broody hen, the closest we've got to an incubator. will it work?

 

[CrazyWestTexasFarmGirl]

Id say broody is better than nothing if you dont have an incubator.

 

[chicmom]

Aww poor turkey....it's worth a try! But then if the turkey hatches, take it right away and raise it yourself because turkeys can catch a disease from chickens call black head, which will kill them.

 

[suzannaski]

I have hens too tho, but no broody ones. maybe keep it separate?

 

[thecityman]

you'll probably see some of my posts on here....but just wanted to give you a little encouragement.....the exact same thing happened to me about a month ago...6 eggs survived and I put them in an incubator...ALL 6 are now hatched, 4 days old, and doing great! (well, one has some birth defects but all else is well). So it can be done. I bought my incubator at Tractor supply for $45 and have almost no experience.

btw....you'll probably get a lot of debate about whether you should have even taken the wild turkey egg and tried to save it (since its technically illegal to possess wild animals) but I felt like I suspect you did....better to give them a CHANCE at life than to let them just lay there, especially since it wasn't "nature" that caused demise of nest and hen.

Good luck.

 

[suzannaski]

That's encouraging news. (can you tell I have two free hands now?) The egg is now under the broody hen. We are already having a debate about what's going to happen next. I've already had one person tell me to call the wildlife folks.
If it hatches, then what? It's a bit too big for the hen house.
I guess we'll know in a week or two. I went back to the murder scene, and checked the broken eggs to determine what stage the embryo is at. That was awful. Because it's 90+ degrees outside, one still had a heartbeat. But I think that's good news that my Nemo egg (I've already named it) is healthy.
The embryos were about two inches long, and had almost adult turkey sized eyes, a definite neck and the start of wings and legs.
Clearly the eggs were at the stage when the mum won't get off the eggs for anything, so what's a best guess for time before we should look for pips?
And yes, the membrane was very resilient on the broken eggs, so does that mean the chick will need some help getting out of the egg?

 

[thecityman]

You are right....my wild turkey eggs had VERY strong membranes AND, for that matter, the shells themselves were much thicker and stronger than regular eggs. However, I can tell you that all 6 of mine came out of their shell without any help whatsoever. I candled mine almost daily (just couldn't help myself! ha) but I still can't help much with trying to date yours based on your description. You also might be interested to know that I believe mine had not been incubated at all...that the hen was still in the process of laying and not yet setting.....I say that with confidence for a few reasons. For one, there were only 7 eggs in the nest (only one was broken by the mower, but it didn't run completely over the nest...just close enough to get the hen when she took off the wrong direction (sadly). Also, those eggs stayed there for almost a week before I got my incubator and set them.....so obviously they hadn't been previously started incubating. Anyway, the reason this might be important to you is that the time it took....from the day they were set until hatching began...was 26 days...including the day I sat them which most people don't count. Everything you read about turkeys says 28 days, so at 25-26 it was a little sooner than expected.

You'll definately get lots of debate over whether you should try this or not....but I can honestly say that on BYC the people were all extremely nice, even if they felt I should have left the eggs alone to rot. I basically told everyone that whether they agreed or not, it was the right thing in my mind AND it is done so no need to fight about it...might as well try to help me get it right...and they have. People here have been incredibly helpful and kind. Turns out one of my chicks is badly deformed and going to have to be culled, something that broke my heart and has been next to impossible for me to bring myself to do, but the people here have been more supportive than you can imagine. Anyway, point is, don't worry about the debate and contrary opinions...ask for help here and you'll get lots of it. btw, look in the turkey section and you'll see some photos of my chicks if you want to know what yours will look like. VERY CUTE!

 

[suzannaski]

cityman- thanks for the link to your other posts. They are VERY cute! We will try to do the right thing with the poult, if it indeed hatches.
I checked the internet, and it looks like Nemo was at day 9 or 10 on Friday.

 

[suzannaski]

The turkey egg hatched today! I'm on my way to go see the baby now.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
congrats! pictures would be great!!!