Help! Newbie has 3 turkey eggs about to hatch!

[TabithaMcLeod]

Hello all! This is my very first post here on BYC and i need some serious advice!

A week or so ago, my neighbor had a very infortunate accidentin which they mowed over a momma turkey on her nest. (She was an escapee, owner was understandably very very distraught) Unfotunately, mom didnt make it and only 3 eggs could be saved. I had an incubator so I fired it up, got the temp to 99.5 and placed the eggs in. I candled them tonight and all 3 are moving and looking good! By what little i have found online about wild turkey eggs they look to be 20-21 days along thats a complete guesstimation.

I have a lot of experience with various animals but have never incubated or hatched turkeys. I dont know the lingo or have the fine tools. My concern is how to get the humidity correct for these lil guys and get them a good start.

They are very active in the eggs. But i do not hear any sounds coming from them yet. Air sacs look good.

Any advice, would be appreciated. I have spent hours trying to find answers and im just not feeling very confident here. Thanks in advance!

 

[PeepsCA]

I've hatched Wild Turkey eggs in a circulated air incubator the same way I've hatched a bazillion Guinea eggs... 99.5° F, 45-50% RH, in an auto egg turner til day 24/25... then no more turning, dropped the temp a degree and bumped the RH up to 70-75% for the hatch/lock-down.

Since you are guessing as to how far a long they are... I would lock them down when the air cells really change shape/slant and definitely by the time you can see that their beaks have broken thru the membrane into the air cell (you may even be able to see their beak tip up against the inside of the shell).

If you are having a hard time getting the humidity up/keeping it up you can add a couple wet sponges to the wire floor of the incubator, or a shallow dish with the sponge and extra water in it works good too. In my limited experience with hatching Turkeys... they seem a little dumb and may end up in the water tho, so if the wet sponges work well enough I'd stick with just those.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[TabithaMcLeod]

Hey thanks! Im definitely gonna do that! I don't see any beaks yet, only one air sac is starting to slant.

I'm more excited than a kid in a candy store.