Help - No progress since last night

[tia]

My temp thoughout the hatch has been 99.5 besides the night I lost power for a few hours. I just feel so bad. Should have done more research on hatching turkeys before beginning. I posted something on here and got a "same as chickens" response and did that, but I see that my humidity should have been higher probably all along. There doesn't seem to be as much info out there on turkeys as there is on ducks and chickens which I've been pretty successful with. I did drop the temp to 98 for the hatch. I usually don't do that with my ducks.... I just leave it at 99.5 the entire time. That membrane on the little one was very thick compared to duck eggs. Well I guess it is a waiting game now. Thanks for your help.

 

[yinepu]

I have hatched turkeys for years.. then ended up buying some from Porter's Heritage Turkeys.. I wanted some different colors and types and loved the fact that Mr Porter knows his genetics and what he's doing.. when i looked at his hatching page I realized that he follows the same procedure that my family has for years to hatch turkey eggs.. so i like to refer everyone who needs info to him since he has a nice page already written

http://www.porterturkeys.com/egghatchingtips.htm

I love the poults that I got from him.. even with the heat they all arrived alive and perky.. and every one has the greatest personality.. so it's going to be extremely hard to decide who is going to stay as our future breeders

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
that's why the high lockdown humidity is so important.. the membrane is very tough and they wear themselves out trying to break through it.. so if the humidity is too low during lockdown they end up dying because they can't get out

 

[MommaB]

Hi Tia! I just wanted you to know that you are not alone in your struggles. I assisted last night. I started around 3pm and we finished about 12:30 am. He too has some yoke attached with shell. He hasn't tried to stand and it is still wet around the area. I pray he will get better. His eyes are also not opened. He does wiggle a bit and peep. My other eggs are still although candling showed some movment.

 

[tia]

This is the info I got when I asked about hatching turkeys.

"Treat them like chicken eggs. They should be a little drier than duck eggs. For a forced air incubator, incubate them at 99.6 degrees, with humidity between 40 and 45%, Increase to 60% humidity at lockdown. They also, IMHO, seem slower to develop at first than chickens (even when accounting for the extra 7 days). So, if you candle at 10 days, roughly the equivalent of 7 days for a chicken, it won't look like as much is happening in there, but it will be."

I will keep your hatching information for next time. I might try again in the spring.

 

[tia]

Thanks Momma B. I'm sending good healing vibes to your little one. It is so hard and a person feels so helpless. I just noticed all of my other three eggs are moving. I candled one and it had internally pipped. I've got the humidity cranked all the way up... but it is about 76. I just spotted a small pip on one of the eggs. I was wondering if I should wrap them all in a wet paper towels. Maybe I should just go for a walk instead. It is so frustrating.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
has your hygrometer been calibrated?...
also.. do you have any wet sponges you can toss in there?.. if the pip is small I would leave it for now.. but if he starts to make a large hole then yes.. wrap or drape a wet paper towel over it.. just make sure you leave it loose enough so that he can still breathe..

 

[tia]

I will toss in a wet sponge... okay no papertowel until it pips larger... they are all moving... so trying poor little turkeys.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
ok.. Im not there so I can't see what's going on.. but if they manage to make an external pip really keep an eye on things.. and depending on how the membranes look I would have the paper towels on standby.. hopefully the humidity is high enough now that they can break out on their own.. but if the pips look dry make sure you get the paper towels on them ASAP

 

[tia]

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