Hours old and so helpless!

[horseygal2013]

Hi there!
I just joined - I confess to lurking for some time and absolutely LOVE this site! But my first turkey just hatched out in the incubator literally an hour ago. He's so tiny and helpless! I'm guessing he'll gain strength pretty quickly to eat and drink, but is there anything I should be doing to help him? I'm resisting the urge to fix a bottle.

 

[allsummedup]

leave him in the incubator over night. he doesnt need food or water for the next 24 hours and you don't want to disturb the other eggs that may be in there getting ready to hatch.

congratulations on the hatch BTW what kind of turkey? I'm getting some next month

 

[horseygal2013]

Thanks for the advice! They're wild easterns. I've got two hatched out now and a third egg has cracked. So exciting! One of the hatchlings looks blond - we have a white gobbler, so I hope he takes after his papa. You're going to love yours - turkeys are as addicting as chickens!

 

[allsummedup]

And hear they make excellent guard dogs for the chickens!