Is it time to panic? NEW UPDATE - SEVEN!!!

[Shaun]

Well, here it is - morning, and there has been NO further progress with any of the eggs.

We're at 17 hours... I can still see the one's little beak inside the one that has pipped on the wrong end and see that he is still breathing. The temp is 98.5 - or maybe not, according to Steve, who thinks the Brinsea isn't telling me the truth about the temp, so it may be a bit warmer than that. Maybe they're too warm, I don't know. The humidity is hovering around 70%. I've got the vents wide open, so I know they're getting enough oxygen. Haven't opened the incubator, since everything APPEARS to be right except the hatch rate.

I suppose the good news is, I've got to go to work for 24 hours in a while, and either they'll have hatched, or they'll all be dead when I get home tomorrow morning, and I won't have to watch. If any of you out there are the praying sort, I think these poor little guys could use a few prayers right now, they don't seem to be doing all that well. I"m starting to feel like a turkey murderer, which if we were talking Thanksgiving dinner would be one thing, but we're not.

 

[TsaLaGi Acres]

Shaun, bless your heart, I know it can be frustrating and shoot I've had anxiety attacks over hatches but just breath and say 'what is supposed to happen..will' and let it go!! These lil' turkey have been hatching for many yrs before we ever thought up incubators and temp gauges and all that good stuff..let mother nature do the work and you relax.
As far as Steve from Sands Poultry..if it were me, I'd listen to him!! He's been raising turkey for several yrs and gives top notch advice about many facets of raising these birds and does it out of the goodness of his heart not to profit from it, but just to help people.
Get a couple different types of thermometers and check after this hatch is over..don't be surprised if he's right.
He'll most certainly be one of the ones that I'll be going to with my turkey questions as they arise!

I'll definitely be praying for you & your lil' turkey eggs!! Hope you have a great 24 hours at work and I hope you come home to an incubator full of babies!!

 

[Shaun]

Thanks for the kind words - I'm just so frustrated after killing off dozens of eggs. We had 4 fully developed poults fail to even pip a few weeks ago in the old incubator and had such great hopes for these. Now, they seem to be trying to hatch, but making no progress. Over the past 2 1/2 years we've spent hundreds of dollars that we couldn't really afford trying to help keep these birds as a viable genetic source, we really believe in the heritage breeds. Our egg and chicken customers are ready and willing to buy any birds we might offer for sale. Yet we can't seem to hatch them. I feel horribly guilty that we keep killing off these embryos and young poults.

 

[TsaLaGi Acres]

Have you tried using a temp/humidity gauge? Although the new incubator is of a wonderful brand it's manufactured and there are in fact things that can go wrong with them. I'm not saying that, thats what is going on, because it seems that your poults are on their way.
If they've pipped and cracked the shell then they have means of air outside of the shell. To me thats over half the battle won already!!

Think about it..do you have children or been around a baby?? Their body uses alot of energy and therefor they sleep ALOT. These little birds go through a great deal to get the shell pipped so they might be taking a long break and sleeping, letting their yolk absorb as well as all the blood within those tiny veins there in the shell. So they'll work on the shell for a few min's then sleep for several hours, work some more and sleep, work some more and sleep.
Think of it like this..you are going to work and putting in 24 hours, these chicks are putting in 24 hours of work in just a few min's time...you have to sleep..so do they

Breath!!!

Another idea/thought write down each thing you do and what the results are..do only one thing different per #'d egg and see what works with who until you get an accurate hatch...always ALWAYS use your resourses here on BYC..there are some very knowlegable people out there who have already went through what you are going through now and might be able to save you some steps/losses within your flock.
I actually think this is going to be a good hatch for you !!
I DO know what you are going through emotionally, we just lost over 4 dozen eggs due to heater going out during the night and our temp was almost 70 when I woke up, no idea how long it had been there but know it had to of went out that night...it really sucks and is heartbreaking no matter if turkey or chickens, ducks or what...all are babies ya know.
I totally agree with you about the Heritage Breeds (we just got Bourbon Reds) and I'm just having fits for them to get of age to breed (I'm not a patient person lol)

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
?

When I really want to know I use a calibrated measuring tool, I can tell you from years of hatching eggs that if they are pipping 2 days early that your temp is to high. My GQF Sportsman runs right at 100F - and yes I have checked it with a calibrated therometer, The eggs pip on day 26 and hatch day 27 with the late hatchers on 28.

Can you not trust the Brinsea's temp regulation

So I would in this case no you can't trust it


Steve​

How do you calibrate a thermometer?

 

[Shaun]

Steve, please, I'd like to know that also, I have some new eggs I'm saving up to try and get a few ( I thought MORE until yesterday) poults before they quit laying. If I get none this batch and none with the next, I'm quitting and sticking to chickens, since I'm obviously not cut out for hatching turkeys. Thanks for all your input, I hope I didn't sound ungrateful anywhere, I'm just really upset that I seem to keep killing off these eggs/babies.

I dangled the digital thermometer that I used with my old incubator thru the air hole down by the eggs this morning, just to kinda' see - it read a half degree higher than the Brinsea (only reads half degrees, so maybe not so accurate) - which might mean I was always off temp with my old incubator? Or worse, that neither themometer is accurate?

So, where do you get a calebrated thermometer? Would taping an oral human thermometer in there do it?

If you go by the thermometers/humidistats for both incubators, the only thing different from the last hatch where everyone died in the shell and this one is that the humidity is 5% higher, which was the highest I'd ever been able to get it in that incubator (it was really humid outside, which helped), and the other eggs were turned by hand, and these were rocked. I quit turning/rocking the same day, the eggs were all fresh within a week of laying, were stored well and turned in storage.

Most, but not all of our other attempts were with shipped eggs in the old incubator. Just slays me, we can hatch chickens in that old one like mad, but seems we can't get turkeys for love nor money even in the "better" one.

Sitting here at work wondering... wish I had a remote control video camera so I could see if anything is going on. Hubby will be home at 6 tonight - am hoping he's going to call me and tell me I have peepers!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

If you have a calibrated thermometer you just compare that to yours. Your doctor might have one, if you know somebody that works in a hospital they have them for sure, an HVAC tech would have one. One way we used to check the sensors on a chiller was use an ice water bath - just fill a cup with ice and water mix well and it's pretty close to 32F. On a cheap thermometer however the span will tend to drift from 32F to 100F. With all that being said the eggs themselves will tell you if your temp is high or low. If they hatch early it's to high if they hatch late it's to low.

Steve

 

[ziggywiggy]

Brinsea makes a very good digital spot check thermometer. I actually put one(not a Brinsea) under a setting hen. Temperature read 100.2 and that's what I hatch at with the same thermometer. I've heard about using ice water or boiling water to calibrate but, that obviously will not work with plastic digital thermometers.
Shuan, have you thought about just letting a hen set? That is what works best for me. I time the hatch and at the 26th day I take most of the eggs and put them in the incubator.

 

[Shaun]

Couldn't stand the suspense any longer, so asked a friend if she could go to the house and take a peek.

She reports two babies in the incubator!!!

She says one is dark, the other lighter - these are all out of my Lavender Hen, so maybe one is a Bourbon Red Cross??

Or maybe one is a Lavender and one a Blue Slate. Who knows, and at this point, who cares - they're ALIVE.
So, it seems I've made a complete b--b out of myself worrying, but will have babies anyway.

Here's hoping for more babies by the time hubby gets home at 6 tonight!! Thanks for holding my hand and encouraging me. I would have gone absolutely bonkers without you all.

Will post pix tomorrow

 

[TsaLaGi Acres]

Quote:
AWWWWwwwww thats awsome!!! Congrat's!!!!