June to July Turkey Hatch-a-Long!

[SpicyDill]

I'm trying to hatch turkey eggs for the first time! My broody turkey hen absconded with her own eggs so I purchased two dozen mixed heritage turkey eggs to try out in my Brinsea Ovation 56EX. I just finished my first start-to-finish chicken hatch in it today and I feel like I've mastered the learning curve (knock on wood!) so I am ready for some turkey babies to refresh my flock!

My turkey hen goes broody at least once a year, but she is ungraceful and usually breaks them, so I'm hoping to have better luck doing this the hard way.

Any early July hatch ETAs are welcome to join in! I'm sure my FB buddies are sick of hearing me yap about hatching!

 

[cherrynberry]

I'm trying to hatch turkey eggs for the first time! My broody turkey hen absconded with her own eggs so I purchased two dozen mixed heritage turkey eggs to try out in my Brinsea Ovation 56EX. I just finished my first start-to-finish chicken hatch in it today and I feel like I've mastered the learning curve (knock on wood!) so I am ready for some turkey babies to refresh my flock!

My turkey hen goes broody at least once a year, but she is ungraceful and usually breaks them, so I'm hoping to have better luck doing this the hard way.

Any early July hatch ETAs are welcome to join in! I'm sure my FB buddies are sick of hearing me yap about hatching!

I am hatching chicken eggs right now...not exactly the same, but I will join for fun!

 

[SpicyDill]

I am hatching chicken eggs right now...not exactly the same, but I will join for fun!

Happy to have you! What kind of chickens are you hatching out?

 

[cherrynberry]

Happy to have you! What kind of chickens are you hatching out?

Well, they are our own eggs and are going to be Easter eggers

 

[SpicyDill]

Well, they are our own eggs and are going to be Easter eggers

We typically do our own eggs, too! I have a few homebrew EE's, myself. They're so much fun because you never know what they're going to look like! How many of them have you set?

 

[cherrynberry]

We typically do our own eggs, too! I have a few homebrew EE's, myself. They're so much fun because you never know what they're going to look like! How many of them have you set?

Umm,
5 eggs are on day 12 right now and under the broody hen (I will be moving those into the incubator on day 18.

2 eggs are on day 5 (I think the two eggs are infertile/not growing) and 4 eggs on day 2. These 6 eggs will be raised by the broody.

so there are 11 eggs in total. 5 will go to the incubator, and 6 for the broody. All currently are under the broody hen, 5 are place holders.

 

[SpicyDill]

Oh my goodness, that sounds like a lot to keep track of! I still haven't had any hens go broody except that one turkey hen, and at last count, she'd managed to squash 6 of the 8 eggs she was sitting on. T_T I have an older buff orpington who's been acting semi-broody, but she's not sitting reliably. Last year, she went broody, but lost interest in the resulting chicks a couple of days later and a different hen in the flock (who wasn't even broody!) took them over.

 

[cherrynberry]

Oh my goodness, that sounds like a lot to keep track of! I still haven't had any hens go broody except that one turkey hen, and at last count, she'd managed to squash 6 of the 8 eggs she was sitting on. T_T I have an older buff orpington who's been acting semi-broody, but she's not sitting reliably. Last year, she went broody, but lost interest in the resulting chicks a couple of days later and a different hen in the flock (who wasn't even broody!) took them over.

Oh no! So there’s only 2 eggs left?

 

[cherrynberry]

Oh no! So there’s only 2 eggs left?

Wait, never mind, the eggs are in the incubator right?

 

[SpicyDill]

My turkey hen sat on the 8 eggs I was originally going to put into the incubator, so I let her keep those and purchased 2 dozen more to go into the incubator since she's not a very good broody. I mean, she's VERY dedicated, she's just awkward and ungraceful and always seems to smash them to bits. So she is only sitting on 2 as of my last count, but the 2 dozen in the incubator are doing alright, as far as I know! I don't get to candle them for another week. Time moves so slowly when you've got eggs incubating!