June to July Turkey Hatch-a-Long!

[cherrynberry]

Likewise!

It's just going to be SUCH a long wait. I'm only 1 week in. I'm going crazy even though I've already got a brooder full of babies!

Wow...how many chicks are you hatching? Do you sell chickens?

 

[SpicyDill]

Wow...how many chicks are you hatching? Do you sell chickens?

We retired about half our flock of chickens this year and I brought in some eggs for unrelated bloodlines and new breeds, so I've done a few hatches this year with varying degrees of success (shipped eggs are a crapshoot). I've only got 5 juveniles in the grow-out coop, and 13 chicks in the small brooder. I have a hatchery assortment box (I won it!) coming next month with 40-50 birds. My incubator currently has the 24 turkey eggs and 7 chicken eggs, timed so they should all hatch together. This SHOULD be my last hatch of the year.

Today is candling day for the turkey eggs -- day 10! I can't wait!

 

[cherrynberry]

We retired about half our flock of chickens this year and I brought in some eggs for unrelated bloodlines and new breeds, so I've done a few hatches this year with varying degrees of success (shipped eggs are a crapshoot). I've only got 5 juveniles in the grow-out coop, and 13 chicks in the small brooder. I have a hatchery assortment box (I won it!) coming next month with 40-50 birds. My incubator currently has the 24 turkey eggs and 7 chicken eggs, timed so they should all hatch together. This SHOULD be my last hatch of the year.

Today is candling day for the turkey eggs -- day 10! I can't wait!

good luck! Today is day 20 for my chicken eggs, cant wait for poofy chicks! How did you win an assortment? Thats a LOT of birds. My entire flock is only 20 birds give or take.

 

[SpicyDill]

good luck! Today is day 20 for my chicken eggs, cant wait for poofy chicks! How did you win an assortment? Thats a LOT of birds. My entire flock is only 20 birds give or take.

We usually keep roughly 30 chickens and a varying number of turkeys, so we maintain a pretty big flock, but not THAT big. I'm trying to bear in mind that these hatches are all straight run, so I'll only keep about half of them (as far as the chickens go), and the assortment is half sexed pullets and half straight run, and I definitely won't be keeping all of those. But I won the box in a raffle -- quite the surprise, I think I had $5 or $10 in tickets in it and just happened to have a lucky day! My poor husband. But I should be able to hopefully make back some of what I spent on my incubator in extra chicks and turkey poults I'll be able to sell off the hatches and assortment.

Day 20, wow, you are going to have little fluffnuggets any day now!!! That is so exciting! Any pips yet?

 

[cherrynberry]

We usually keep roughly 30 chickens and a varying number of turkeys, so we maintain a pretty big flock, but not THAT big. I'm trying to bear in mind that these hatches are all straight run, so I'll only keep about half of them (as far as the chickens go), and the assortment is half sexed pullets and half straight run, and I definitely won't be keeping all of those. But I won the box in a raffle -- quite the surprise, I think I had $5 or $10 in tickets in it and just happened to have a lucky day! My poor husband. But I should be able to hopefully make back some of what I spent on my incubator in extra chicks and turkey poults I'll be able to sell off the hatches and assortment.

Day 20, wow, you are going to have little fluffnuggets any day now!!! That is so exciting! Any pips yet?

Nope, no pips, but I have seen the eggs twitching. I like the name fluffnuggets! I also need to name the chicks! That would be so exciting!

 

[SpicyDill]

Nope, no pips, but I have seen the eggs twitching. I like the name fluffnuggets! I also need to name the chicks! That would be so exciting!

AHHH twitching eggs!!! You are going to start getting pips any time now! Hatch is the best part, but oh my gosh, it makes it so hard to sleep or get anything else done -- I am so bad about wanting to watch them constantly!

Do you have a theme for names? I'm letting my oldest name most of our chicks this year so we've got a batch of Marvel superheroes and a batch of Marvel supervillains.

 

[cherrynberry]

AHHH twitching eggs!!! You are going to start getting pips any time now! Hatch is the best part, but oh my gosh, it makes it so hard to sleep or get anything else done -- I am so bad about wanting to watch them constantly!

Do you have a theme for names? I'm letting my oldest name most of our chicks this year so we've got a batch of Marvel superheroes and a batch of Marvel supervillains.

Theme…not really, except food. Most of our chickens are named after food and I want to change that this year. Maybe plant names?

 

[SpicyDill]

One of my best friends likes to name her roosters after food. Kung Pao, General Tso, you get the idea. I like the idea of plant names, though!

I just got done candling the turkey eggs and we're at 22/24. 2 got tossed since they never even started. One looks like it may be quitting, so I'll probably candle in another 10 days. They develop so much more slowly than chicken eggs! It's driving me batty!

 

[cherrynberry]

One of my best friends likes to name her roosters after food. Kung Pao, General Tso, you get the idea. I like the idea of plant names, though!

I just got done candling the turkey eggs and we're at 22/24. 2 got tossed since they never even started. One looks like it may be quitting, so I'll probably candle in another 10 days. They develop so much more slowly than chicken eggs! It's driving me batty!

How long do turkey eggs incubate for on average?

 

[SpicyDill]

How long do turkey eggs incubate for on average?

It's a 28-day incubation period. Not as bad as geese, but a whole week longer than chickens. The wait is terrible!