LOCKDOWN! Poults & Chicks Due 5/18

[Glenmar]

Your turkey eggs are cool looking. My 14 eggs in my Brinsea are all growing nicely I candled them at 9 days. All
had veins and swimming embryos. I am now on day 12. By the end of next week, I will be so close.

 

[serinat]

I added five (Buff Orpington) chicken eggs to the 13 turkey eggs today! Just grabbed fresh ones out of the nest and plopped them in. I was hoping to breed one of my favorite hens to an Easter Egger roo, but as it turns out, she's not laying! I had her in a breeding pen (of sorts) with him for the entire last week, and not one egg. Guess she's going to be soup soon. No matter how much I like her body shape, I'm not breeding a hen who doesn't lay!

Anyways, I had to get creative to to fit the five chicken eggs in the Brinsea. Two are kind of on top of my wax paper bumpers, at the end of each row. I'll have to post a pic.

Anyone have experience candling turkey eggs? I'm borrowing a Brinsea OvaScope and I just tried to look at a few yesterday (day six), but they're too big. What I could see was encouraging - a nice air space at the end of each egg, and a dark shadow-like blob in the middle that was sometimes moving. Every egg looked the same. I couldn't get a good enough view to see more than that. I will have to try it in a dark room in a few days.

 

[serinat]

How are the rest of you doing?

It's been 13 days since I started the turkey eggs. I candled today, and had the same two clears as I did last time, so I pulled them. The other 11 look nice, as far as my untrained eye can tell.

As for the chicken eggs I added, all five have embryos!

This is the boring part...flipping numerous times a day, waiting for hatch. The Brinsea is rock solid, so aside from rocking the incubator, there is hardly anything to do. I've filled the humidity channel twice.

I suppose we should start getting ready for babies, yes? I'm planning on using a galvanized cattle waterer (elongated, with rounded ends) so there won't be as much crowding. I have all the feeders and waterers. Will have to pick up bedding and set up the light. Other than that, ready to go!

 

[serinat]

This has turned into my hatch journal, so I'll keep posting. Based on recent candling, I have 11 poults (out of 13 original eggs) and 4 chicks (out of 5 original eggs). I'm not going to candle anymore, so I have to wait until they hatch to see how things turn out.

It's been 22 days for the poults (15 for the chicks); three more 'til lockdown. I plan to remove the dividers, fill up both troughs, and lay a wet washcloth underneath the plastic tray. I don't have a hygrometer, so this will have to do.

I need to get the brooder set up in the garage this weekend or early next week. It's been so warm here that I'm tempted to start in the chicken tractor outside, like I always do for chicks, but I know the turkeys will be more delicate. So we'll start in the garage for now.

Squee! So close! Anyone else due on 5/18 and getting excited?

 

[serinat]

We're in lockdown now! After dinner tonight, I took the dividers out, filled both humidity troughs to the top, and folded a wet washcloth and let it lie part in the trough/part next to the trough. The Brinsea recovered temp quickly, and the windows fogged up nicely.

Now I just wait. I am no good at this waiting business.

Will I have to re-fill the troughs during lockdown? I know some people have used a syringe/tubing through the vent hole to re-fill the troughs. I don't have any skinny tubing, I don't think. Any other ideas?

I'm hoping for fifteen fluffy little babies by Wednesday! Good luck to everyone else!

 

[serinat]

As of 10:30 p.m. last night (just into day 27), I had one pip in a chicken egg. As of this morning, still day 27, I have five turkey and three chicken eggs pipped! I finally saw a little rocking here and there, and I've heard cheeping twice this morning. My four kids are all sitting at the edges of their seats, waiting to see those birds hatch! (I think I'm more anxious than they are, though.)

I used a smaller straw and a syringe to add some warm water through the vent hole. Just stuck the straw between eggs, down as far against the tray as I could go, and squirted water in. I can't fully see the troughs to see how much water it might need, but I saw water in there, so it was more of a precaution.

Doo dee doo. Just waiting....

 

[serinat]

We have babies! One chick and one poult hatched this morning. Lots more pips, but no more zips yet.