Need help - rescued wild turkey eggs Update :(

[NanaKat]

I have rescued these 9 eggs from the field where hubby was cutting hay. Momma flew off the nest and has not returned in 5 hours.
I have permission from the wild game asso to raise and release on our property.
Have done this once before....8 years ago.

I have candled and think all the eggs are fertile and only one looks further developed.
We have had dry weather in the 90s and I know the outside temps can affect the hatch date.

Questions:
Should I count from say day three?
Bator temp is at 99 degrees and rising right now and If I remember right, the temp should hover around 100 - 101 and the humidity should be 65%. Bator is a Little Giant 9200 still air. Please correct me if those figures are not right.

I was told not to try to wash off the eggs but to use a soft brush. Would anyone else offer advice on this question. Sanitize with wipe off or soft brush?

Used the soft brush last time and out of 7 eggs, we had 4 hatch and successfully re-introduced them to the wild. but they appeared cleaner than these today.

I'm using an auto egg turner inside my bator and will take it out when I think we are two days from hatch which should be around the 16 - 18 of July. Will know more after I candle again in a week.

 

[hambone84]

I just rescued some wild turkeys a month ago! Mine were dirty as well but i just brushed them off no cleaning! The tem should be 99.5 but sounds like you are pretty close! I rescued mine cause I killed the hen discing! If you would have left them there the hen would have returned later on after you left! They get spooked off the nest often and always returnH But you sound like you have already gathered themH

Theres really no way to tell how far along they are but I would just go off what you have previously stated! Out of six eggs I only had two hatch! The eggs were covered in yolk when I went back to collect them and think this may have had something to do with such a bad hatch rate...

I currently am incubating 28 Wild Turkey Eggs!!!! Due on July 17th! I hope it works out and I keep my humidity at 55% till three days before then raise to 70%PLUS!

Good Luck

 

[NanaKat]

Yes, already collected the eggs because the nest was completely exposed since hubby cut the johnson grass. How he missed the eggs we have no idea.
We have high coyote population and the eggs would have been crushed when they rake and bale the hay.

He watched for the hen from an adjoining field and called me after 5 hours.

Last time we had a nest hit by a bulldozer and another nest run over by a truck in another part of the fields. The crews brought us the cracked and unbroken eggs. I was able to check on of the cracked eggs and could tell they were about 14 days into the process of incubation.

Glad to hear you babies are due about the same time.

 

[NanaKat]

With temperatures outside soaring to 106, the incubator's bottom level raised to 102.
I've candled the eggs and all appear non viable. When I cracked open the eggs, it appears only one had a fertilized "glob".

Roger saw two turkey hens near the creek by the field he mowed. The area where the nest was located is parched in the sun. But he thinks along the creek in the taller grass, the hens are nesting.


So, bad news/good news.

 

[walkswithdog]

102 isn't too high. Cracking is a rather permanent means of discriminating viability. I don't understand why you'd open an egg you thought to try to hatch...

If you had placed it in an incubator for 5-10 days you'd have known what would hatch and what would not by candling it.

Unincubated eggs are very tolerant of temperature extremes because that's a biologically sound property of a potential generation. They tolerate low temps rather better than high heat but still have quite high potential to survive.

I've seen incubators jump briefly to outrageous temperatures and part of the hatch survives.
Unfortunately they never survive opening and viewing of contents.

 

[hambone84]

i cant believe u opened them! what a waste@ ugh