New to hatching turkey eggs!!!!!

[rekabnivek]

I am trying to incubate and hatch some turkey eggs. Are there any pointers or tips I need to know? AKA when to candle, what to see when candleing and when. I already know the basics like 99.75 degrees, and 50-60% humidity for the first 25 days. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Don't try to candle before day 10 or you will think you have all duds.

 

[aukuma]

A few months later and here I am with the same questions. I will wait 10 days before I candle. When do I go into lockdown, what day do I do it?

TIA

 

[A.T. Hagan]

The Conventional Wisdom on turkeys is 99.5 degrees (F) but if it's ranging between 99.5 and 100.5 that's OK and if it drops a tenth or two that's alright as well. Just try to keep it between 99.5 and 100 as much as you can.

Humidity can vary considerably depending on what school of thought you subscribe too. 50-60% for the first twenty five days is a bit high. I favor 45-50% myself and some don't add any additional water at all preferring to go with whatever their local ambient humidity is. Either way seems to work because it's the size of the air cell within that matters.

I prefer to candle at days ten and twenty five. Earlier than day ten and it's hard to really anything due to the shell thickness and speckling. At day twenty five you can remove any "quitters" before the rest go into the hatching trays. At that point I bump the humidity up to between 60-65%. I suggest calibrating your hygrometer if you haven't already. Sometimes they can be off a good bit.

Move the eggs into the hatching trays (as in stop turning) at day twenty five.

 

[aukuma]

Thank you A.T.!

I can turn these just like chicken eggs right?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Yes, the same as chicken eggs. At least three times a day but you don't have to go wild with it. No more than every couple of hours.