Now I have to get this right. They have started to hatch.

[briana1975]

Very sad day for me. Relized my Sweetgrass hen was left outside on her nest last night, 1st and last time it will ever happen bacause she was killed during the night. Looks like fox or coyote.

I do have 8 of her eggs in the incubator and now more than ever I want to make sure I am doing everything right for them to hatch. I am using a hovabator 1588 with a turner ,keeping the middle filled with water. We have had 2 power outages, but either the generator or the power pack was hooked up right away so no big deal on heat loss. Temp goes down more when refilling water.

On what day do I add more water to increase humidity? And what day for lockdown and no more turning? Also when to candle and what would I see. Just like chicken eggs or wait longer due to longer hatch time?

 

[OmaBird]

I am so sorry. I just posted about this same thing happening to me last fall. My hen was killed just 10 feet from my bed room. All the eggs that I collected that did not break in the attack did hatch. It just makes me sick when this happens. If I know where my hens go, it will never happen again.

I add more water when I see the air cell that is pretty large. I have turkeys hatch out at all different days so nothing is exact for me. It works out anyway. My hatch today was a little bit of a suprise. I just noticed one pecken out last night. So I added more water and today I have 6 so far. Opps!

Good Luck!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

You stop turning on day 25 and raise the humidity then. I do about 50% during incubation and raise it to about 60-65 ish for hatch. When you candle them it looks like chicken eggs but turkeys develop slower. When I put eggs in the 'bator I just do a sniff test until the day to stop turning and I candle them then.

Steve

 

[Struttn1]

fold a handtowel or 2 washcloths into a square and soak in water then place in the incubator and you will have plenty of moisture.

 

[briana1975]

Thanks for the advice. The eggs are due to hatch early June.

 

[briana1975]

Lock down was on Friday.

Today we have our first pip. !!!

 

[briana1975]

We have one starting to zip and 5 more piped now. I really hope they all make it out. Is there anything else I should do, or just like with chickens the wait is killer just don't open or mess with anything?

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
Steve, I know that this is normal practice and I wouldn't dream of arguing against it, but how does it compare with the natural incubation process? I see our hens moving their eggs around but will they stop doing that at the crucial moment? How do they deal with humidity? I'm guessing that the answer is the 'human' method produces better results but I'd appreciate an expert view, please.

Ta.

 

[briana1975]

3 poults so far this morning.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

So happy for you! Start them off showing them the food and water and put ACV in their water, i dont measure, but the measurements are about 1 tbsp. per gallon. It is said to help with feather production and quality, and is a little extra towards preventing worms and cocci. Use raw/unfiltered if you can. Good luck!