**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[ChooksChick]

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Last year was the Inaugural Turkey Hatchathon and we were a small but mighty group of newbies and old-timers. ​

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This year many of us have our own turkeys starting to lay, and we're seeing our first eggs!!​

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It's time for the Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Hatchathon!​

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For those considering growing turkeys for Thanksgiving, this is the perfect time to set eggs and have a grown tender bird for the occasion.​

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Even if you aren't considering turkeys, you'll be quite welcome to join us in this event to chat along as we count down. I call this one a Hatchathon because it's a whole WEEK longer to hatch turkeys (and duck and peas) so the WAITING is greatly increased...anxiety and anticipation grow exponentially at the end!!!​

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Whatever you care to hatch, join us as we start planning for the event! ​

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Search for some eggs to set, coax a hen to brood, borrow or buy an incubator! ​

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We'll set Turkey, Duck, and Pea eggs on April 7th.​

Chicken eggs will be set April 14th. ​

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Quail eggs and others you'll have to figure out and let me know...​

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Please just post here in the thread if you intend to participate, and we'll work on contests and fun. If you want to sponsor a contest, let me know.​

Contests:​

Mandatory Poultry Poetry​

Wisher1000 will award 3 prizes from a group of spiffy items!​

Broody Hen Sweet & Sour Pics​

tazcat70 will be awarding someone 6 Chocolate Banty Orp eggs!​

Participants so far:​

18peeps
arcountrychick
Arielle
bamachicks8
CayuseRanch
ceocka
chicken pickin
ChickenCanoe
chiques chics
ChooksChick - Sponsor
coldupnorth
CrazyPetLady
cuppycake
Daniel1974
debs_flock
Dinahmo
Dsqard
DURR
Farmerboy16
Fduncan
Gardengirl73
gardeningmama
Gryeyes
HappyAcresKY
HeChicken
Hurley
JD4570
Jessshan8
JulieNKC
Karimw
LFchixranch
Loghousemom
Lotsapaints
Mahonri
Manningjw
mbmess2003
Mimddh
MrHeinz77
mrshaggie810
Mstricer
nickie
Noncentzter
NotAFarm
Novanod1966
OffGridMAMA
Pele
QuirkySue
Razadia
ronott1
Sally Sunshine
SilkieSensation
Superchemicalgirl
Tammy N
Tazcat70
ThaiDye
Thebirdguy (who is not old at all, unt uh!)
TMNfarm
TommysGirl
uphilljill
Wax Myrtle
wife2abirdman
Wife2abirdman
wildriverswolf90
Wisher1000
Wolftracks
Yinepu​

If I've forgotten you or you aren't participating, please let me know!


Helpful Hints for All



yinepu's
Turkey Incubation Tell-All
This is the guide all Hatchathon participants should read!


Incubation Cheat Sheet
This is a basic primer on dry incubation and benefits thereof​

 

[CayuseRanch]

Hey guys! Sorry I don't post much. Its hard to keep up with all the posts and I swear I subscribe to the busiest threads...

Here are some things I want to comment on but never quoted the posts...


Sally Sunshine...Shame on you...I can't believe you unsubscribed from the auctions/swaps threads? What are you thinking? This is surely a self-destructive plan as personally I think.........

QUICK!! Someone post Sally's Address and lets all Egg Bomb her! Theres what...50 of us here? If we all sent a dozen we can get her up to 500 eggs stat...she needs help...she's breaking down.......


Arielle - I have development in my eggs! Woot Woot! I have not candled all of them... I love to candle

so I only candle a few a day so that I have an excuse to go back and do it the next day. But I definately saw a dancer last night!


Raz and other Mustang Owners...I also am a BLM adopter. I have 3 right now, They are awesome! As we downsize our herd, we let go of the domestics. We want all mustangs! They have such a bond with their owner after they have been gentled. I haven't had one foal, but I did have a stud get lucky with a very sneaky mare and have a beautiful paint filly from that union. Mustangs are the best...I am always watching their online auction. I want a buckskin mustang from the Oregon, washington area next.

I am willing to sponsor a contest to get Arielle an avatar... The poor girl looks positively naked. Never sponsored a contest before. What do I need to do? I figured this a good one for me to sponsor since any photos I have seem to resemble african wildlife.

 

[cmfarm]

Species

Incubation Period (Days)​

Ideal Weight Loss Over Incubation Period​

Approximate

Humidity
Incubation Temperature​

Turn Angle​

Chicken

21​

13%​

40 to 50%​

37.5°C​

90°​

Runner Duck

28.5​

14-15%​

35 to 40%​

37.3°C​

90°​

Call Duck

26​

13%​

35 to 40%​

37.3°C​

90°​

Geese

28 to 35
Depending on breed
13%​

35 to 40%​

37.2°C​

180°​

Ostrich

40-43​

12-15%​

20 to 40%​

36.4°C​

90°​

Table 1 – Hatching conditions showing weight loss for different species.
An Example Weight Loss Calculation.

The following example shows how this method can be put into practice when hatching chickens. Chickens have a 21 day incubation period and an ideal weight loss at the point of pipping of 13%.
Set the incubator to the correct temperature (in this case 37.5°C), and allow it to settle for a few hours, then, set it to the correct humidity for the species (in this case 45%).
Allow 24 hours for everything to settle. During this time, if eggs have travelled through the post, leave them to rest and to reach room temperature. Store them pointed end facing downwards.
On day 1, number the eggs with a soft pencil to identify them. Weigh all eggs before putting them into the incubator with a digital scale. Record the results:

Egg Number​

Weight(Grammes)
1​

62.5
2​

65
3​

64.5
4​

60
5​

59
6​

65.5​

Calculate the average batch weight, to do this, add up all of the weights, then divide this number by the total number of eggs so for the example eggs above this is:
(62.5 + 65 + 64.5 + 60 + 59 + 65.5) / 6 eggs = 62.75g Average
Next, allow the eggs to come up to temperature in the incubator. This can take up to 24 hours, now, check and make fine adjustments to the humidity again.

After 3 to 4 days, weigh the eggs again and record the results, taking the average weight of the eggs again.
There are now two ways of calculating the weight loss. The first is to draw a graph which shows the ideal weight loss line, plotted from Day 1 (62.75g) to Day 21 (62.75g – 13% = 54.6g) then whenever you weigh the eggs at 3 to 4 day intervals in between, plot the average weight to see how close it is to the ideal weight loss line.
The second method is to calculate what the average weight loss should be on the day that you weigh the eggs so if you weigh the eggs on Day 4, the ideal weight loss will be: 13% / 21 Days = 0.62% loss from the original weight on day 1, 1.24% of the original weight loss on day 2 and so on.
Take the average weight of your eggs every 3 to 4 days and make fine humidity adjustments as necessary until the last couple of days before the hatch when the humidity should be increased to the recommended level (greater than 65% for chicken eggs) to help soften the egg shells before piping.
Remember: If the actual weight loss is greater than ideal, the humidity level has been too low and it needs to be increased to compensate. If the weight loss is less than ideal then the air has been too humid and the humidity will need to be reduced to compensate.
After candling, it can be necessary to remove eggs that are infertile. This has little effect on the average weight calculation if all of the eggs are of a similar weight. Be cautious though, if you are only incubating a few eggs at a time or the eggs are different in weight (different breeds of chicken eggs for example) as there can be a noticeable shift in the average weight of the eggs that causes unnecessary humidity corrections. The only sure way to avoid this is to go back and re-calculate the start and end average weights using only the fertile eggs. In this situation, method 2 becomes easier to re-visit than the graphed method 1.
One final remark is that you should ideally weigh the eggs at roughly the same time every day to get the most accurate results if you are using whole days in the calculation, although I suppose there would be nothing stopping you including a part day in the calculation.

 

[ChooksChick]

Here are a few hints that I've given in previous group hatches, some for those new to incubating, others just asides:

The idea is to promote evaporation to allow the chick to grow smaller than it would if it contained all of the moisture it started with. I have had too many chicks large enough that they couldn't pip or hatch properly- fully formed chicks that didn't make it at hatch. Once I started using this method (got it from an Emu farmer!) I have had significantly better success with shipped eggs. It doesn't seem to really be necessary with local eggs (my own) and I'm not certain why. When hatching in a really nice incubator, like a Sportsman or an rcom, it also doesn't appear to be necessary, but with most affordable models, it's a helpful method.

I do increase humidity at the end of my hatch, as per my Incubation Cheat Sheet, the same for Marans as for other eggs. My feeling is that if you have evaporated the proper amount during the first 18 days, you can't drown them with humidity at the end. Humidity merely prevents evaporation, it doesn't make eggs 'take-on' water.

I use an emery board or 400+ grain sandpaper. I use a circular motion and make sure I'm moving the hand with the sander, not the egg- then put the eggs on a paper towel and mist them with a 30% povidone iodine to 70% water blend. I then wait for it to dry, turn, repeat, dry, turn, repeat. You can't be too careful about making sure the whole thing gets lightly misted, but don't saturate it.

This gives me time to turn (if need be), smell, and candle my eggs if I like. I just open it for a few minutes if I'm not intending to handle them. I do this most days until 'confinement.' Some will be aghast and argue this is insane behavior...but I'm just sharing what works for me.


I have used canned tuna to boost protein quickly, and the birds adore it. If you can find turkey or gamebird STARTER, that tends to be around 30% protein and you can mix it with scratch 4 or 5:1 to give them something fun to eat and still have overall higher protein. This also works if you mix wild with gamebird starter- and wild bird mix has a much lower corn content, so you'll be diversifying their feed better.

You can also use black oil sunflower seeds to treat them, as it's about the right protein content. If you have a feed mill near you, ask for 5# of 'peanut pickouts' to take home and treat the flock with- this is just raw unsalted peanuts, which are exceptional for protein and amino acid profile for breeders. Much cheaper from the mill


A small dish of sand, an old branch of fallen wood, and a plug of garden soil with grass (roots and all) are excellent things to add to the brooder for entertainment as well as microbes and appropriate environmental exposure. If you have these and you keep your heat source in one corner so that the chicks can control their own temperature by going nearer or farther, you won't have any issues with mucky bums at all.

This all works well for me, but like most on BYC, I don't consider myself an egg-spert... I just like to share my egg-speriences to help anyone else who might be able to learn from them!

 

[yinepu]

Got some Tutor eggs from a neighbor. They were refrigerated but I'm gonna give it a shot. So I am half way in. Gonna have to set early though

being in the fridge won't hurt them at all so long as the air cells haven't gotten too big while in storage and they have been turned a bit.. (if the air cells are too big just bump up the humidity a bit and see if it helps)

As a note:
Here's my method (I experimented for quite a while with this one before I got it to where I was happy with the results):

when I store hatching eggs I put them in a carton (styro preferred) with the pointy end down.. and put the carton of eggs in a zip loc bag (usually gallon size)

I then take a paper towel and fold it several times and soak it in oxine (listerine and water mix will also work) and add that to the bag under or next to the carton (not on top)

then I zip the bag closed and put them in the fridge.. turning the carton side to side a bit every day until I pull them from the fridge to hatch. (allowing them to come to room temp before placing in the incubator)


i can keep them viable for a minimum of 21 days that way.. but, as a note.. hatchability does start to drop if you leave them for too long.
With my own "farm fresh" eggs I can still get a good solid 90 to 100% hatch rate on eggs I store this way

 

[yinepu]

Quote: I thought it only months with an R in them... you know.. like for oyster fishing...

 

[LFchixranch]

Found this link on the "get the flock out of here" thread and thought it was interesting


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/419802/incubating-eggs-before-shipping/130
"Pre-Storage Incubation
In both chickens and turkeys, research on incubation of freshly laid eggs prior to any storage has helped to reduce the negative effects of extended storage. Research has shown that incubating turkey eggs for 12 hours, at normal incubation temperatures, prior to storage for 14 days improved the hatchability of these eggs from 64.4% (no pre-storage incubation) to 70.9% (Fasenko, et al., 2001). This positive effect of pre-storage incubation on hatchability of long-term stored eggs has also been demonstrated in broiler breeders (Fasenko, et al. 2001b). Although broiler breeders require less pre-storage incubation time (6 hours), the same stage of embryonic development is reached as that of the turkey embryo from an egg incubated for 12 hours. These research studies indicate that the embryonic stage of development that is best able to withstand storage is the same in both turkeys and chickens.

As there are logistical problems with incubating eggs prior to any storage (no incubators are housed on farm), a similar research project in my lab was conducted on broiler eggs to determine if incubation after on-farm storage but before hatchery storage would provide the same beneficial effects on hatchability of stored eggs. Unfortunately, post-farm, pre-hatchery storage incubation was not as effective as incubating eggs prior to any storage. This indicates that there is something about a freshly laid egg that responds better to pre-storage incubation treatments."

http://www.zootecnicainternational....ment/745-optimal-egg-storage-conditions-.html

 

[ronott1]

Second Annual Cinco De Mayo Turkey Hatch a Long Digest: 4-14-2013

Razadia posted picutues of her chicks.

Some of them are bald Razadia will be looking for fertile grocery store eggs tomorrow. Udate: No eggs were found so now Razadia will be egg bombed!

ceocka has a lot of poultry! 65 plus 4 plus 3 all hatched this week!

CayuseRanch wants to be egg bombed with Silver Campine hatching eggs!

dsqard popped her tutors into the Bator--DH may or may not have noticed the extra brown eggs....

SCG has a hatch going and more will hatch while in Utah--BF will have to deal with that hatch!

Ducks go on wire bottom cages ASAP....

Lotsapaints hatched 76 chicks yesterday.

Sally Sunshine posted chick pictures too

Wax Myrtle has 100% Development and loves candling white egg!

Jessshan8 has 6 of 8 developing!

Bunnylady is not hatching eggs...Walks away queitly so no one sees....

thebirdguy had 75 quail egg come by special delivery today.

gryeys set her tutors!

Wolfie is having hatch problems

Temp variations? Bacteria build up? Carbon dioxide poisining will need to be explained. Stay tuned for more....

chooksChick is in the Money now! eggs are developing! pens are producing and a sales web page will be going up!

Happy Sunday!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

Quote:

And I have 2 of them in one room and 1 in my bedroom.



Help me understand the carbon dioxide issue.

ok.. first.. bacteria can still thrive in the nooks and crannies.. on the back of the fan blades .. pretty much in and little crevasse that you may have missed. We would have that issue in the commercial bators and hatchers when I worked at the hatchery.. so every so often EVERYTHING needs a good disinfecting


Carbon Dioxide Poisoning.. caused when more oxygen is being used/needed than is coming into the bator.. carbon dioxide builds up which is toxic and can cause death
when you first add eggs they don't need as much oxygen as the chicks do once they start developing.. as time gets closer to hatch and the lungs start to develop they need even more.. at hatch when they start to pip.. they need even more .. so if you have a bator with three eggs in it.. it will need less oxygen than a bator filled to the brim

as the chicks breathe they inhale oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide ... just like you or a cow would.. being in a closed environment eventually the oxygen runs out if there isn't enough fresh air coming in to replenish the oxygen that they are using up. This is why I always tell people that vents must be completely OPEN at hatch.. sure you may have chicks hatch out with them closed.. but you run a much higher risk of carbon dioxide building up and killing them if there isn't enough fresh air exchange. Many times if carbon dioxide is an issue you will have a few chicks hatch out.. then a lot of dead in the shell perfectly healthy looking chicks.. that's because the ones which hatched are using up the oxygen.. and the ones which are working hard at hatching just don't have enough entering through the shell (or the pip if they have gotten that far) to sustain them until they can hatch.

"Dead Air" is also an issue.. it's the lack of airflow AROUND the incubator.. carbon dioxide can build up in the space between the bator and the wall.. so the "fresh air" entering the bator is laden with excess carbon dioxide. They discovered that in the commercial industry.. so incubators and hatchers must have plenty of space between the back and wall in commercial hatcheries. In the home this can be an issue with incubators that are against walls.. in closets or other rooms where there isn't enough air flow in the room itself. It can be remedied by the use of fans if space is too limited around the bator itself (narrow dressers or tables which are just wide enough to hold the bator but is up against the wall is also an example)... The main issue with a fan blowing directly behind or onto a bator is that if there are temp fluctuations in the room it can add to those issues.

One other thing to remember is that at hatch .. when the humidity rises (either by your adding water or chicks hatching) is that humid warm air holds LESS oxygen than humid cool air. So the oxygen level of the air actually goes DOWN as you raise the humidity in a hot bator.. one remedy for this is to drop the temp at hatch by 1 to 1.5 degrees when you raise the humidity. It's one of the things I recommend for hatching pretty much any kind of bird.. but especially waterfowl, parrots and turkeys. If you only have a few eggs in a bator.. it's less of an issue than if the bator is filled to capacity.


Luckily I learned from "the best" .. lol.. my ancestors hatched out birds for as long as the history on them goes back (several hundred years according to the family historian).. and they passed down their tricks and tips through the generations.. plus I also had the honor of having Janice Castleberry give me lots of tips and pointers.. she is also one who stressed to me the importance of "dead air" since she had issues with it back when she first started hatching out ratites


as a note: With emu chicks you can tell if carbon dioxide is building up too much at hatch because the chicks will have red around their eyes!..


edited to fix typos.. that's what I get for typing in the dark.. lol

 

[ronott1]

Second Annual Cinco De Mayo Turkey Hatch a long Digest 4-15-2013

….Wolfies hatch saga continues…ynepu, whose ancestors are the original incubators, posted a great explanation of Carbon Dioxide poisoning. See post 1503. Basically dead air can poison the chicks if there is not enough circulation around the incubator.

Billyb joined the hatch-very late but welcome aboard friend!

Oakgroveacres has Muscovy’s due on the 4th

Tazcat70 candled and did not see much but flattened yolks. Coldupnorth may have a small hatch too. Cuppycake sees 2 out of 15 developing but his still hopeful for a Cinco De Mayo Miracle! Mlmddh has 1 clear and the rest look ok—a broody may be taking over too! Razadia has 1 duck left and will set some of her flocks eggs tonight.

QuirkySue set 16 wellie eggs today and Is hoping for a better hatch! Heyheypaula joined too! Pkillian joined today too!

Mahonri will be starting the tutors a day late—well maybe just chickens since there are not turkeys set.

The shortest verse in the Bible is: Jesus Wept. Wisher posted a long post about Silver Campines but the only thing that made and impression was: Wisher Squealed!

and of course catching a chicken In a parking lot....

Hurley had some hatch today! Turkeys and Tutors!

Jandcclark5308 joined us today!

SCG had a brooder light out but saved them—early rising pays off sometimes…

Sally Sunshine is rehoming (or culling) her Ducks! Ducks have been battling chickens and the Hubs has had enough! To top it off, the insurance company is coming to take pictures….

Disqard posted snow pictures.

HEChicken forgot to set tutors. Maybe buy some from the feed store?

Ynepu got a million eggs today in the mail! Post 1539. Crele dorkings? What? Do we all want them now too?

Loghousemom set the tutors!

SilkieSensation had a lot of help, but got an egg bomb off today….

Razadia is excited.

mrshaggie810 Candled today too!

Happy Tax Day!