~*Third Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch-Athon*~ all poultry welcome!

[Manningjw]

not yet there are still some active vessels. But when I got a bit of the shell away from its nostrils it started breathing better and peeping a bit more

Be very careful helping a wrong in pip - from what I have read they often pip long before they are ready to hatch because there isn't an air cell to pip into first so they just pip directly out of the shell.

 

[JennaLynn122]

Be very careful helping a wrong in pip - from what I have read they often pip long before they are ready to hatch because there isn't an air cell to pip into first so they just pip directly out of the shell. 

seems like that's what this one did. The other chicks in the bator were pecking at its shell so I put that egg in a little glass bowl so not to be messed with by the nosey ones. The veins are receding from what I can see. I think she will hatch on her own now that she can breath.

 

[chicken pickin]

Ok so my dad found a Turkey nest doing some dozer work today he scared the hen off and took the eggs rather than leaving them to get crushed by the dozer. He brought them home and I candled. I have 12 eastern wild turkey eggs in the incubator that will hatch by at least Saturday. I can yelp and they will wiggle. I might try this imprinting thing finally

If you haven't seen it already you should watch the PBS Documentary My Life as a Turkey. It is very interesting.

I have moved broodies mid hatch with pipped & zipping eggs & all did fine. Broody butts are VERY humid...lol

Thank You! This makes me feel better.

seems like that's what this one did. The other chicks in the bator were pecking at its shell so I put that egg in a little glass bowl so not to be messed with by the nosey ones. The veins are receding from what I can see. I think she will hatch on her own now that she can breath.

 

[JennaLynn122]

The wrong end pip didn't make it. It did finally start to unzip and hatch but it still wasn't fully absorbed. I tried. Nothing else I could do at that point

 

[HEChicken]

My first time for baby turkeys; I'm curious about when they start strutting - I'm imagining wee little guys all puffed up

I actually had one strutting at 4 weeks old last year!

Last year I had one little guy in the brooder strutting at just 5 days old! It was the cutest thing as he didn't have a tail to speak of, and no feathers yet, but he had his neck drawn in, and his wings held on the correct position, and moved slowly around the brooder to impress all his sisters. Hilarious. I wish I could have got video but of course when he did it I never had a camera nearby.

My broody hen crushed/suffocated most of her poults overnight! She just seems to be sitting on them too tight. Is that common with hens brooding poults? I rescued the remaining poults from her and moved them to the basement brooder box. (The 2 chicks she has seem fine.)

Oh no - how awful -

I was gone all day yesterday and got home to check on my broody turkey to find a bunch of poults under her. I don't have any real idea of how many as there are so many pips and zips that she is still sitting tight. At one point there were 6 sitting outside of her as it was a very warm evening, but as they all look alike, when I see one, I never know if its the same one or different than I've seen before. Later there were a couple staggering around that didn't seem to be walking well yet so I suspect they were newly hatched and not of the six I had seen earlier. I sure home my hen didn't get too enthusiastic about keeping them safe and warm overnight, as it was thundering and storming. I will find out in a bit when I go out to check on them.

One thing that amazes me about using a broody hen is how much more lively the little chicks are that hatch. They are already running and exploring the world at just a day old.

So true! I love watching the "magic" of a mother hen raising her chicks. Usually I segregate a new mother for a short time with her chicks, so they can bond, and then I start letting them out to free-range with the flock by day. At night they initially want to return to their nursery coop but last night I had a mother decide it was time her 15-day-old learns to sleep in the main coop with the rest of the flock. I was all for that but fascinated to watch the process. She went in the pop door and the chick cried because mom suddenly disappeared. So mom came back out and showed chick again how to get in. This went on for some time but eventually chick was in the coop. But the coop is seriously scary with all those big chickens, ducks and turkeys right? Mom now decides that rather than sleep on the floor, they must be up on the roost. There is no way the chick can fly directly from the floor to the roost like mom can, but mom knows this and find a series of steps to show chick the way up. I was fascinated! First mom jumped up onto a little step stool I have in there. And jumped down. And showed chick again how to jump up there. Finally chick jumped up onto the step stool. From there Mom jumped to the top of the temp pen separating a broody duck from the flock. And from there to the roost. Chick eventually followed her up there and after a couple of false starts (didn't understand the roost and fell off twice), chick crawled under mom's wing and went to sleep. I'm sure it was exhausted as it spent the whole time peeping its distress at the newness of it all. But when I checked on it later, it was still there, sleeping under Mom's wing.

 

[JennaLynn122]

Last year I had one little guy in the brooder strutting at just 5 days old!  It was the cutest thing as he didn't have a tail to speak of, and no feathers yet, but he had his neck drawn in, and his wings held on the correct position, and moved slowly around the brooder to impress all his sisters.  Hilarious.  I wish I could have got video but of course when he did it I never had a camera nearby.

Oh no - how awful -  I was gone all day yesterday and got home to check on my broody turkey to find a bunch of poults under her.  I don't have any real idea of how many as there are so many pips and zips that she is still sitting tight.  At one point there were 6 sitting outside of her as it was a very warm evening, but as they all look alike, when I see one, I never know if its the same one or different than I've seen before.  Later there were a couple staggering around that didn't seem to be walking well yet so I suspect they were newly hatched and not of the six I had seen earlier.  I sure home my hen didn't get too enthusiastic about keeping them safe and warm overnight, as it was thundering and storming.  I will find out in a bit when I go out to check on them.

So true!  I love watching the "magic" of a mother hen raising her chicks.  Usually I segregate a new mother for a short time with her chicks, so they can bond, and then I start letting them out to free-range with the flock by day.  At night they initially want to return to their nursery coop but last night I had a mother decide it was time her 15-day-old learns to sleep in the main coop with the rest of the flock.  I was all for that but fascinated to watch the process.  She went in the pop door and the chick cried because mom suddenly disappeared.  So mom came back out and showed chick again how to get in.  This went on for some time but eventually chick was in the coop.  But the coop is seriously scary with all those big chickens, ducks and turkeys right?  Mom now decides that rather than sleep on the floor, they must be up on the roost.  There is no way the chick can fly directly from the floor to the roost like mom can, but mom knows this and find a series of steps to show chick the way up.  I was fascinated!  First mom jumped up onto a little step stool I have in there.  And jumped down.  And showed chick again how to jump up there.  Finally chick jumped up onto the step stool.  From there Mom jumped to the top of the temp pen separating a broody duck from the flock.  And from there to the roost.  Chick eventually followed her up there and after a couple of false starts (didn't understand the roost and fell off twice), chick crawled under mom's wing and went to sleep.  I'm sure it was exhausted as it spent the whole time peeping its distress at the newness of it all.  But when I checked on it later, it was still there, sleeping under Mom's wing.

awwwww

 

[HEChicken]

Some pics of my turkey hen and poults. First, is where she chose to brood. I built hay walls last winter for my sheep and goats to be able to eat hay without making too much of a mess. The turkey thought a hay wall was a great place to brood and I can't fault her reasoning. It is under a lean-to so offers protection from rain and other precipitation, as well as sun. The livestock panels containing the hay offer some degree of protection, plus I added chicken wire over them on both sides to keep sheep noses away from her and keep the poults in after they hatched. Here she is brooding:




And here 4 poults are sticking out from under her. There had been six but as soon as I came back with the camera….

 

[JennaLynn122]

3 out so far. About half the incubator is pipped and I think I hear someone zipping now.

 

[Arielle]

Some pics of my turkey hen and poults. First, is where she chose to brood. I built hay walls last winter for my sheep and goats to be able to eat hay without making too much of a mess. The turkey thought a hay wall was a great place to brood and I can't fault her reasoning. It is under a lean-to so offers protection from rain and other precipitation, as well as sun. The livestock panels containing the hay offer some degree of protection, plus I added chicken wire over them on both sides to keep sheep noses away from her and keep the poults in after they hatched. Here she is brooding:




And here 4 poults are sticking out from under her. There had been six but as soon as I came back with the camera….

Wonderful nesting location!! Just needs a live cam.

 

[Alaskan]

This years incubation has been depressing.

I knew people said that incubating shipped eggs could be depressing..........


The last iffy looking chick finally died yesterday. Looking him over, besides a dark area around his 'navel' and still slightly squishy belly, I noticed that his bottom was pasted shut.

Just want to tear my hair out, I wonder if he would have pulled through, and if he actually died because I didn't check his rear.

Like really?

This is NOT the first time I have had chicks!

But, I feel like if it can go wrong it has.

One of my other chicks was hatched with only one eye. From what I have read, it is from bad incubation, not genetic.

Wow.

My level of incompetency boggles the mind.


Next problem is that I set a staggered hatch, originally thinking that I would transfer eggs to a hatcher when needed so no problems. My hatcher would never behave, so I couldn't use it. The last set of eggs that hatched, hatched over SUCH a long time period that the humidity was much too high for much too long.

I am worried that my next set of eggs will be "flooded" or whatever. The air cells are much too small.