Turkey eggs????

[itsnatagain]

I have 1 female turkey that is a pet she just started laying eggs.
She runs freely in our fenced in yard but we live near wooded area.
I saw a post that some one posted about at Domestic got mated by A wild turkey. So now I'm concerned.

1. I want to know how I can tell if any of the eggs could be babies?

Also

2. how long are eggs good to eat when they have been in the nest?

We just found her nest today & there was 9 eggs?

 

[frank53061]

It does not matter if she has mated or not she will lay eggs.
If there is a Strong possibility that there is a wild flock in your area and she has disappeared for a while then yes she may be fertile the only way to tell is to candle the eggs to look for growth and if there is non to be found than she is probably not fertile and you could go ahead and eat the eggs a good indicator that the egg has gone bad is to place it in a bowl of water if it floats its bad.
I know a Chicken eggs placed on the counter top just after it was laid is good for approx, 20 days with out refrigeration.
If you coat an egg with mineral oil it will stay fresh close to a year with out refrigeration this seals the egg and prevents it from going bad.

 

[itsnatagain]

Thank you that is very helpful

 

[Lagerdogger]

Another way to tell if she has been mated is to crack open an egg and examine the yolk. There will be a small white dot somewhere. If this dot has a dark center like a bullseye, the egg is fertilized. The bullseye effect is sublte, but once you see it you can't miss it. Candling works great if the eggs are being incubated, but if there were only nine eggs in the nest, it is likely that she is not yet incubating or has not been incubating long enough to produce enough development to be seen yet.

 

[Lagerdogger]

If you coat an egg with mineral oil it will stay fresh close to a year with out refrigeration this seals the egg and prevents it from going bad.

Really? I don't know if I'd want to eat that egg. Have you actually done this???

 

[flocksalot]

Years ago people used to grease the eggs to keep them fresh since the chickens would quit laying over the winter. They could eat eggs all year that way.

I would candle them or crack one to check.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here's a link to an exhaustive study of storing eggs using various methods of preservation. Some of the old methods work a little better than just leaving them at room temp but some are worse.
It's interesting and would apply to any type of egg.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx