Turkey incubation troubles

[fancyfowl4ever]

Hey Everyone,

Its been three years since I incubated my last turkey eggs and my hen has been laying for about 4 weeks now so I have been a collecting fool trying to get enough poults so I can send that Tom of mine to freezer camp(he is a nasty bugger).
Well, I seem to have lost my turkey incubating/hatching touch because by day 18-20 all embryos have died off, temperature has been steady and none of the other species eggs in the same incubator have been having any troubles.....

Now this kinda puts a crimp in my plans of getting rid of that "attitude challanged" Tom of mine and I am trying hard to figure out what the problem is, if its to do with the parent birds(nutrition?) or if its the incubation or I just have aweful luck. I dunno.

I really want to get (say 10-12) poults in the brooder sooner rather then later and of course none of my serrogate broodies are broody right now to hatch them for me.

 

[Arielle]

My first thought was nutrition. I'm no expert, just know that can be a problem.

How do you store the eggs waiting for set dat-- 40-45 degrees, 70% humidity and turn 2-3 times a day?

Recheck the thermometers? Mine are running at 102-104 on top of the eggs and the chicks are hatching 1 day late.

DO you candle or weigh the eggs for moisture loss??

Have you opened the eggs to see if a bulls eye is present?


THat none have developed is of concern. I would start by changing feed if possible. GO to another brand. NOt saying this is the problem, but the change takes the feed out of the equation.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

by day 18-20 all embryos have died off

Not sure where you get the -none are developing- bit, since this(above) is what I wrote in my first post.

Fertility has been 100% and they are alive and kicking until day 18-20 and then they drop like flies. I candle every 3-4 days.

Temperature has been steady throughout the bator, checked with multiple thermometers, its dead steady at 99.7 everywhere(gotta love forced air bators, temp does not vary anywhere in the bator).

I use the dry incubation method since around here keeping humidity over 20% requires filling the incubator to the lid with water and that lasts about an hour at best. 4 sponges soaked with water and all the water trays full dont even register on the humidity reader..... been told that has something to do with our elevation etc.
Have incubated like this for over 12 yrs(from waterfowl to chickens, turkeys and other gamebirds) so I dont know why I am having issues this year, and only with the turkey eggs.

 

[retlaw]

20% humidity will create hatch problems.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

never had hatch probelm with that, thats dry incubation for ya, I hatch waterfowl this way no problem. Also these were no where near hatching.

 

[retlaw]

Maybe you had something bad on your hands and transferred it through the shell?
I am in Pemberton, the other side of the province and I have no eggs yet from my birds.
Are your birds cooped with lights to get them to lay earlier?