Turkey Talk for 2014

[yinepu]

Turns out I'm hatching Red Ranger chickens, Narragensett turkeys, Emus and mixed breed geese this season! Oh what have I gotten myself into?!?!?!

right now we have french white muscovy eggs, mixed turkey, khaki campbell, blue swedish, 3 kinds of goose (embden, toulouse and sebastopol), cayuga, giant pekin, regular muscovy, emu, and golden 300 duck eggs in ours right now (aside from the kittens.. lol)
so you're not alone!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: DId you actually see the white embryo area?? IT is a bulls eye if fertilized, otherwise just a white spot . . in theory . . . I"m not good at looking at them . . . . . yup the girls will lay all summer. At least they do in my area-- not sure if the high heat of some areas cause a decrease in laying. . .

Quote: You always have something fun in the incubator!!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
You always have something fun in the incubator!!

yup!

 

[SilkieSensation]

My experience is that a chick tutor is beneficial with small groups of poults such as 5 or fewer and that for groups of 15 or more poults that a chick tutor is not necessary but also does not hurt having one.  It does seem to be beneficial to scatter some feed on the floor of the brooder rather than relying on the poults to go directly to a feeder.

The only times that I put marbles in a waterer is for tiny chicks such as guinea keets or perhaps bantam chicks especially if they are confined in a small area which makes it easy for them to get pushed into the waterer.  I am using the marbles only to prevent the drowning of the little ones not as an attractant.

I was hoping to only make sure and have chicks the right age for bring a tutor while hatching these first small groups of turkey eggs. I finally got to gather 3 eggs at once 2 nights ago. Since my slates just started laying also I should gave bigger groups of poults, I put 13 eggs in last night, four from the slates and the rest all from my RP.

If I'm setting chicks specifically as turkey tutors, I set them 5 days later (to hatch 2 dayd before the turkeys) and I set 1/2-1/3 as many chicks as poults. That way, theoretically, there should be about 1 chick for every 2-3 poults. I like to make sure I have plenty of chicks in thete. Usually I have way more chicks than poults, so usually not an issue. I just always have chicks hatching...lol

 

[K Epp]

9 babie turkeys still cooking. (Happy Dance Time!)

 

[SilkieSensation]

First poult of the year hatched this afternoon. 7 more due the 26th.

 

[Reyvaughn]

OMG. My incubator is busting at the seems! My egg trays hold 48 eggs each (minus 2 for the 'bumpers' I put on them so they don't slide back and forth on the racks) and all 6 are FULL. I may have to start setting in the darn hatcher! Oh, this wouldn't be an issue if I didn't have 100+ eggs on the way between today and Wednesday! I should have my white midget turkey eggs tomorrow... No idea where I am putting them yet.

 

[chickadoodles]

9 babie turkeys still cooking. (Happy Dance Time!)

Post pics so we can seeeeee

 

[chickadoodles]

First poult of the year hatched this afternoon. 7 more due the 26th.

Very cute

OMG. My incubator is busting at the seems! My egg trays hold 48 eggs each (minus 2 for the 'bumpers' I put on them so they don't slide back and forth on the racks) and all 6 are FULL. I may have to start setting in the darn hatcher! Oh, this wouldn't be an issue if I didn't have 100+ eggs on the way between today and Wednesday! I should have my white midget turkey eggs tomorrow... No idea where I am putting them yet.

I think you may need some hatcher's anonymous, you have some serious hatching going on...

 

[NewToFarming]

DId you actually see the white embryo area?? IT is a bulls eye if fertilized, otherwise just a white spot . . in theory . . . I"m not good at looking at them . . . . . yup the girls will lay all summer. At least they do in my area-- not sure if the high heat of some areas cause a decrease in laying. . .



You always have something fun in the incubator!!

Arielle, I didn't even see the white spot which I thought was odd. Maybe it was underneath? It still seems like only the one girl is laying so far.