Turkey Talk for 2014

[OzarkCountryGirl]

It looks like you have a good hatch going.

Congratulations.

The later poults should learn from the older ones.

Thanks!!!

 

[TattooedMama]

@OzarkCountryGirl What humidity do you aim for when incubating turkey eggs?

 

[rjoschko]

I was told by the breeder that I got my Beltsville eggs from to have the humidity at 59%. I keep my incubator temp at 99.9 as told by the breeder. I wish you much luck! Rick


Recommended hatching temperatures within incubators vary depending on the type of machine
Being used. For the more commonly used forced-air incubators, the recommended temperature is
99°-100°F for the first 22-24 days of incubation. For the last 4-6 days, the temperature is reduced
to 97°-98°F. The recommended humidity is 60% for the first 24 days of incubation and then 70%
for the last four days.

 

[Sydney Acres]

The past few days I've been reading through some of the posts about new poults and now I'm starting to wonder what I've gotten myself in to. Are they really that delicate and hard to raise?
I've already fallen in love with these, and I don't want to lose even one. And it would be even worse to lose any once they start developing their own personalities...

I was also concerned when I got my first turkey poults last year. Shipping was hard on them. Even though it was summer, the days they were shipped were cold, rainy and miserable, and there was a one day delay compared to normal (still got them in 48 hours, but usually have the chicks in 30 hours). Two were almost dead at pickup from the post office, and one was weak. Those three died within a few hours of pickup, along with five chicks in the same shipment. But the remaining 7 out of 10 poults and 25 out of 30 chicks all did great. I brooded them with the chicks, and everyone ate 24% protein food (half 30% game bird started and half 18% unmedicated chick starter). The poults were vigorous and strong and are still doing great. Other than the higher protein food, I did everything exactly the same with the poults as I normally do while brooding the chicks.

 

[Sydney Acres]

What do you guys prefer for humidity for incubating turkeys? I know there are always numerous opinions on this but I would like to get a range you all have success with. I live in a dry/desert type area in Southern California. We are inland and it is roughly 90 degrees here daily. We run the air in the house which I heard also dries out the air. I just set my eggs yesterday and humidity is currently at 40%. These are my first turkey eggs and I have only recently done one chicken hatch. The chickens I kept in the 30% range until hatching and increased to 50% and I had 100% of my fertile eggs hatch. I have a Brinsea Octogon 20 Advanced which keeps temp perfect but seems to struggle with keeping the humidity high. Any and all advice about how you prefer to incubate is greatly appreciated!! I find there's less info on hatching turkeys available. Thanks!!

Here's a straightforward guide. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/turkey-incubation-and-hatching-guide

 

[TattooedMama]

Here's a straightforward guide. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/turkey-incubation-and-hatching-guide

Thank you. I have read this a few times now already lol. I try to do as much research as possible before asking questions. It helps sometimes to get an idea of what works for other people, real people you can converse with. I understand that the veterans must get tired of the repetition in questions from the newbies. I just want to get it right!! I will candle in a few days and see where my air cells are at and make a determination from there as to what to do.

I guess what I am really interested to know is if the incubation humidity (not for hatch) that each of you use for chickens in your area is also what you use to incubate Turkeys, or if you raise it slightly. That would be the best help in me determining what to put my turkeys at based off my last batch of chicken eggs.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Couple of questions....
Three of the poults (the first three to hatch, and so far I've been able to tell them apart from those that hatched later) are eating and drinking like champs. So my questions are...will the rest automatically learn by their example? and...by tomorrow I probably won't be able to tell them apart, so how will I know if all of the poults are eating and drinking on their own, or if it's just the same three?

You can mark each poult with a bit of food dye on the down. Be sure to write down where you put the area on each one -- for instance, poult #1 on left shoulder, Poult #2 on right hip, etc. Do not use red or orange food coloring, as it may promote picking. I've always liked using green. You can also use a bingo dabber, as long as it just uses a vegetable dye. For something more permanent, you can put tiny colored zip ties (cable ties) around a leg, or numbered leg bands (just be sure to check the fit twice weekly, as the babies grow fast and the bands will need to be cut off and replaced with a larger size regularly). Many people use toe punches or wing clips, although I've never favored those for several reasons, plus I find them difficult to read.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you. I have read this a few times now already lol. I try to do as much research as possible before asking questions. It helps sometimes to get an idea of what works for other people, real people you can converse with. I understand that the veterans must get tired of the repetition in questions from the newbies. I just want to get it right!! I will candle in a few days and see where my air cells are at and make a determination from there as to what to do.

I guess what I am really interested to know is if the incubation humidity (not for hatch) that each of you use for chickens in your area is also what you use to incubate Turkeys, or if you raise it slightly. That would be the best help in me determining what to put my turkeys at based off my last batch of chicken eggs.

I hatch turkey, guinea and chicken eggs all at the same time and under the same conditions. I try to incubate with the humidity between 20 to 30% and raise it to 60% for lockdown. That seems to work good for me with my local conditions. So far if it works for the chicken eggs, it also works for the guinea and turkey eggs.

What humidity that you incubate should be determined by the weight loss of your eggs and not some number on a hygrometer. Your decision to base what you run your humidity at on the size of the air cells is wise but actually works better by tracking weight loss. The target is around 13% weight loss over the course of the incubation prior to entering lockdown.

Good luck..

 

[TattooedMama]

I hatch turkey, guinea and chicken eggs all at the same time and under the same conditions. I try to incubate with the humidity between 20 to 30% and raise it to 60% for lockdown. That seems to work good for me with my local conditions. So far if it works for the chicken eggs, it also works for the guinea and turkey eggs.

What humidity that you incubate should be determined by the weight loss of your eggs and not some number on a hygrometer. Your decision to base what you run your humidity at on the size of the air cells is wise but actually works better by tracking weight loss. The target is around 13% weight loss over the course of the incubation prior to entering lockdown.

Good luck..

Thank you very much, this was a great help!! I will aim for the same humidity levels I used with my recent chick hatch up until hatching where I will aim a bit higher.

As for weighing, Sydney Acres and I had this conversation a bit on my "Which Incubator to buy?" thread. I had done some reading on old threads and one specifically was all about weighing the eggs ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/878773/attention-newbies-to-incubating ). In this experiment the OP found that weighing the eggs and balancing humidity off those weights turned out disastrous for her. It was suggested by Sally Sunshine (who wrote the Hatching 101 thread) that in fact she believed that eggs may need to lose more than 13% and that she did not weigh herself, instead only used the air cell as a guideline. She was suspicious that if in fact she had her husband weigh eggs without disclosing the weights to her while she only adjusted humidity with her observations of the air cell, that the weight lost would be higher than the 13% guideline. So based off of this thread (or how much had been written at the time I began hatching) I opted against weighing. Additionally I have a tendency to obsess over things and be a control freak. I am glad i did not weigh and it worked well for me. The biggest guideline I see expressed is that a little less humidity is better than too much. This worked for me with my recent chick hatch, which was the first hatch since I was a teenager in Ag class; I had 8 of 8 fertile eggs hatch. I am hoping my turkey hatch goes as well

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I think some of it may have to do with how your brain works. I've very math and chemistry oriented, so weighing and percentage loss over specific days really works for me. On the other hand, when it comes to artistic talents I'm not qualified to draw stick figures or play Pictionary. So even though I'm very good at visually estimating percentages, and even though the reference pictures of air cells are very good and it seems obvious, when I candle my eggs my brain can't figure out how what I'm seeing applies to the air cell pictures, and it just doesn't work for me. Circular frustration!! I think it's more difficult for me to mentally translate between 2D and 3D than most people. Maybe if I had a 3D model with air cell lines drawn on it I could use air cell size more easily. I know, it doesn't make any sense (to people with any artistic talent). Kind of like it doesn't make any sense to me that some people just can't do basic algebra. But it's all about how our brain works. I'm just glad there are two different methods, and that at least one works for me!! Maybe with more candling experience, I'll figure out how to do both..