Turkey Talk for 2014

[chickadoodles]

Sorry for the loss of your hen.

 

[Pretty Chickens]

Hi I am sorry about your chicken. But I think she was sick. You should keep the rest of the chickens away till you clean everything just in case.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: I hatch my eggs in an egg carton with the bottom of each cup snipped off for air flow. I've had excellent hatch rates, and the early hatchers don't roll all the unhatched eggs around when they scramble around the incubator. This would be a good way for you to keep them air cell end up.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hi I am sorry about your chicken. But I think she was sick. You should keep the rest of the chickens away till you clean everything just in case.

????? Not a chicken, and not overtly sick prior to choking, with signs of trauma that may or may not be related to her death.

 

[Pretty Chickens]

Oh poor little thing.

 

[Pretty Chickens]

That was a good idea. Here it is very hot and those temperatures are always changing. Now I buy them her in Puerto Rico, but don't know what breed they are.

 

[TattooedMama]

How heartbreaking! I'm so sorry. Hopefully she chocked on something she ate, as opposed to a plug of mucous from an illness or having an aggressive flockmate. With those symptoms, you should be able to get a diagnosis from a necropsy, if you chose to have one done.

I had three chicks (not poults) that had small air cells because I left them in the incubator on days 11-14 at 65-70% humidity while some earlier eggs hatched. When I candled them at day 15 their air cells were at least a week behind, it was only 3 days until lockdown, and I was really worried that I'd never get them caught up I turned the humidity down as low as it would go. By lockdown the air cells were still too small, and they had only lost 8-9% of their weight (instead of the recommended 11-13%). I candled the eggs and put an "X" at the low point on the air cell. I turned off the egg turner, leaned the eggs up against the wall of the incubator almost upright with the "X" facing up, and left the humidity as low as possible until day 21. Then on hatch day I turned the humidity up to 70% and the temp down to 98.4 degrees. Two of the three hatched out on their own within a few hours of turning up the humidity, and the third one hatched out the next day. The third one needed a small assist, as it got stuck in mid-zip, but all three are healthy and are two weeks old today. Only one had an ideal air cell by day 21, but nobody drown or suffocated after their internal pip. Don't know if it was the upright position or not, but it was just something that made sense. Don't know if the last chick got stuck mid-zip because the high humidity didn't start soon enough, but again, I had messed up the incubation process midway and had to replace standard directions with common sense and hope for the best. I thought I'd killed them all, but they all lived. Hope yours do to.

Wouldn't you know it, I have been so worried about those darned eggs and by some miracle the air cell has grown significantly in the past week. Oddly enough, they have increased on some eggs roughly a quarter inch at the widest part AFTER raising humidity!!

I did the best I could to get humidity low the last 2 weeks, even moved the whole incubator trying to find a spot perhaps that could get less than 30%; at most it was down to 26-27% for a few days. I stopped the turner on Saturday night and Sunday(Day 25) noon I increased humidity after candling. There was definitely improvement that day but they were still roughly over a week behind. Fast forward to last night and I checked and the majority have air cells just a week behind, some maybe even only a few days. There is one with a air cell that looks almost 2 weeks behind (also one of the largest eggs I have) but that poult has internally pipped is moving around happily inside the air cell.

I am not anticipating any problems at this point. I just managed to hatch out a baby chick last week for my son that had a very small air cell, turned to the last day AND had no increase in humidity. That little mix baby is strong, happy, and healthy. She's been lonely for a week but no way was a risking bringing her home a friend after the recent BBW issue. She will be happy to have some turkey friends I think.

 

[TattooedMama]

I hatch my eggs in an egg carton with the bottom of each cup snipped off for air flow. I've had excellent hatch rates, and the early hatchers don't roll all the unhatched eggs around when they scramble around the incubator. This would be a good way for you to keep them air cell end up.

I debated using this method with my first chick hatch in July but there are mixed reviews on it's usefulness. I was too nervous with my first set of shipped eggs so i didn't try it.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the condolences everyone!! It is unfortunate but it is something that goes along with having farm animals and this is something we can't forget. It's going to happen sometimes. AT least we have babies getting ready to make their appearance

Quote:

Hope you have a successful hatch! Sorry for your loss.

-Kathy

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: I've seen mixed reviews also. I cannot say I would have had different results if I didn't use the cartons, only that I hatched 100+ chicks and poults this year, and I was very happy with how it worked out and see no reason not to continue. (Also - I use a cabinet incubator that stands the eggs up during incubation, so I decided to keep mine standing up for hatching also.)