Turkey Talk for 2014

[TeaChick]

Finally found my the shared nest of my 3 young hens...across the street, in a yellow jasmine thicket, underneath a huge magnolia tree in my neighbor's yard! Thankfully my neighbors love to have the turkeys visit, and are tickled that they have a nest there. The nest had 14 eggs in in, but it got covered up by snow for a few days, so I threw out all but one (left the one in the nest so they could keep returning to the same spot). So far, I've collected 4 'new' eggs. I'm most likely going to put 4 or 5 under a broody silkie I have. I already have another broody silkie on 2 eggs which I found from an earlier nest, which are developing nicely at 7 days. Our road is a dirt one, about a mile from the highway, with negligible traffic, considering only three families live on this road. So thankfully, the silly hens are safe crossing the road. Why did the turkey cross the road? To lay an egg, apparently!

Glad you found the nest!!!
Great joke!!!

 

[K Epp]

Got my first egg. She laid it in a old wheel barrow full of hay. That she and the goats both like.

 

[gevshiba]

We have a dozen chicks in the livingroom near our puppy (about 3 mos old now) and he's totally jealous of them. If anyone stops to look at the chicks, he whines or barks at them. lol
If I go to check on the incubator in the opposite corner from him, he whines (then I can't hear whether my eggs are chirping yet or not).
(They're not; I"m getting discouraged.)

None of the turkey eggs hatched, so only 2 chicks in the nice big baby crib brooder I repurposed for them. I've set 16 more turkey eggs. This time I'll candle at 10 days. I doubt they'll do anything. I'm looking for a new tom. I can't seem to find a nice one in my area. I hope you're eggs hatch!

 

[chicken pickin]

None of the turkey eggs hatched, so only 2 chicks in the nice big baby crib brooder I repurposed for them. I've set 16 more turkey eggs. This time I'll candle at 10 days. I doubt they'll do anything. I'm looking for a new tom. I can't seem to find a nice one in my area. I hope you're eggs hatch!

If your worried your tom isn't fertilizing the eggs you should give it a little more time, it is still very early in the breeding season. And if he is young it takes time to figure it out, also if you have young hens they may not be allowing mating yet. I know for me last years half of the turkey eggs I got for the first like 3 months or so were infertile. I had one hen that allowed mating and one hen that did not. They all got the hang of it.


How old are your turkeys?

 

[gevshiba]

If your worried your tom isn't fertilizing the eggs you should give it a little more time, it is still very early in the breeding season. And if he is young it takes time to figure it out, also if you have young hens they may not be allowing mating yet. I know for me last years half of the turkey eggs I got for the first like 3 months or so were infertile. I had one hen that allowed mating and one hen that did not. They all got the hang of it.


How old are your turkeys?

Thanks Chicken Pickin. My birds are a couple weeks shy of 11 months. They are BBB's. The first one started laying in October. I started getting fertile eggs about a month and a half ago, but they never even started to develop in the incubator. Can these bird's eggs hatch? Has anyone hatched pure BBB eggs outside of a hatchery? My tom has to go anyway. He's too big for my hens. I'm looking for a heritage tom. Someday I want all heritage birds, but, since I keep them at my neighbors right now, I thought not being able to fly over fences was very important. The neighbors would never let me keep them if they got around the house or cars. It's my compromise for keeping poultry and I'm happy to have a place to keep them. My coop and run aren't the best situation, but I'm always working to improve it. I hope to add another, smaller coop for the chickens this spring and I want to ask if I can put up electronet to increase their pasture. But right now, I need to figure out my turkey egg issue. If my tom isn't the problem, could all 5 of my hens be? I've gotten attached to my hens and it'll be hard to butcher them, even though it'll have to be done some day. Poor Mr. Tom has no personality at all. He's just part of the background.

 

[DraigAthar]

Thanks Chicken Pickin.  My birds are a couple weeks shy of 11 months.  They are BBB's.  The first one started laying in October.  I started getting fertile eggs about a month and a half ago, but they never even started to develop in the incubator. 

How are you determining that they are fertile? By looking at the yolks?

 

[gevshiba]

How are you determining that they are fertile? By looking at the yolks?

Yes. Most of them have a very noticeable bullseye.

 

[chickadoodles]

Got my first egg. She laid it in a old wheel barrow full of hay. That she and the goats both like.

Congratulations on your first egg!

 

[DraigAthar]

Yes.  Most of them have a very noticeable bullseye. 

Hrm. That's a stumper then. I usually can rely on the bullseye for fertility on chicken eggs. This is my first year hatching turkey eggs though and I haven't set any just yet (soon, though!) so I'm no expert. Is it cold where you are? Could the eggs be getting too cold before you collect them? Not sure what else could be the problem. If they are truly fertile, then you have to look at either the conditions the egg is exposed to prior to incubation, or the incubation conditions themselves. Have you cracked any of the ones you incubated, to see if the embryo developed at all during incubation?

 

[gevshiba]

Hrm. That's a stumper then. I usually can rely on the bullseye for fertility on chicken eggs. This is my first year hatching turkey eggs though and I haven't set any just yet (soon, though!) so I'm no expert. Is it cold where you are? Could the eggs be getting too cold before you collect them? Not sure what else could be the problem. If they are truly fertile, then you have to look at either the conditions the egg is exposed to prior to incubation, or the incubation conditions themselves. Have you cracked any of the ones you incubated, to see if the embryo developed at all during incubation?

This was my first time hatching any eggs. I did get 2 chicks out of 4 eggs, but didn't think the other 2 would have much chance when I set them, so no surprise there. I cracked 5 of 19 turkey eggs and not one had started to develop. It was cold here off and on. But some of those eggs were taken right after laying, or with hens sitting on them so they were warm. The incubator never seemed to have any temperature spikes. It did spike humidity once when it was raining here, but never out of the acceptable range and I got it back down pretty fast. I've got 16 more in the bator that I'll candle on the 23rd. Then I think I might have a date to butcher my tom and rooster. It's show season for me right now, so my time is really limited and the weather has not been cooperative. I'm starting to look for a replacement tom now. Then I'll try again.