Turkeys For 2013

[r4eboxer]

Yes, your hens should lay this year. And we will hope for March.

Do you have more than one breed of turkey?

Yes I have more than one breed but not pairs. I only ended up with 2 pair of Royal Palms, I've got a Bourbon Red Hen, Two Narragansett Hens, and One blue slate tom. I need to find breed mates for them. I just get nervous about purchasing adults without knowing the person. I'm afraid I'll get a sick one.

 

[kuntrygirl]

My humidity dropped to 30 this morning in the incubator. That was quick because I just added water to the trays a couple days ago. Well at least I thought it was a couple days ago. It's back up to 40 now. :/

What do you all keep your incubator humidity at for your turkey eggs? Anyone go higher than 40? Anyone go lower than 40?

 

[Arielle]

Sorry, Julie, all I have left are 3 days old and younger! I wanted to ask you about turning eggs before incubation You said the turkey eggs were in the fridge for 2 weeks before you started incubation? Did you turn them during incubation, or is this really necessary? I put eggs into cartons for customer pickup and turn them several times a day, always an odd number of times, but is that necessary or what? I also had a customer who bought hatching eggs from me 3 times, twice without success, because he listened to someone on the net, that was teaching people to lower humidity to have a "dry hatch" to increase air space. I think I finally talked some sense into him to up the humidity, because he finally got a good hatch and didn't need any more eggs. I don't know why, but common sense just isn't very common anymore! I don't mean to be so gruff, but some people keep hitting the"A" and think they will eventually Get a "B" to print!

Celie, is he tracking the air sell development??? THat is always my guide to a correct humidity level. Porters likes to up the humidity at hatch --80% for the last 3 days

Is this what you do??

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I think like most thisngs, a small number can give clues but to make good clear conclusions, large numbers of eggs manged in two ways and compared would be necesssary to determine if one method was better than another.

With 100% hatch-- WHOOT!!! Perhaps the key is how cold the refrig is and maybe it holds the eggs better when turning is not part of the management.

I'm still perfecting my hatching techniques!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Sorry, Julie, all I have left are 3 days old and younger! I wanted to ask you about turning eggs before incubation You said the turkey eggs were in the fridge for 2 weeks before you started incubation? Did you turn them during incubation, or is this really necessary? I put eggs into cartons for customer pickup and turn them several times a day, always an odd number of times, but is that necessary or what? I also had a customer who bought hatching eggs from me 3 times, twice without success, because he listened to someone on the net, that was teaching people to lower humidity to have a "dry hatch" to increase air space. I think I finally talked some sense into him to up the humidity, because he finally got a good hatch and didn't need any more eggs. I don't know why, but common sense just isn't very common anymore! I don't mean to be so gruff, but some people keep hitting the"A" and think they will eventually Get a "B" to print!

Celie, is he tracking the air sell development??? THat is always my guide to a correct humidity level. Porters likes to up the humidity at hatch --80% for the last 3 days 

Is this what you do??

80% humidity?????????? Why so high????

 

[Arielle]

Quote: 80% humidity?????????? Why so high????
THe theory is to soften the shell. You can read his hatching guide posted on the Porters web site. Figure he must know what he is doing. With all my attempts at hatching I have found sometimes eggs will hatch with out increasing the humidity. IMO fast zipping chicks or poults don't benefit from the high humidity, the rather slow ones do by not drying out. Just my opinion in my limited experience.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Sorry, Julie, all I have left are 3 days old and younger! I wanted to ask you about turning eggs before incubation You said the turkey eggs were in the fridge for 2 weeks before you started incubation? Did you turn them during incubation, or is this really necessary? I put eggs into cartons for customer pickup and turn them several times a day, always an odd number of times, but is that necessary or what? I also had a customer who bought hatching eggs from me 3 times, twice without success, because he listened to someone on the net, that was teaching people to lower humidity to have a "dry hatch" to increase air space. I think I finally talked some sense into him to up the humidity, because he finally got a good hatch and didn't need any more eggs. I don't know why, but common sense just isn't very common anymore! I don't mean to be so gruff, but some people keep hitting the"A" and think they will eventually Get a "B" to print!

Celie, is he tracking the air sell development??? THat is always my guide to a correct humidity level. Porters likes to up the humidity at hatch --80% for the last 3 days 


Is this what you do??

80% humidity?????????? Why so high????

THe theory is to soften the shell. You can read his hatching guide posted on the Porters web site.  Figure he must know what he is doing. With all my attempts at hatching I have found sometimes eggs will hatch with  out increasing the humidity. IMO fast zipping chicks or poults don't benefit from the high humidity, the rather slow ones do by not drying out. Just my opinion in my limited experience. 

Makes perfect sense. I read on BYC that high humidity would drown the baby. Now I know better. Softening the shell will surely help those babies get out of there quicker. I had a few poults that had a hard time getting out of the shell. One baby took almost 3 days to get out. I had to help it out or else it wouls have died. So, if i would have increased the humidity to 80, the poult would not have had so much trouble getting out of the shell. I will have to read more on that site.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Arielle]

I read a TON before trying to hatch because of all the drowings I was terrified to hatch. THen it dawned on me it was the days of incubation that was key. That the air cells needed to increase substantially, and the weight of the eggs decrease substantially, so the chick or poult can be small enough to internally pip and then twist for the zip. My first try was 50% hatch and I was THRILLED. Had better hatches, and worse, in subsequent hatchings.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I read a TON before trying to hatch because of all the drowings I was terrified to hatch. THen it dawned on me it was the days of incubation that was key. That the air cells needed to increase substantially, and the weight of the eggs decrease substantially, so the chick or poult can be small enough to internally pip and then twist for the zip.  My first try was 50% hatch and I was THRILLED. Had better hatches, and worse, in subsequent hatchings. 

I guess I'll have to try 80% humidity although I am afraid of such high humidity but I know that the experts know better. The only thing is that even with both water trays filled with water, I only get 40% humidity. I guess that I will have to put a small dish with water in the incubator in addition to having both water trays filled.

 

[larry529]

call meyer hatchery and say extension 140.. a girl named linda will answer.. she works in customer service, but also has bourbon reds and hatches hundreds of them... she can help you with exact humidity, etc... very nice woman and helpful..