What am I doing right/wrong...first time tying this...turkey eggs

[Turkeyrangler]

Hi, I'm new to this forum.

I cross posted this message from the Turkey part of this board so delete or move as you see fit.

Just want to mention, Thanks for all the info I've picked up in the last few days looking at this board. You all are great!!!

A week ago a friend of mine gave me 6 turkey eggs to try to hatch. Supposedly Eastern wild turkeys that hadn't been set yet. I haven't tried anything like this since I was in grade school. I live in the country and have 23 acres with lots of hardwoods and a large yard. He figured that since I had the space he would give me the extra eggs. I went to the local feed store and bought an incubator(little giant still air). I placed the eggs in an egg carton large end up for about 6 hours. I had no idea how long they had sat before coming to room temp. I then placed them in the incubator on May 3, 2010 at 4:30pm and have been turning them three times per day since that time. Tonight when I got home I rigged up a light to candle the eggs and it appears that all 6 are developing. I see veins in all 6 and have compared them to pics I've seen in the site. They, at least seem to be developing.

My temps are pretty consistent between 98.7 F and 100.5 F; 99.6 F or so being the average currently. I tried to keep the average at 99.0 but the incubator didn't want to agree with me. I have two thermometers, the one that came with the LG and and digital that I bought both being set about 1 inch above the mesh that the eggs sit on. Luckily both seem to be calibrated right and match the temps of another one I trust. My room temp is fairly stable at close to 70.0 F with no drafts and such. It's my computer room and the incubator is right here on my desk as I type this. Since the LG incubators are notorious for being hard to get to settle down I glued a 1 inch disk of cardboard to the thermostat adjustment knob and marked it when it settled at 99.5. I can make small adjustments as needed. My humidity is at about 55 percent give or take 3-4 percent either way depending on time of day.

Now, I have raised both salt water and fresh water fish to breeding states. I have raised and sold freshwater discus fish for profit if anyone is familiar with this. This takes meticulous care to reach this point. I'm applying the same care to these eggs. BTW, I don't take this for grated since this is all Greek to me at this point, but I'm trying to learn. I want all of my babes to have a grand old life.

Questions that I have. Do I maintain the current temps and humidity up till day 25 when I lock down??. How is the best way in an LG to raise the humidity up to 70+ for hatching if I get that far??

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[paddock36]

I don't have one of those types of incubators so I really can't say for sure, but is there anywhere that you can add a wet sponge or do you have openings in the incubator that can be closed? Both of these would increase humidity in my incubator so I can only guess it would do the same in yours. Hope it helps.

 

[onthespot]

I haven't hatched that many, but they have nearly all hatched, with a lot less meticulous care than you give. Mine have tolerated temp spikes, and I run my humidity a little lower than yours, probably around 35% and they seem to do okay. I sure do hope you hatch your turkeys, Sounds like a little slice of heeaven for them at your place.

 

[dbcooper02]

Your temp sounds a little low for a still air. I looked up the LG instructions on line and see it does call for 99.5 degrees, but that isn't right for a still air incubator. It should be 101.5 or so measured at the top of the eggs.
The LG instructions refer you to here: http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/incubation.pdf
Page 3 of this document explains the different temps for forced air and still air incubators.

 

[lemurchaser]

My first thought was that your temps are too low, but if you're measuring at 1 " above the mesh you're about right on.

Best way to raise the humidity is to use sponges or wet cloths to increase the surface area that can evaporate. I always found that if I fill all the troughs I get it up to about 65%, and usually I just leave it at that. But I've done crumpled wet paper towels on the mesh to up humidity if I need.