What is you average hatch rate for heratige turkeys?

[frizzlelove83]

Hey Yall!
im wondering what everyones average hatch rate is for heratige turkeys? Mine is 27% is that good or bad?

 

[R2elk]

Hey Yall!
I'm wondering what everyone's average hatch rate is for heritage turkeys? Mine is 27% is that good or bad?

That is really bad. What is your procedure and are these local or shipped eggs? If it is shipped eggs it is not so bad.

 

[frizzlelove83]

i breed slate and Narragansett turkeys myself. what is your hatch rate?
in finding my hatch rate i use total number of eggs set whether or not them ended up being fert

 

[R2elk]

i breed slate and Narragansett turkeys myself. what is your hatch rate?
in finding my hatch rate i use total number of eggs set whether or not them ended up being fert

The formula is to divide the hatched eggs by the number of fertile eggs. If you are having a fertility problem, that is not the same as having a hatching problem.

I have had up to 100% fertility and up to 100% hatch.

Low fertility can be caused by having too many toms with too few hens. I try to keep at least 4 to 5 hens for one tom. If too many toms are kept together with too few hens such as a 1:1 ratio, low fertility can be pretty much guaranteed. Toms fail to complete the breeding act because rival toms knock them off of the hen's back before the act is completed. This leads to low fertility issues along with injured and even dead hens.

If your issue is actual hatching, we need to know the method that you are using in order to try to figure out what your problem is.

 

[frizzlelove83]

Method- artificial Brinsea octagon 48
Hatch rate- 27%
Temperature- 99.5/100.5
Humidity- Incubation 20%, Lock down 60-70%
my fertility is good and when i have sent them to other people they have always had a lot of success with my eggs. For example today someone just hatches 10/12 Narragansett eggs for us only 2 infertile. I have 1 narry tom and 3 hens

 

[R2elk]

Method- artificial Brinsea octagon 48
Hatch rate- 27%
Temperature- 99.5/100.5
Humidity- Incubation 20%, Lock down 60-70%
my fertility is good and when i have sent them to other people they have always had a lot of success with my eggs. For example today someone just hatches 10/12 Narragansett eggs for us only 2 infertile. I have 1 narry tom and 3 hens

If it is a forced air incubator, the temperature should be at 99.5°F. Humidity at 20% is probably an unknown. Humidity needs to be checked against a known accurate hygrometer. Many cheap hygrometers only measure down to 20 so a reading of 20% could be 20% or it could also be 0%. Twenty percent humidity is too low in my opinion.

I use a forced air cabinet incubator set at 99.5°F. Humidity is maintained around 30% during incubation and about 70% for lockdown.

I am assuming that you are not NPIP certified so are you illegally shipping hatching eggs across state lines? Every state has animal import regulations and hatching eggs are treated as live poultry for import purposes. Almost all states require a minimum of NPIP VS Form 9-3 although several states will accept a Veterinary Certificate of Health of the originating flock.

 

[frizzlelove83]

it is a forced air incubator. And i am NPIP, also i only give eggs to people who i know personally and live in the same county as me

 

[mandelyn]

I'm on my first Turkey hatch from my own eggs, set 11 eggs and 10 developed. One hatched last night, 4 more are pipped, so we'll see what the end result is. I run two incubators for staggered hatches, 99.5-100.1 is the range they've been running at, a Hovabator fan model for incubation and the Sportsman with fan for hatching. I have two more batches of Turkeys going, due the 17th and the 5th. I aim for 40% humidity during incubation, but it ranges from 25%-50% depending on the water level, runs higher when I refill it, dips when it gets dry.

This batch hatching now I expected last Wednesday, so either I did bad math and something caused them to take longer. Didn't have any power outages or temp issues, so I'm guessing bad math.

I was worried about a poor rate for the first batch due to winter rations... the adults weren't getting greens yet and they were on a 16% layer feed with the chickens, with game feed mixed in once the temps started warming. Now they're getting Turkey breeder rations with daily grass so I'm curious to see the difference.

Have hatched tons of chicken eggs, but have only ever raised well started poults (after that 2 week in age mark) Unless I'm using shipped eggs, I normally see 95%+ hatches from my own eggs.

The fan model incubators have proven to reduce hatching issues dramatically. The humidity regulates better, stays more consistent. When I was using a still air, running it low on water helped. Filling the tray as directed made it too wet and there were issues.

With the diet the parent stock was getting when they first started laying, I have vitamin water and gamebird starter ready for these once they move to the brooder.

But yeah, the only time I ever had a hatch rate as low as 27%, it was from shipped eggs. Diet of the breeding stock matters much more for shipping eggs, to make them "sturdier" and more resilient during transit, unless the box just gets shaken enough to scramble them or detach the air cells.

Is your hatch rate from one batch, or has it been consistent?

Right now we have 2 pairs, separated to keep the toms from bickering. We worked in breeder stalls into the barn, so each pair has 5x6 inside space and 15x25 outside space.

 

[frizzlelove83]

for feed we mix 18% protein all flock, with 21% meat maker and scratch grains occasionaly. My hatch rate the first year i incubated turkeys was horrible (but i had electricity problems), last year i only had a 5% hatch rate and this year was 27% so i am making improvements, but i want to get above 50%

 

[frizzlelove83]

this is a link to the incubator i use: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/brinsea-octagon-40-advance-egg-incubator.html
i also have 2 styrofoam tabletops
at my school we have 3 sportsman 1520 that i will be able to use for next year so i really want to get a good method going so i can have a really good hatch rate!