Which option is best?

[Arielle]

I have about 10 turkey eggs, the oldest is about 11 days. I have only 1 incubator on day 20. Can I add the 10 turkey eggs? Keep them in storage (62 degrees) or find/make another incubator?? And why.

Edited for clarification: Turkey eggs are in the incubator on day 20.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Since this is in the turkey section, I'm assuming the eggs in the incubator are turkey eggs and are due to hatch in another 8 days. That's pretty obvious but sometimes its good to state the obvious. The 8 days is an approximation. They could be early or late by a couple of days.

You do have some options. You can store them in 62 degrees Fahrenheit and turn them several times a day. It would help if you could keep the humidity up some where you are storing them. Eggs decrease in hatchability after about two weeks, but not that much if you store them in close-to-ideal conditions. Part of that depends on how you have been storing them. Of course, the longer they go the higher the risk. You will risk losing some hatchability but you still have a chance of most of the eggs hatching. It is not ideal, but not necessarily a total disaster. This is my second choice.

Another incubator is the ideal solution. If you make something, I suggest you just make a hatcher and when these eggs go into lockdown, lock them down in the hatcher. You can start out setting up your humidity where you want it for hatching and not have to worry about bumping it up when you put the eggs in lockdown. You don't have to worry about turning them either. And your incubator is not that hard to clean if you don't hatch in it.

At the very bottom of my list is adding them to the current incubator now and leave them in there during lockdown. What do you do during lockdown on the first eggs? Turn or not turn the new eggs? If you open the incubator to turn them, you risk shrink wrapping the hatching chicks. I've done that so I know it can happen, even if some others won't admit it is possible. Where do you set the humidity during lockdown? I think your odds of two successful hatches really drop if you try to do a staggered hatch in the same incubator.

 

[dragontamer56]

Well I don't know if you have turkeys or not but i'm in the same situation. I got surprised by 25 quail eggs and 6 chicken eggs, and i already had a lot of turkey eggs in the incubator. What i am doing is letting one of my Bourbon red turkeys hatch out the poults. Nobody is sitting on the eggs yet, but they all started laying in the pile. It is up to 8 turkey eggs maybe more now.

 

[Arielle]

Rigde runner--thank you for the super detailed explanation. Very helpful.

dragontamer56--good you have a broody hen to help out; I was specifically told this hen I bought is not good at mothering. Which is fine by me.