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Well im pretty sure i lost the entire hatch! Grabbing the eggs, two at a time over a few hour period through the view windows, i was able to candle them rapidly without opening the entire unit and this did not affect the temp/hum drastically, i have three thermometer/hum gauges in the unit and it only varied 1 degree and quicky returned every time i took some out. Just letting you know that i dont think this was the cause of my problems. I don't know what happened! 25 days of 99.5 degrees with 55% humidity and lots of movement. On the night of the 25th (because i placed them at night and also have read that you can be somewhat off on this, but i was pretty exact) I kicked the humidity up to 75% and left them alone for a solid 24 hrs. On the night of the 26th day i grabbed 6 eggs through the view window and candled them (2 at a time, then waited about 20 minutes before grabbing 2 more to make sure the levels stayed the same) and one had some movement but had not pipped and one indeed had pipped (making me think that the hum was good enough to allow them to break the "thicker turkey membrane") so i left them for another 24 - 36 hrs. The morning of the 28th day (today) i grabbed the one that had pipped and checked him again, dead! no movement. I opened it up and it appeared normal, only dead. It broke through the membrane and when i checked it on the 26th day it was pecking at the shell, but only got that far, didnt even have any hairline fractures when i candled it on the 28th morning. Took him completely out of the egg and he was lifeless. Continued to candle the rest and nobody had broken the membrane and all were lifeless. I still have them in there and am going to wait until tomorrow night, the night of the 29th day to open them and investigate. I have had real good success with chickens they just seem to be much more resistent to things, but these turkeys are killing me! (Actually they are killing themselves, or im killing them not sure which) They take longer and seem to be so much more delicate. What happened? I also lowered the temp when i kicked up the humidity because i have read that this helps as a temp spike with so much humidity can kill the poult, i feel i did everything right according to alot of what i have read here on this site (and i have read many, many posts on incubating chicken and turkey eggs). Could this be due to mal-positioning? Should i have laid them down to hatch? Also i feel that i should have helped my only pipper when he was still alive, i should have opened the shell for him, gave em a hand. All three of my females are currently laying eggs and in about a week or so ill be ready for another batch, but ill have about 30 eggs! I dont want the next hatch to fail, help!!!
COLBYNTX ---- I live about 20-22 hours from woods to the south, i feel we may have the same outdoor temp / humidity, what is your method? Temps/hum? how many days? Lockdown? You hatch laying down right? Did you notice if i was missing or did soemthing wrong? Hatching chicks really boosted my ego but now with these turkeys im feeling quite the failure, help me please.
20-22 hours south of me, are you walking or taking a boat or in Central Mexico?
I'm only 2 hours drive from the Gulf! I hatch all of mine on their side. I candle 1X at 2 weeks and then when I move them to lockdown on day 25. I don't touch them or open the bator again until they hatch. I run my incubators at 99.5 with 45% humidity. I only run my humidity at 65% and 98.6 in my hatcher.
