Candling Turkey Eggs, and the science of turning eggs...

[Deep Roots]

We decided to give hatching our turkeys a whirl instead of buying poults this year.
We chucked some eggs in an incubator set it for "turkey" and now we wait... Except its not that easy

Couple questions have come up.
It's really really hard to see through the thick dark shells of the turkey eggs. But... we are starting to make out differences in the eggs. Our auto egg turner was pretty crummy and we baled on it after day 6 and have been turning them by hand. We are not seeing even growth on all sides of the yolk. Mainly just about 1/3rd of the egg is dark and it rotates with the shell. A couple we figure are infertile have the yolk that still floats and spins as we move the egg. The ones that have the bigger dark area that kind of stays put... is that normal? Is that from the turning issue? Do turkeys naturally turn their own eggs?
Lots of turning questions. We have a 2nd incubator running with our next 14 eggs about a week behind the first batch. We are being way more diligent about turning those early and making sure there is plenty of humidity. Sitting at 101f and 55%. Sound about right for you folks that have been doing this a while? Sill air on the 2nd incubator. Fan one is at 98.4 and really really humid. no humidistat to measure.
Jon

 

[R2elk]

We decided to give hatching our turkeys a whirl instead of buying poults this year.
We chucked some eggs in an incubator set it for "turkey" and now we wait... Except its not that easy

Couple questions have come up.
It's really really hard to see through the thick dark shells of the turkey eggs. But... we are starting to make out differences in the eggs. Our auto egg turner was pretty crummy and we baled on it after day 6 and have been turning them by hand. We are not seeing even growth on all sides of the yolk. Mainly just about 1/3rd of the egg is dark and it rotates with the shell. A couple we figure are infertile have the yolk that still floats and spins as we move the egg. The ones that have the bigger dark area that kind of stays put... is that normal? Is that from the turning issue? Do turkeys naturally turn their own eggs?
Lots of turning questions. We have a 2nd incubator running with our next 14 eggs about a week behind the first batch. We are being way more diligent about turning those early and making sure there is plenty of humidity. Sitting at 101f and 55%. Sound about right for you folks that have been doing this a while? Sill air on the 2nd incubator. Fan one is at 98.4 and really really humid. no humidistat to measure.
Jon

What you are seeing during candling is normal at this early stage.

Broody turkey hens do turn their eggs.

In a still air incubator, 101°F measured at the top of the eggs is fine.

I try for around 30% humidity when incubating turkey eggs.

98.4°F is too low for a forced air incubator. You should be aiming for 99.5° to 100°F. While it isn't necessary to know what the actual humidity is, it is necessary to either weigh the eggs weekly or at least candle and check the air cell. The air cell needs to be expanding or the poults will not hatch. They will reach mature growth and die in the shell.

Get a hygrometer and do a salt test on it. You can learn about humidity from the article on it whose link is in @WVduckchick 's signature.

 

[WVduckchick]

Thanks @R2elk

I agree with R2elk’s comments.
Turning the eggs is what helps the network of blood vessels spread throughout the whole egg. If you didn’t turn them, it can still spread, but the turning helps keep it from attaching to one side

This is around day 6 I think, call duck egg, halfway thru a turn. Is this similar to what you are seeing?

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh, and for trouble seeing into the eggs, get a flashlight with a high number of lumens. 250+ lumens works great, even on the darkest/densest shells.

 

[Deep Roots]

Thanks @R2elk

I agree with R2elk’s comments.
Turning the eggs is what helps the network of blood vessels spread throughout the whole egg. If you didn’t turn them, it can still spread, but the turning helps keep it from attaching to one side

This is around day 6 I think, call duck egg, halfway thru a turn. Is this similar to what you are seeing?
View attachment 2070658

That’s exactly what we are seeing. Good to know its normal. We have a couple duds but the rest look like your pick at ten days except darker.

 

[Deep Roots]

Oh, and for trouble seeing into the eggs, get a flashlight with a high number of lumens. 250+ lumens works great, even on the darkest/densest shells.

I have a 400lumen that makes them glow but our heritage breeds have dense deep red speckles so you pretty much have to spin the egg while you are looking thru it to make out any detail what so ever. We are hoping to give our mallards a whirl after turkey season and those eggs are almost transparent which will be nice. We will have 3 batches of turkey eggs going we are hoping for 75% hatching but I've no clue what a first timer average is. We will have 38 eggs in incubators after today. In groups of roughly 12. Last year we had some poults a month apart and that was too far apart. The big ones kept picking on the little ones and we had to separate them.

 

[R2elk]

I have a 400lumen that makes them glow but our heritage breeds have dense deep red speckles so you pretty much have to spin the egg while you are looking thru it to make out any detail what so ever. We are hoping to give our mallards a whirl after turkey season and those eggs are almost transparent which will be nice. We will have 3 batches of turkey eggs going we are hoping for 75% hatching but I've no clue what a first timer average is. We will have 38 eggs in incubators after today. In groups of roughly 12. Last year we had some poults a month apart and that was too far apart. The big ones kept picking on the little ones and we had to separate them.

When you say spin the egg, I am hoping that you mean turn it slowly. Do not spin hatching eggs and do not constantly turn them in the same direction.

 

[Deep Roots]

When you say spin the egg, I am hoping that you mean turn it slowly. Do not spin hatching eggs and do not constantly turn them in the same direction.

We handle them gently. I just meant slowly rotate it over the end of the flashlight. Not play spin the egg and see how it lands...

 

[R2elk]

We handle them gently. I just meant slowly rotate it over the end of the flashlight. Not play spin the egg and see how it lands...

You should make an effort to turn the egg in the opposite direction every other time.

 

[Deep Roots]

We aren't exactly scientific with our turning. We just attempt to roll it gently 180ish each time every 8 hours. We also have three batches all on the same schedule so we make sure to do them all the same. Once they get to one side of the pan we reverse and they roll back the other way to the other side. Prob takes about 6 rotations to get all the way from side to side.