Incubating Wild Turkey Eggs - Help Needed

[bramblebrae]

Hi All -
Looking for help with incubating wild turkey eggs. Have Rio Grandes and just finished a disastrous hatch with my new GQF incubator. Out of 20 eggs, about half were infertile. Of the remaining eggs, all developed into complete chicks, but only one successfully pipped out and is healthy and normal and alive now.
I used the Genesis incubator - the auto fan and auto thermostat one, and did not adjust the settings at all. I had chicken eggs in with the turkey eggs. The only turkey that hatched did so on day 27, and ALL the chickens hatched on day 20 (I added the chicken eggs after the turks had been in a week). I increased humidity and stopped turning all eggs 3 days before hatch. All eggs cleaned with warm, dilute Betadine/H20 solution before putting in bator.

Does anyone have any ideas about what I should do differently next time? I will definitely not put chickens in with turks again - all the chicken eggs hatched, so I think the preset settings from GQF were determined for chickens. What do you think about differing humidity needs for wild turkey eggs vs. chicken eggs?
And, should I turn down the temp as everyone who hatched out did so a day early?
Thank you for your help!! Included pics of the one poult who was successful - Andy

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

What was your humidty during incubation? Alot of times when the chicks/ poults fully form but don't pip the shell the RH is to high during the incubation.

Our incubators run right at 100F or just a hair less 99.8, in that range and our poults hatch about like yours on day 27. I wouldn't change the temp for now.

Did you have anyway to check the RH during the incubation? We have used a hovabator in the past I guess the water trays are still the same? If so we kept the "L" shaped slot full during incubation and added water to the straight one for hatching. Plus I would mist the eggs if I had to open it.

Steve in NC

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Sounds if you had too high of humidity during the inc process or the eggs had a bacteria of some sort .

Did they pip and then die or did they die in the shell with no pip ??

The temp being too high would give you the early hatch. we run our cabinets average of 100 and get all hatches 12 hrs early or right on time.

 

[bramblebrae]

Followed incubator directions explicitly as far as which trays to fill and when, I checked humidity during last 3 days with electronic hygrometer and it read 77%. All the unhatched eggs were not pipped at all, but had feathered poults inside. Bummer! I am inclined to turn the temp down and re-attempt if I can find some Rio eggs locally. Will research the humidity issue further....

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

yes the directions on them bators are not right, they work for chickens but not the more fragile eggs like turkeys.

We run our humidity about 35-45% during the inc process and then bump it up to 60-70% for the last 3 days.

Sounds like to me they are breaking thru the first sac right before they would pip and they are drowning or they are hitting a bacteria at that time and dying.

Was their any crusties around their beaks or like a yellow crust any where when you broke them open ??

 

[tbone]

the hatch on day 27 might not be an early hatch but a late hatch as true wild birds hatch on day 25-26....

 

[taraann81]

Quote:
So does this mean I should move my turkeys to the hatcher earlier than day 27? i was told the take 30 days. Is this incorrect?

ETA. Okay I was exhausted last night when I wrote this, I know they take 28 days. Mine are DUE on the 30th. I shouldn't type when i'm exhausted.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

So does this mean I should move my turkeys to the hatcher earlier than day 27? i was told the take 30 days. Is this incorrect?

normal is 28 days from start to finish

you stop turning and set to hatch at 25 days and hatch at 28 days, give 30 days foe the late ones.​

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
So does this mean I should move my turkeys to the hatcher earlier than day 27? i was told the take 30 days. Is this incorrect?

We stop turning at day 25 and ours pip late day 26 or early day 27 and usually hatch day 27 with the later ones on day 28. I don't recall ever having any poults hatch at 30 days, that's normally when I pull the eggs and trash them is day 30. We have found the strongest ones always hatch first, when we are hatching future "breeders" I always mark them so we can tell when it comes culling time.

Steve in NC