Wednesday, April 15, 2009

New arrivals - turkey poults


We're starting to hatch serious quantities of turkeys. This batch is a variety of breeds; eastern wild, narragansett, blue slate, black spanish and bourbon red. when I hatch the eggs it's always a little nerve racking; other than candling them to see if they're developing, you never know how many you'll get. Some of the poults die right at the end. Thankfully we're getting good hatch rates this year .



Steps to take to make your hatch better:


Collect your eggs a couple of times a day and store them in a temperature-stable environment, like your house. 60 degrees works for me. Don't wash or mess with them at all. Put them in an egg carton or rack and let them be.

Let them warm up to room temperature slowly (70-80 degrees) before you put them in the incubator. I like at least 4 hours to bring them up that 20 degrees.

Make sure your incubator is set correctly for what you're hatching; both temperature and humidity need to be checked.


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