Features of incubation of turkey eggs

Turkey eggs have a high hatchability rate. Therefore, instead of buying turkey poultry every year, it is advisable to purchase an incubator once and remove the chicks from their eggs on their own. Consider how incubation of turkey eggs takes place, what temperature and humidity should be in the incubator, and how often hatching eggs should be turned over.

Features of incubation of turkey eggs

Select an incubator

Before reviewing To talk about how incubation of turkey eggs takes place at home, we’ll say a few words about equipment that can’t be dispensed with. To breed turkey poultry, you need to get an incubator .

Today there are many models on sale. with the size of the incubator. If you are not going to engage in breeding of birds in industrial sizes, then it is enough to do with medium-sized equipment. If you plan to sell chicks, then purchase incubators with a capacity of 70-100 eggs.

Pay attention to the functionality of the incubator. It is desirable that it be equipped with an egg flipping function. With such equipment, the process does not take much time.If it is not possible to purchase an automatic incubator, which is quite expensive, then opt for semi-automatic models. Their price is much lower, but the revolution of the entire masonry is carried out by pressing the lever.

We will not dwell on this issue. If you have questions, you can consult with specialists in the store. We only mention that blitz 72 incubators are especially popular.

Egg selection and preparation

In many respects, the percentage of hatchability depends on the quality of the hatching egg. First of all, it should be fresh. Therefore, you need to collect eggs immediately before laying in the incubator (7-10 days). Since the incubation conditions will be the same, it is desirable to select eggs of the same size. Immediately discard specimens that have damage or defects (cracks, chips). Also throw irregularly shaped eggs to the side.

Peculiarities of storing hatching eggs

Whether or not turkeys are successful in incubation, it largely depends on the correct storage of eggs. It should be understood that the longer the shelf life of the material, the less likely the hatchability of chicks. So, on day 5, the probability that a viable chick will be born is 84.5%, and by the tenth day this probability drops to 73.3%. After 25 days, this probability is 0.

We store the hatching eggs before laying in special trays where they can be placed vertically.We lay the eggs so that their blunt edge is on top. After 4 days of storage, turn the eggs on the other side. If you initially lay eggs in a mess, then it is easy to get confused which of them are upside down and which are not. And if you do not carry out a coup, the embryo may form incorrectly. As a result, even if a chick appears, it will turn out to be unviable.

In order for the hatching egg to be viable, we store it at a temperature of 12-140С. It is also necessary to provide 80% humidity in the room.

Disinfection and egg cleaning

Before laying in the incubator, the eggs are not washed, but only cleaned of dirt. Before you put them in the incubator, you need to remove all debris, if any, and disinfect. To do this, it is advisable to use potassium permanganate, glutex or hydrogen peroxide. Disinfect the eggs after they have warmed to room temperature.

During the disinfection at home, do not bathe the material prepared for laying in the bath from potassium permanganate or another antiseptic. It is enough to treat it with a napkin soaked in an antiseptic. You should not wipe turkey eggs either. Let them dry naturally.

Both large and small eggs often do not produce viable chicks. Therefore, we stop the selection of medium-sized specimens.

Ovoscopy

Eggs should be checked for suitability

To check whether a hatching turkey egg is fertilized, you can use special equipment called the ovoscope . When illuminating an incubation egg, one should pay attention to the presence of various clots inside, which indicate that these specimens are unsuitable for incubation of turkey poults.

The ideal specimens for incubation are those eggs in which:

• the yolk, which does not have clear boundaries, is located in the center;
• the air chamber is located at the blunt end;
• the protein has no inclusions and is transparent;
• the yolk moves very slowly when turned over.

If, during ovoscopy, is detected If microcracks on the egg shell are cracked, it should be discarded.

Incubation in the incubator

Correct laying of turkey eggs is a guarantee of a successful outcome. Before laying, we warm the selected specimens to room temperature. Only after that we load the masonry into the device. Download can be performed vertically or horizontally (it all depends on the design features of the device). When loading vertically, it is very important that the masonry is in the correct position.Lay the eggs in such a way that the sharp end is at the bottom, at an angle of 450 to the trays.

Many problems begin even when you need to make the first turn of the masonry. To avoid difficulties, mark one side of the eggs with a marker. It remains only to remember whether the marked or unmarked side should be visible during the next turn. But this problem occurs only with horizontal loading. When working with a device equipped with an auto-rotate function, you won’t have to rack your brains at all.

We rotate at a specific time. We turn the masonry for the first time after 12 hours. Then, the interval between coups varies from 3-4 to 6 hours. Turn the masonry over at the same time. You can not make a coup in the afternoon every 2 hours, so as not to carry out the procedure at night. This will negatively affect the percentage of hatchability.

periodically spray the masonry. This will not only help maintain the desired humidity level inside the incubator, but also prevent overheating of the masonry. During the first 12 days, spraying should be performed twice a day. Over the next 12 days, we spray the masonry 3 times a day. We don’t perform the procedure in the last 3 days.

Interesting is the fact that when making bookmarks in the north-south direction, the turkeys try to be born a little earlier than the due date. When placing masonry in the east-west direction, the chicks appear no earlier than the deadline.

Incubation at home

The incubator needs to maintain temperature and humidity

Incubating turkey eggs at home is not much different from incubating chicken eggs or hatching other birds. It is necessary to observe a certain temperature regime and maintain the desired level of humidity. The incubation period for turkey eggs is 28 days. Deviations from this period of 1-2 days are allowed. During this time, we change the temperature and humidity levels in the incubator several times. Also, during each period we carry out an egg flipping.

• The first stage lasts 8 days. During this period, the air temperature should be at least 37.50 ° C, and no more than 380 ° C. Humidity levels can vary from 60 to 65%. During this period, we flip the eggs 6 times a day, at regular intervals. If you do not flip the eggs, then there is a chance that the embryo will stick to the shell. During the first period, the circulatory system of the embryo forms, but the embryo is still in the yolk. Therefore, it is impossible to see it when scanned.
• The second stage lasts from the 8th to the 14th day. During this period, the temperature does not change. But the humidity drops to 45-50%. We turn the masonry, as during the first period, 6 times a day.At the end of this period, a clear contour of the embryo is already visible. Also at this stage, you can reject eggs that did not produce a viable embryo. The death of the embryo is indicated by the lack of blood in the circulatory system and a blood ring that looks like a dark spot.
• The third period lasts from the 15th to the 25th day. At this stage, we make sure that the air temperature is 37.50 ° C. Humidity is raised to 65%. During this period, we cool the eggs for 10-15 minutes. Turn the eggs 4 times a day. When the masonry was revealed at the end of this period, it can be seen that the embryo occupied the entire space between the shell. The little turkey should move. Lack of activity indicates fetal freezing.
• The last period lasts 3 days. During this time we do not cool or turn the eggs. We only make sure that the air temperature and humidity level do not change.

After the first stage of incubation, we do ovoscopy again. We discard the instances in which the embryonic circulatory system is not visible.

In order not to confuse anything, the incubation mode of turkey eggs at home should be written in a table. We hang this card near the incubator.

Features of the incubation of turkey poults

The incubation table of turkey eggs at home is slightly different from the incubation tables of other birds.Throughout the entire incubation period, the temperature regime remains almost unchanged. This greatly simplifies the process.

It is also worth noting that when hatching any other birds, eggs need to be turned much less frequently. In the case of turkey poultry, a coup during the first stage is carried out at least 6 times a day. Some experienced poultry houses advise turning eggs up to 12 times a day.

These are perhaps all the features of incubating turkey eggs. The only thing worth mentioning is, perhaps, the selection of specimens for bookmarking in the incubator. We take the eggs from the nest after the turkey has laid about 15 pieces. We select only those specimens that have good weight within the framework of the breed standard. So, for example, turkeys of the North Caucasian bronze breed carry eggs weighing 100 g. It is these instances that we select for incubation. We discard smaller weights.

The most common mistakes

Very often, beginning poultry farmers do not observe the temperature regime, mistakenly believing that slight deviations from the norms will not harm the still hatched turkeys . Overheating the masonry, as well as overcooling, is strictly prohibited. Overheating of the masonry leads to the fact that the embryos of birds die. And even if turkey poults still come to light, they will have deformities. When the masonry overheats, the chicks begin to hatch a little ahead of time. As a rule, the process is uneven.When the masonry is supercooled, weak offspring appears. Chicks have weak legs and swelling may be present. Such turkey poults often die at an early age.

Failure to comply with air humidity regulations also has serious consequences. If the humidity inside the incubator is too low, the weight of the hatching eggs is slightly reduced. In addition, the shell becomes hard. It is very difficult to peck out hardened shells with a soft beak. In addition, chicks are born prematurely, which can negatively affect their health status.

With increased humidity, turkey poults are born later. Some of the chicks in the process of birth are choked with amniotic fluid.

In case of untimely rotation of the masonry, the embryo sticks to the shell, which leads to its death. Therefore, you need to rotate the masonry as many times as indicated in the incubation table.

Conclusion

When outputting poultry is of utmost importance to the incubation regimen. Make for yourself a chart or graph where all the main output parameters will be marked. Mark on the diagram every revolution of the filling material. Only in this way can a high percentage of healthy turkey poultry hatchability be achieved.You should not watch the many existing videos about incubation of turkeys and believe everything that is written on the forums. There are basic norms that you can use to get healthy chicks.