Turkey eggs not hatching

Taco Bear

31 days ago, I put 32 turkey eggs into an incubator. I've been turning them three times a day, every day, until day 25 when I stopped turning them.

I used the candler on them on day 15, and 17 eggs had movement in them.

On day 31 (yesterday), one egg hatched. Today (day 32) there is another egg shaking and rocking. The others aren't doing anything at all.

They're taking longer to hatch than I thought they should. How long do you think I should keep waiting for the others to hatch before declaring it a lost cause?

Thanks.

gazahayes

Make sure the humidity is high enough turkey eggs are that bit thicker to try crack.

Taco Bear

gazahayse,

I have the two water trays full i could try putting more water in but when does it become a hopeless case, its day 33 now.

gazahayes

Not too sure about that. Never had great results from turkey eggs whatever it is about them. Their supposed to do well under a broody hen tho. You'd have to candle them to see if there's anything going on with them and if you think their still good try spray them with a little water every few hours.

Graces7

If you can hear/see movement, you can assist/ I had to do this many times for the same reasons. If the turkeys have been fed a high grit diet, the shells may well be too thick. Poor wee chicks die trying to get out.

If you can hear tapping, very gently crack the shell by the noise. Carefully... Often that is enough to help. Always slowly does it. If you get the wrong end the chick can bleed to death if too early, but in this case that does not apply.

I used to keep close watch as the time was near and knew which chicks were finding it too hard.

The worst were peachicks and the same reason; shells too hard.

pheasant tail

OP the hygiene might be a problem here,did you disinfect the eggs before putting them into the incubator? Humidity is very important in the last few days.