Just imagine the life of a baby turkey. How long do they have to be in that little egg?
Turkeys and confederate.
Our flock of turkeys gave us eggs this springs. We decided to incubate them inside to keep skunks from eating them. While incubating turkey eggs you must make sure that the humidity and heat is set just right. The temperature in the incubator needs to be 99 degrees F the humidity set at 50-60%.
The incubator we use has water channels in the bottom to help with the humidity. It took some time to figure out how much water to put in.
Once the humidity and temperature stabilizes, put your turkey eggs in. Make sure to put a mark, we used an X and an O to label each side of the egg. This helps to show what eggs need to be turned. Make sure the eggs aren’t crowding each other. For the first 24 hours do not rotate the eggs. After the first 24 hours, rotate the eggs. Turn at least twice a day for 28 days. After a week or so, you can use a light to ‘candle’ the eggs to check the fertility. When I would get the chance I would turn off all the lights and candle the eggs to see if the turkey was alive.
When the baby turkeys start to hatch you will feel so accomplished, I know I was.
I have 6 baby turkeys myself, and I incubated them. I didn’t actually think they would hatch, but they did. Each afternoon, weather permitting, I get them out of their tote, and let them run around outside. They enjoyed the fresh air. The little turkey poults look so happy eating bugs, and trying out their little wings. At dusk I gather them up and take them inside, place them under the heat lamp to keep them warm.
Having these little turkeys in my life is just the cherry on top.
Story by Molly Clegg, HS Intern
