wild turkeys

[golfdiva]

About 10 days ago DH was working on the property and our dog brought him a turkey egg. He looked around and found the nest undistrubed, it had 8 more eggs in it, and since the egg was intact, he returned it to the nest.

2 days later he wanted to show me the nest, but when we got there, no turkeys were around and 5 of the eggs were broken! 4 eggs were still good, so I took them and put them in my incubator. They have been there for a week now.

Is there any chance they will hatch?

[Evy]

Yes. I once hatched 2 that a friends dog had ROLLED across an acre of pasture & she had left sitting on her porch for a couple days. These were very close to term so your success will depend on a lot of variables. If they do, you'll want a high protein starter for turkeys / gamebirds.

[golfdiva]

Thanks! That was going to be my next question...if'n any of them hatched!

I suspect, from what I've read about wild turkeys, that she had not yet begun to brood. I have the eggs in a Hovabater - 1605? - that I've only used once before. So far the temp is holding at 100 and the humidity at 50%.

[Dondoyle26]

If you do manage to hatch any of the eggs I wouldnt advertise where you got them. May open a whole can of worms for you.

[golfdiva]

Yes, I've been meaning to check out that issue, just haven't gotten around to it!

[golfdiva]

HEY! I came home at about 10:00 pm tonight to find a teeny beak poking out of a small hole in one of the eggs!! Keep your collective fingers crossed for me please!

[KandBinMN]

We salvaged a nest many years ago after a swatter took care of the mother. That time a banty hen hatched them and they were devils to get to eat. I didn't have meal worms as they weren't as widely available at pet stores, so I would wet the food and put it on my finger and wag it around. It worked, they learned what food was. They ran loose happily on and around my grandparents farm for years. I also hatched pheasants due to a swatter mishap a few years ago. The guy knew I was a softy and brought me the whole nest after he tried to avoid hitting the nest and did so, but the hen flew right into the swatter. Every single egg hatched and she must have barely been sitting on them because they took the full incubation period in my incubator. Best of luck.

[golfdiva]

<heavy sigh>

It didn't make it. It had chipped almost all the way around the shell and was trying to push out. But then it died. Oh well.