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Author Topic: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)  (Read 9767 times)

Offline Cindi

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Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« on: March 11, 2008, 10:48:09 am »
I have a couple of questions, I am too lazy sometimes and don't have the time to spend to do the research for a couple of quite simple questions, that I bet will get some cool answers, that is me....

First:

When hens are fertilized by the roosters, does that single fertilization only fertilize one egg at a time?  May sound dumb, but I need to know.  Please elaborate as much as you want on it, the more I know, the better I feel, hee, hee...The queen of the beehive is very different, I am familiar with her antics.

What do turkey eggs look like, compare to chicken eggs, duck eggs, elaborate lots.

Do turkeys have a very specific breeding length of time?  How does their fertilization of eggs work, the same as roosters and hens?

Once the turkeys begin to breed, do they begin to lay eggs, or does it matter if they breed or not.  Again, elaborate as much as you need to, please consider me kniave when it comes to this, so tell me everything that you can, I am actually kniave about this and need to know.

Bring on those answers to this lazy girl that just isn't performing the cyberspace research, I can be there will be some great answers coming here.  If there is anything else I need to know, bring it on!!!  Have the most beautiful and wonderful day, groove on this life we lead.  Cindi

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Beesilly

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2008, 09:02:46 pm »
Hello Cindi,
I'm not sure about the rooster question... but there is this wonderful forum on chickens. You could ask here...http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/
About the turkey egg question... http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/animals/eggs.htm
I'm not sure about the rest... I'm sure someone else will fill this out for you. Or you could ask at the chicken forum.
I have 10 chickens! They are so funny!
Have a great night!
Beesilly
P.S.- I hope you don't mind my asking... but can you keep bees close to chickens? I would like to place my TBH, in the chicken run. The hive is very tall, and I dont think the chickens will be able to jump on it and get the bees mad. :shock:

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2008, 12:04:18 am »
I have a couple of questions, I am too lazy sometimes and don't have the time to spend to do the research for a couple of quite simple questions, that I bet will get some cool answers, that is me....

Simple answers for siimple questions,.

Quote
First:

When hens are fertilized by the roosters, does that single fertilization only fertilize one egg at a time?  May sound dumb, but I need to know.  Please elaborate as much as you want on it, the more I know, the better I feel, hee, hee...The queen of the beehive is very different, I am familiar with her antics.

One at a time.  Each egg is fertilized each mating.  If you have several roosters you can get offspring from every rooster in your flock from the same hen although most roosters have their favorites.

Quote
What do turkey eggs look like, compare to chicken eggs, duck eggs, elaborate lots.
 

Bigger, more like a goose egg..

Quote
Do turkeys have a very specific breeding length of time?  How does their fertilization of eggs work, the same as roosters and hens?

Turkeys are more like pheasants and will usually lay for a limited time and set those eggs.  Selective breeding has changed this a bit.

Quote
Once the turkeys begin to breed, do they begin to lay eggs, or does it matter if they breed or not.  Again, elaborate as much as you need to, please consider me kniave when it comes to this, so tell me everything that you can, I am actually kniave about this and need to know.

Again, like pheasants the hen turkeys will lay when bred and for a clutch of eggs.  All hens will llay eggs occassionally, male or no male, but a male is required.
Unfertilized eggs, other than from chickens and ducks bred as egg layers, are sporatic in production.

Quote
Bring on those answers to this lazy girl that just isn't performing the cyberspace research, I can be there will be some great answers coming here.  If there is anything else I need to know, bring it on!!!  Have the most beautiful and wonderful day, groove on this life we lead.  Cindi

Asking is not being lazy, unless you're too lazy to ask.  Get yourself a book on breeding poultry, ie farm fowls.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline Angi_H

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2008, 04:42:42 am »



First:

When hens are fertilized by the roosters, does that single fertilization only fertilize one egg at a time?  May sound dumb, but I need to know.  Please elaborate as much as you want on it, the more I know, the better I feel, hee, hee...The queen of the beehive is very different, I am familiar with her antics.



No It will fertalize several. Up to 3 weeks worth of eggs. It can take up to 3 to 4 weeks after you replace a rooster with a new rooster for you to be able to get egg fertalized by the new rooster. This is something that has been taught for a long time. To keep a hen fertalized you would only need to place a rooster in the pen with the hens once a week. THEY DO NOT ONLY fertalize only one egg at a time but several eggs at a time.  This is all avain genetics class. I will have to see if I can find my book on avain/poultry genetics and type a few things about it. It is much more complex then that like bees but at least the turkeys need a mate for several times to be able to lay during the season.


What do turkey eggs look like, compare to chicken eggs, duck eggs, elaborate lots.


Turkey egg will be bigger then chicken eggs except for the very first few eggs. Turkey eggs will be off white with little brown speckling on them. Turkey eggs will also be very pointed on the pointy end.  I will try to get pictures of our turkey eggs tomorrow if I feel better. Duck eggs will be large and either white or green with a waxy coting on the egg. They will also have a very different feel to them.



Do turkeys have a very specific breeding length of time?


Turkeys have a breeding season Usually from March to June and then again sometimes from Sept to Oct ?Nov depends on weather condition and length of day light hrs. If it is to hot 99% of the time the tom will not be fertile and the eggs wont be fertile. Some times the hens will continue to lay and some times not it all depends on the hen and time if year and what type of summer you are having. They can also start to lay early like mine did in Feb and have fertile eggs in Feb. It is due to any lights that are left on for amounts of time. For me it was because the dairy across the street built a new covered area for the cows and the big huge sodium lights stay on all night long and it is like moon light.




 How does their fertilization of eggs work, the same as roosters and hens?


Yes a little, Turkey sperm does not live as long as rooster sperm. Meaning if you loose your tom your hens will only be fertile for 1 to 2 weeks compaired to 3 to 4 weeks. And they do have very high peaks of fertalization as well. Different for every animal.




Once the turkeys begin to breed, do they begin to lay eggs, or does it matter if they breed or not. 


A turkey hen dont need a tom for them to began laying. It is when they have the right amount of day light hrs that they will began to lay. And turkey hens and toms can began to breed up to a month before they start laying. If they have never breed dont say they havent. I had never saw the black mottled breed yet from day one they have been 100% fertlie with 100% hatching.




Again, elaborate as much as you need to, please consider me kniave when it comes to this, so tell me everything that you can, I am actually kniave about this and need to know.


You are not kniave, You are trying to learn. There is no dumb questions when you are trying to learn and you do not know about something and are just starting out.




Bring on those answers to this lazy girl that just isn't performing the cyberspace research, I can be there will be some great answers coming here.  If there is anything else I need to know, bring it on!!!  Have the most beautiful and wonderful day, groove on this life we lead.  Cindi


I hope this all helps.

Angi

Offline reinbeau

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2008, 08:11:21 am »
Beesilly, I've told Cindi about BYC before, her sister signed on, but she hasn't yet.  Keep working on her, I know she'd love it there, too!

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2008, 08:19:30 am »
>When hens are fertilized by the roosters, does that single fertilization only fertilize one egg at a time? 

What Angi_H said is what I've always understood it to be.  Hens can still be fertile for a few weeks after removing the rooster.
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Offline SteveSC

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2008, 09:28:09 am »
Chickens ( hens ) normally start laying around 18 to 20 weeks old.  At this age the main factor for a hen to start laying is the amount and length of sunlight per day.  Hens need a certain amount of sunlight to stimulate the pituitary gland in their eyes that stimulates the ovaries to maximize egg production.  I use " sunlight " tubes in my henhouse lights for 2 hrs. after sundown everyday.  They need about 14 to 16 hrs. of sunlight for maximum egg production.

It takes a hen about 26 hrs. to produce an egg. Young hens will lay about one egg every 2 or 3 days - alittle older hens ( about 28 - 30 weeks or so  ) can lay 2 eggs every 3 days. Most mature hens will lay about an egg a day for 4 to 6 days then go into a resting period for a couple days.. 

Hens lay best in temps between about 50 and 80 degs....

Don't feed cracked or old eggs back to hens.  They love'm but you'll just encourage them to peck open and\or eat their own eggs.  If you want to give the hens calcium to help with egg shell strength you can give them old egg shells crushed up pretty fine so they don't look like shells or just give them crushed oyster shells ( buy them at the feed store - cheap ).

I have Barred Rocks - Speckled Sussex - Silver and Golden Laced Wyandottes.  I always buy chicks in the fall to have eggs in the spring. I think I'll try to raise some chicks this summer.  I'll need to get a rooster - I'd like to get a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and breed him to the Golden Laced hens.  Has anyone here ever bred the Blue and Golden Wyandottes....?  What did you get - a combination of the two or separate Blues and Goldens..?

Note: Chicken are direct decendents of dinosuars...  They look just like a minature feathery T. Rex running around the pen....LOL ( and they're meat eaters )

The main thing I know for sure about chickens are they'll chase bees along ways and they're awful funny to watch.



 

Offline Scadsobees

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2008, 02:15:06 pm »
I call myself a guru, and my wife calls me a turky, so does that make me a turkey guru?

Quote
Has anyone here ever bred the Blue and Golden Wyandottes....?  What did you get - a combination of the two or separate Blues and Goldens..?
Nope, they will come out a rather Greenish color.  :-D
Rick

Offline Cindi

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2008, 03:20:02 pm »
Hee haw!!!  Thank you all for answering my questions, very good.  I am going to order a book through McMurray Hatchery when I order the chicks, that way I will be able to understand more, and that is so important.  Brian, I know that you told me before to order a book there on breeding the fowls, I am listening.

I knew that I would have great and awesome answers from you, my forum friends, cool.

Yep, well then, the turkey hen is beginning to lay, I saw a strange looking egg in her house, the chickens have been going in there and I thought the egg might have come from some weird chicken, hee, hee, smiling.

The egg was egg coloured (hee, hee again), but it has light speckles on it and the end was very very pointy, I was surprised at how pointy it was, so it was not from a weird chicken but a normal turkey hen, hee, hee.

Backyard Chickens, Ann, I know that I need to get on that site, I have looked at it, I am just too lazy.  I have too much going on here to get on that site, but yes, I will be a good girl soon, and do as you tell me to do, hee, hee, but don't be a bossy one, hee, hee.  Beautiful day, beautiful life, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline reinbeau

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2008, 06:12:43 pm »
No bossy here, Cindi, unless you're on a reformer  :evil:  I just know you'd enjoy it there!

Offline Angi_H

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2008, 12:22:05 am »

I have Barred Rocks - Speckled Sussex - Silver and Golden Laced Wyandottes.  I always buy chicks in the fall to have eggs in the spring. I think I'll try to raise some chicks this summer.  I'll need to get a rooster - I'd like to get a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and breed him to the Golden Laced hens.  Has anyone here ever bred the Blue and Golden Wyandottes....?  What did you get - a combination of the two or separate Blues and Goldens..?

I used to breed the BLRW (blue laced red wayndottes) the problem is they are a hot ticket item and there are to many back yard breeders that bought them to make a quick buck. And what happened was they did not do selective breeding to keep the line up to par. So what we have now in the blrw breed is a big mess. They have very bad combs, And there body is no longer wayndotte body type. But rather Rock body type. Wayndottes are known to be the breed of curves. And they do not have that lovely round body type that they used to. There are several breeders that are working hard to bring them back up to standard like they are supposed to be and I was one of them till earlier this year. But the reason I got out of them is because we have a good 5 to 7 years before they even began to look like they are supposed to. And that is if and only if the back yard breeders stop selling them as breeders. When I breed them I would not even sell pet quality. I culled. And culled to me was raise them and stick them in the freezer. Becuase you can not tell true type till they are over 1 year old.


Now to the breeding part. If you take a BLRW to a GL (gold laced)or Sl(silver laced) You will get what is called Sex linked birds. Depending on how true your blrw line rooster really is. Sexed link would mean the males of the BLRW rooster will look like GL males and females will look like blrw but only if the blrw was a pure enough line. If you bred them to sl the males will be Sl. It would take 3 to 4 generations taking mother to son and daughter to father breedings before you will start to get something of a pure line. The problem breeding to Golden laced is you will start diluting the red gene with the gold gene. If you want to know more Join the yahoo group for Poultry improvement project. And post a question for Tim the Poultry Genetics guru. Stay away from McMurrys BLRW line they suck. They did not buy out the best breeder of the world. I have a friend that is working on BLRWs and the bantam BLRWs are closer to what we need then the large fowl ones. She is actually finally getting some good body types in her flock. BUt for every one good one you have to cull 90 more. It is a bad cull rate for the blrw. You keep only 10 out of 100 chicks you hatch.  In the blrw there are blues, blacks and splashes. If you breed blue to blue, you will get 25% blue and 50% black 25% splash, If you breed splash to splash you will get splash. If you breed what you think is black to black you will get blues blacks and splashes. It is a really complicated breed to work with not to mention the problem with the lacing in the feathering problem that is going on with the blrws.


Angi

Offline Cindi

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2008, 12:55:32 am »
Another question about turkeys.  One of the hens has laid 2 eggs in 3 days.  How many eggs will she lay?  Kind of a trick question.  What I mean is, how many eggs is in the average turkey clutch?  When she has laid all these eggs, will she then immediately begin sitting?  If I took her eggs away each day and stored them for her, say up to 15 eggs, then gave them to her, would she go broody just seeing the number of the eggs?  Remember, I need to pick some brains here.  I need to know things.  Tell me everything that you can think of.  I can't get a book yet on breeding turkeys, ducks, and chickens.

The turkey eggs are very cool looking by the way, I love the speckles and the pointy, pointy end of the egg, looks very neat.  Have the most wonderful and beautiful day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Angi_H

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2008, 02:53:19 am »
Cindi if you want her to sit and hatch out babies then leave them they will go broody after about 12 eggs. I was and am taking all eggs and putting them in the incubator for about a month and half now and they are still wanting to go broody on me on chicken eggs and rocks. I will let them hatch here soon I have to get there pen built first them let them go and be moms. Since you dont have incubator Just leave the eggs and let them decide when to sit.  Ya turkey eggs are funny looking they look like they hurt to come out with that very pointy end lmao.  Then again my royal palm hen that I have sold laid 3 eggs and went broody and kept laying for a week then stopped laying and would sit and sit and sit. The chickens would cram under her wings and lay there eggs under her and she would move them all under her and be happy. Just let nature take its course and in about 1 to 2 weeks she will start to sit then 28 days from then you will have babies. Just dont move there eggs from where they pick to make there nest as they wont go to where you move them to.

Angi

Offline Cindi

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2008, 09:52:19 am »
Angi, I do have an incubator, it is one that turns the eggs automatically, it holds about 150 eggs or so (I am not sure how many, but I know it is quite big).  We hatched out quite a few brown chickens and Muscovys last fall too in this incubator.  I was still learning so much really basic stuff about hatching eggs that I haven't delved into it more.  When we get back from our Vegas trip (we will be gone March 20 to March 26 or 27 or so), I will be getting eggs to hatch out in this incubator.  We purchased it at the end of last summer from a guy who was getting out of the incubating of Muscovys, he was going to buy day old Muscovys from a woman in a neighbouring town instead of incubating his own.  We paid $400 for it, evidently a good price, it is in excellent shape and was about $1,200 when he had originally bought it.  While we are travelling, I have much reading and research that I will be doing, we are travelling back from Vegas with my Sister-in-Law and her Husband in their 5th wheel, lots and lots of time to read and read some more.  It will be about 4 to five days on the road with them, oh what fun, I love these two wonderful people so much, they are my best friends.

I was wondering, to get more babies to hatch, does this work? To gather the hens eggs and keep them in the house and give her more to sit on than say 12, or is 12 about a good number for her to take care of?  I do not have an intention of being greedy, just kind of thought that not all eggs might be viable?  Thoughts?  elaborate. 

I have so much I want to get going on, but getting ready to go away is very time consuming to me, I am not a traveller and I need to have everything in order before I go away.  Wish I could just let things go and take off, without a care in the world.  It will be when we actually get on the plane that I will begin to relax....and then, the relaxing begins, knowing my Sister is taking care of everything around here while I am gone, yeah.....have a beautiful day in this beautiful life, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Cindi

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2008, 09:59:04 am »
Chickens ( hens ) normally start laying around 18 to 20 weeks old.  At this age the main factor for a hen to start laying is the amount and length of sunlight per day.  Hens need a certain amount of sunlight to stimulate the pituitary gland in their eyes that stimulates the ovaries to maximize egg production.  I use " sunlight " tubes in my henhouse lights for 2 hrs. after sundown everyday.  They need about 14 to 16 hrs. of sunlight for maximum egg production.

It takes a hen about 26 hrs. to produce an egg. Young hens will lay about one egg every 2 or 3 days - alittle older hens ( about 28 - 30 weeks or so  ) can lay 2 eggs every 3 days. Most mature hens will lay about an egg a day for 4 to 6 days then go into a resting period for a couple days.. 

Hens lay best in temps between about 50 and 80 degs....


Steve, I meant to make a comment here about the daylight and chickens laying eggs.  You may be able to provide an answer, if not, others will chime in.

The amount of light governs the laying of chickens, that is understood.  But now, what about the chicken house?  Is it better to have this house very dark or should it be quite light in there?  Meaning, I have the house quite dark, the windows on the side have tarp on them to keep it darker, I am wondering if the tarp should not be there and poly instead, to provide a lighter sleeping house.  I do have lights on a timer in there, but I wonder if more natural light would be better.

I guess the question is really this.  If the house is dark, is this good or bad.  Elaborate please.

Rick, and right, I think, according to what you were saying -- that you must be a turkey guru, or is it a guru turkey.....hee, hee, enjoy this beautiful day in our beautiful lives.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline SteveSC

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #15 on: March 13, 2008, 10:41:58 am »
Cindi..  The chicken house needs to be have as much natural light as possible. 14 to 16 hrs. is an optimum amount of sunlight for the hen's well being and egg production.

Like I mentioned I have " sunlight " tubes in the lights for that couple hrs. after sunset just to give them as much light as possible.  I got this batch of chicken the last week of Oct. 07 - they're just about ready to start laying.  I'll adjust the timer for the lights accordingly with the spring\summer\fall\winter sunsets now that they're ready to lay.. You want to keep the 14 to 16 hr. schedule if at all possible.   Some people don't provide any artificial light and they say they do just fine....it won't hurt a thing if you do and it's recomended that you do.  You don't need the tarps on the windows - my windows are just clear glass.  It doesn't need to be completely dark at night - the moonlight shining through is a good thing.

Good luck..... 

 

Offline Cindi

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2008, 10:50:05 am »
Steve, awesome, thank you for the response.  I will remove the tarps so it is brighter, and I will adjust the amount of artificial light out there, soon there will be lots of natural light, we have dawn about 6:30 now and dusk about 7:00, that is about 12 hours good light, getting there, hee, hee.  The robins are just beginnning to cherp, it is 6:40 A.M., dawn is in the process.......have a beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #17 on: March 14, 2008, 02:10:00 am »
The old chicken house my Dad built is too small for my needs and is to dark.  The hens will often lay in the chicken yard and not in the hen house.  The darker the building the less eggs you will get.  When I build my new hen house this summer it will have translucent roofing.  Clear Fiberglass and big windows to encourage egg laying. 
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Offline Angi_H

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Re: Chicken and turkey gurus, (you know who I mean, hee, hee)
« Reply #18 on: March 14, 2008, 03:45:35 am »
Cindi you can gather all of the eggs and keep hem for up to 12 days. After that the viability goes down every day after that. Store then big end up in a egg carton and in a cool humid dark place. Around 55degrees. And tilt the carton 2x a day like the incubator turns them. Till they are ready to be placed under the broody hen. Take a pencil and mark the date you gathered them. that way you make sure you know how old the oldest one is. You can also mark on them the day you gave them to the hen. If she is broody enough you can go ahead and give them to her. You will know as they turn into a giant paper weight and will not move. And if you try to move them from there spot they go right back to it. No matter what you do to try to stop them lol. Give those hens some light hun. They need light in the hen house during the day as well. Or they will hide in there and then you wont get as many eggs. I have 15 turkeys due on sunday. They just got placed in the hatcher of the sportsman today. I have more to place in there soon. Although I wish I had the turkey pen made now as I would move them over and then give that one hen eggs to sit as she now wants to be mom as she goes in and sits on all of the chicken eggs. She has moved eggs from the other end of the nest box to where she is.


Angi

 

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