Originally I put in 17 eggs. Some where nearly a month old, so I wasn't necessarily optimistic about my hatch rate, especially when you consider that these eggs were laid by young, first time layers.
Despite a couple of small set backs, such as losing power for an hour on two different occasions, the first eggs began to crack on Saturday evening. By Sunday morning I had my first couple of poults, and the last of them hatched today.
Out of the 8 eggs that fully hatched, only one looks to be a Narragansett, and he's a little fella. The other seven are Bourbon Red/Chocolate mixes, and of them four have the chocolate markings and three have the red. One of the little chocolate colored ones is very very tiny and was the last to hatch, and I'm not optimistic about his chances. In all though, they are adorable!
They've gone from the incubator out into the brooder and have fresh water up high that they can't fall in, but low enough they can drink it. I've also started them on a true turkey starter, which I think is very important to get them growing right. I'll keep a pretty close eye on them for the first week, since turkey poults are just not as hardy as chicks. As one turkey raiser once said "poults are suicides just looking for a place to happen".
I've already cleaned the incubator and started a whole new hatch. We'll have to wait and see what the next 28 days bring!
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| The adult Narragansetts - Bob and his ladies. |
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| Our big tom turkey Bill, his little Red hen and his Chocolate ladies. |
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