Norfolk Black turkey hatch

The trio of Norfolk Black turkeys (two hens and a stag) which we saved from Christmas have laid well and we put a clutch of eggs in an incubator. Yesterday morning, bang on time (i.e at 28 days incubation) they started to hatch. Today we removed them from the incubator and transferred them to a brooder pen in the workshop.

There were eight live hatches. A ninth did hatch successfully but died, possibly trampled upon. Nine out of eleven eggs is a very good hatch rate. The remaining two eggs are being given another day in the incubator to provide a little more time for them to have a chance to hatch in case they are indeed fertile.

You can leave new hatchlings in an incubator for up to 48 hours and they have enough nutrient in their system from the yolk to manage fine. However, the incubator was looking a bit crowded after 24 hours and with one loss. The risk is that when you open an incubator it reduces the humidity level and potentially causes the outer egg membrane, inside the shell but encasing the chick, to shrink and the chick becomes 'shrink wrapped' and liable to suffocate. You have to be patient and desist from lifting the incubator lid 'to check'. You might be familiar with outer membrane shrinkage from when you peel a boiled egg. There is often an air space at the pointy end of the egg. The older the egg the larger the space as more shrinkage occurs as the egg ages. A rough indicator of how fresh your eggs are.

Day old Norfolk Black turkey chicks
just removed from the incubator to
transfer to a brooder