How can I tell if my turkey eggs are still alive?

Question

I found turkey eggs that were still warm but were slowly starting to lose heat. I quickly put a heat lamp over them and kept them the same tempeture as they are normally suppose to be. I have taken care of turkeys and watched them hatch eggs...but I can't tell if my eggs are still alive. How can I tell if the eggs are still alive?

Answer 1

If they were still warm the mother probably wasnt off of them long ,just getting food and water before she got back and found her eggs gone.If you plan to hatch them they will need heat and humidity ans well as being turned a few time a day.The only way to tell if they are alive is to candle them with a flashlight and see what is in them.do it now and then again in about a week see if the embryo grows.Good luck!

Answer 2

By the way good job at what you're doing but did you forget a step or two? When incubating eggs, It's best to keep them concealed in like a Styrofoam cooler. With the light there must also be water added to the heat to create humidity. And also what you haven't added is have you been turning these eggs. A mother turkey can provide these three things. Heat, humidity, and turning. There must be turning so that the developing embryo does not stick to the shell.

go to www.feathersite.com and find information about hatching and incubation.

A method I've used to tell if the egg is fertile is a makeshift flashlight or small lamp.

Lamp: you can try to fit a lamp in a box. You need to cit a hole in the box at the top so that light comes through that hole. When using turn all the lights off view egg. If it is like a yellowish and clear it is probably a dud but wait and see until hatching date is over.

Flashlight: Get a strong flashlight (does not need to be huge) and a used toilet role and cut the roll in half and tape it around the top of the light then turn lights off and view egg.

NEVER THROW OUT AN EGG UNTIL AFTER HATCHING DATE!!! YOU NEVER KNOW, IT COULD BE FERTILE!!!!!