How to Care for Turkey Eggs

Perhaps you've run across a wild turkey's nest you know to be abandoned, or maybe one of your turkeys died, leaving a nest full of eggs. You can bring the eggs in from the cold and hatch them yourself using an incubator. Act quickly; the longer you wait before incubating the eggs, the slimmer the chance they'll survive. The incubator will maintain temperature and turn the eggs for you, but you'll still need to care for the eggs until they hatch.

Things You'll Need

  • Incubator
  • Egg sanitant
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place the eggs pointy side down in an egg carton or box lined with soft cloth. Place them in a cupboard, pantry or other relatively cool place. This will allow the eggs to adjust to room temperature before they are moved to the incubator. Five days in this position should suffice.

    • 2

      Place the incubator in a shed or spare room. Fill the incubator with water and turn it on. Set it to a temperature of between 98 F and 100 F with a humidity level between 50 and 60 percent.

    • 3

      Dip each egg in egg sanitant before placing it in the incubator. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions for use.

    • 4

      Set the incubator to turn the eggs three times a day. If your incubator does not offer this feature, you'll need to turn the eggs yourself at regularly spaced intervals. Repeat this process until the eggs are about 17 days old. Assume the eggs were laid the day you found them, as eggs could not likely survive long without any care.

    • 5

      Pick up an egg and hold it to a candle or bright light bulb. After more than two weeks, features should have developed inside the egg to indicate a chick. If the egg appears empty when you hold it to the light, it is infertile. Discard infertile eggs and replace fertile eggs in the incubator.

    • 6

      Raise the humidity level to 75 percent when the eggs begin to hatch, which should take place around day 25.