Gravey said:
What does it mean when you say pipped them? How do you get wild eggs for�hatching? Assuming maybe its work related.
Around day 26-27 (usually anywhere from 4h-24h prior to actually hatching), the poult will pierce the inner membrane surrounding the chick to gain access to the air cell within the egg, and take it's first breath. Shortly after that, the poult will puncture the hard shell with its egg tooth on the end of the beak so that fresh air can enter the egg at a higher rate than simple transpiration that occurred during the incubation process. This then causes the small arteries and veins along the inner membrane to constrict (like cutting the cord after a baby is born). The chick then rests for a bit and then begins to 'zip' the egg circumferentially around shell to actually hatch.
Sometimes, the poult is misoriented in the egg, however, and either cannot reach the inner membrane or outer shell... For this reason, I usually manually puncture remaining eggs that have not pipped themselves 24h after the first pip. This must be done VERY carefully over the air cell (should be on the big end of the egg) and make a small (1/4") hole so I can see into the egg. If one pierces the shell anywhere other than over the air cell, the chick will most likely bleed to death if it is still alive. The poult I saved was still alive within the egg, but had not punctured the inner membrane. I made a tiny hole in that membrane, but the vessels had not yet constricted, so there was a small amount of bleeding along the membrane... so I gave him another 24h and raised the humidity in the hatcher from 70% to around 95% (to prevent the inner membrane from adhering to the poult, causing 'shrink wrapping' of the chick. Waiting allowed the vessels to self constrict and I then could hatch the chick manually by peeling off its shell and inner membrane myself the following day. That poult is doing just fine with the others, and would have died had I not intervened.
Obviously, it is illegal to raid wild turkey nests. The eggs I got were from a game farm that raises poults for reintroduction and put and take (canned) hunts... much like many quail and pheasant hunts are now. They obtained their birds from indian reservations east of the Mississippi (who can sell birds or eggs, since our state and federal laws do not apply to them). They've had them for several generations, and periodically add fresh stock from those indian reservations. I have all the legal paperwork showing that these eggs were in fact NOT obtained from our wild turkeys, just in case MDWFP comes knocking.
