Q&A

DEAR NEW FARM:

I have 30 female and 10 male turkeys. They were giving eggs and I was getting poults by incubator, but in the past 15 days my results have become very bad. Eggs are not getting poults—in 10 eggs, I am getting 2 or 3 poults, in some eggs, none, and in other eggs, the poults are not fully developed. What should I do?

Salman Gulfam

DEAR SALMAN:

Our local poultry expert referred us to David Smith in Maryland, who incubates turkeys. Here’s what David had to say:

“What breed of turkey do you have? One of the problems may be that you have too many males. The recommended ratio is 1 male per 10-12 females.

“Do an internet search for ‘turkey incubation’ for many references on the subject. There are many variables to successful breeding, incubating and brooding, and doing your homework by doing a lot of reading certainly helps.

Good luck.
David

NF

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