Breeding bourbon red turkeys

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@modernsettlers Sorry like I told you I do not have turkeys
but I do have Ducks and Chickens so im pretty sure it is the same thing
 
I know that this is far to late for this year but fake eggs are the way to go. Put a few in the best to keep her laying and put the real eggs inside. You can either incubate them in an incubator or giver her a bunch to make her broody and then swap them out with the real eggs that have been protected from extreme temperatures.
 
I have a very broody hen. She hatched her first poults and killed the first three. Seemed like she didn't know who or what they were and she was protecting her eggs. She let the next 2 live. Neither of those two lived too long but before we knew it she was sitting again. We started with 1 Tom and 2 hens a year and a half ago. We now have 11. 4 are still pretty young. but we now have to expand the run. No one ever goes inside the coop. It does get cold here in rural southeast Arizona. The broody one hatched 2 clutches and the other hen hatched one but the broody one raised them all. We separated the Tom from the babies at first but he is a great dad and sits on the eggs whenever mom gets up. He is very protective of all of them. Its kind of cool to see how he has taken responsibility for everyone.
 
I have a Royal Palm tom and 2 Bourbon red hens. My question is, hen#2 has 13 eggs under her as of today 7 babies have hatched out. We have left the tom out. The hen is not showing the chick feed is not food. Is that the tom telling them that or her. Do we keep the tom out or is it her? We don't know what to do?
 
Cayuga mama said:
I have a Royal Palm tom and 2 Bourbon red hens. My question is, hen#2 has 13 eggs under her as of today 7 babies have hatched out. We have left the tom out. The hen is not showing the chick feed is not food. Is that the tom telling them that or her. Do we keep the tom out or is it her? We don't know what to do?
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I recommend keeping the tom separate from the hen and her poults for the time being. Some toms can be great with the poults and some can kill them. Even those that are great with the poults can have a sudden change of heart and go bad for no apparent reason.

If the poults have just hatched, they do not need to feed immediately. When the hen decides to eat they will imitate her motions and begin feeding and or drinking.

You mention chick feed. Chick feed is not appropriate for turkey poults. I give my poults a 28% protein turkey or gamebird starter that has higher levels of lysine, methionine and niacin than chick starter has.
 

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