A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

No eggs from my hens yet... should I turn on their coop light more/put it on a timer to give them 12 hours?

No eggs here yet but breeding is taking place. I seeded the "nest" sites with fake goose eggs this morning just in case.

I have 1 hen that has laid last 2 days. Not getting enough to fire up incubator yet.

So gonna have them for breakfast in the morning.

Took advantage of a nice day.
Moved some quail outta the brooder to outside pens.

Had an old red barn chicken coop I don't use for chickens anymore. I built a platform for it. 1/2 hardware clothed the top of platform set it on there. New quail pen or chick/poult grow pen.

A little frustrated ordered 25 white leghorn chicks as straight run. Was told they would call when they came in. They didn't
Call. But came in yesterday. They were in a brooder tank. But they didn't send Sr. They sent all pullets. So i took 15 instead of 25. Manager wasn't there to talk to her to see if I could get what I ordered. Or just order a few not 25. I guess I won't get a leghorn roo again.

R2elk said:

I start grabbing eggs for the incubator as soon as they are laid. Once I am done collecting eggs for the incubator, I then leave them for the hens to go broody on in order to get the egg laying stopped. I have never had a turkey lay eggs before her first spring following the year she was hatched in.

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No sorry i wasnt clear hon. I just meant did i need wait til their eggs got a lil bigger before using them for incubator or hen broodin. There is a big difference in the size of the new ladies and the two older ladies we have. So i just didnt know if it was better to wait for bigger or not.

duluthralphie said:

I have never heard of waiting a year for an egg from a chicken...that is way weird to me....if I can get 2 generations in year is super..

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I dunno where i read that. But it said to wait til their eggs were the size they should be when fully grown before tryin incubate or givin to a broody. It was that the chance of survival was increased in the larger egg pretty much i think. We did eggs from our chicken ladies a month ago and they did good. But their eggs have been large and xl for many months now so i figured what can the worst thing be.... nothin hatched kwim.

sfgwife said:

I dunno where i read that. But it said to wait til their eggs were the size they should be when fully grown before tryin incubate or givin to a broody. It was that the chance of survival was increased in the larger egg pretty much i think. We did eggs from our chicken ladies a month ago and they did good. But their eggs have been large and xl for many months now so i figured what can the worst thing be.... nothin hatched kwim.

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I know I had read somewhere to not set pullet eggs... but after a few weeks I started collecting to set and, like you, they hatched fine

sfgwife said:

No sorry i wasn't clear hon. I just meant did i need wait til their eggs got a lil bigger before using them for incubator or hen broodin. There is a big difference in the size of the new ladies and the two older ladies we have. So i just didnt know if it was better to wait for bigger or not.

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For the most part, each turkey lays their own size egg. I have rarely noticed a difference in egg size from first one laid but I do notice a big difference in size from one hen to another. Most of mine lay an egg that just fits into a jumbo egg carton. I did have one that laid an egg as big as a goose egg. So as I said, I just grab them right from the start.

BTW, I did think you were clear about what you were asking.

R2elk said:

For the most part, each turkey lays their own size egg. I have rarely noticed a difference in egg size from first one laid but I do notice a big difference in size from one hen to another. Most of mine lay an egg that just fits into a jumbo egg carton. I did have one that laid an egg as big as a goose egg. So as I said, I just grab them right from the start.

BTW, I did think you were clear about what you were asking.

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Well then my confusion makes sense now in the size thing... cause i guess i thought they would be like chicken eggs and get a bit larger as the hen aged. . Our bronze ladies lay an egg quite a bit bigger than the new ladies, more like a goose egg. So i thought that it was just new layers guess not. Thanks!

My young hens start with a slightly smaller egg, but not the huge difference seen with chickens.

THey do change the inking thru the season. But usually I know which hen laid which egg.

I have two young hens laying.I believe they are 11 months old, and eggs seem normal sized. I ate the first egg from both.I placed 3 eggs since in my bator. one on the 9th,12th and today. I will keep putting them in there till its full. I also have a two year old hen that hasn't laid yet
I have a second bator I use as a hatcher and a 3 lvl brooder/grow pen.Ive had good success selling poults.
This is the plan anyways. I just need to figure out how to get the Quail eggs in there also.
My grand children love all this farm stuff and I do it for them and its also Fun.