A seemingly very confused broody hen

[Thequast]

Hello everyone, I'm new to backyard chickens, and new to raising birds in general. Recently I bought a turkey trio - two hens and one Tom - hoping to start my own little flock. I live in Paraguay so that makes for a couple of challenges like:

The folks a bought them from didn't speak Spanish or English, so I wasn't able to get a lot of questions answered.

I don't know how old they are. When I asked when the turkeys were born they said "last year". But I know around here that means that they are under 1 year...just not how many months they are.

I also don't know the breed. Best a can guess from pictures is that they are Norfolk Blacks.

My problem is that one hen started laying. The first egg some how got broken. Since it got broken, I began collecting her eggs daily. After 3 eggs she stopped. One egg got to be ten days old so I put all three eggs in the nest. She immediately laid another egg and proceeded to sit the rest of the afternoon, all night, and the next morning. Then she spent the next night roosting with the other turkeys. The third night she spent on the nest, and the fourth she was back roosting. It was a cold night and the eggs were cold so I just took them out and hoped she would try again later. As soon as we took the eggs she laid another and immediately sat on it all night. Now she's back off again.

By the way she is fertile as it's our tom's favorite game

Any suggestions on what is going on in her turkey brain?

 

[Thequast]

Ok...here's one more

 

[nchls school]

Hello everyone, I'm new to backyard chickens, and new to raising birds in general. Recently I bought a turkey trio - two hens and one Tom - hoping to start my own little flock. I live in Paraguay so that makes for a couple of challenges like:

The folks a bought them from didn't speak Spanish or English, so I wasn't able to get a lot of questions answered.

I don't know how old they are. When I asked when the turkeys were born they said "last year". But I know around here that means that they are under 1 year...just not how many months they are.

I also don't know the breed. Best a can guess from pictures is that they are Norfolk Blacks.

My problem is that one hen started laying. The first egg some how got broken. Since it got broken, I began collecting her eggs daily. After 3 eggs she stopped. One egg got to be ten days old so I put all three eggs in the nest. She immediately laid another egg and proceeded to sit the rest of the afternoon, all night, and the next morning. Then she spent the next night roosting with the other turkeys. The third night she spent on the nest, and the fourth she was back roosting. It was a cold night and the eggs were cold so I just took them out and hoped she would try again later. As soon as we took the eggs she laid another and immediately sat on it all night. Now she's back off again.

First, no one can know what's really going on-we can only guess. I've been raising birds of numerous species for 50 years. Often I have seen birds have their breeding cycle get goofed up because something happens to their eggs; whether it be predation, accidental, or being collected. Many birds try to replace eggs that are taken. In this case eggs are disappearing and then reappearing. My guess is that her cycle is all messed up to the point that she is ready to brood, but the amount of eggs keeps changing.

Starting her cycle over may help. This is done by simply removing the nest she has now. If eggs have to be taken from the nest, for whatever reason, I replace them with dummy eggs. Then when the hen is brooding I return the real eggs.

Many of our domestic breeds no longer have the normal instincts to reproduce on their own. Others are just poor parents. Some just need more maturity and experience and then they raise young as they should. Good luck.

By the way she is fertile as it's our tom's favorite game

Any suggestions on what is going on in her turkey brain?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They do become more reliable as they get older, it also helps if she's somewhere that she feels comfortable and safe, mine will lay half the season before going broody, and not all of mine go broody, patience, and finding somewhere she's happy with, though I just pull my eggs and make my bantam chickens hatch them then I raise the poults, works for me, I tried that broody turkey thing and it turned into a toss the poult game.

 

[Thequast]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. I´m glad I can come on here and glean your experience.

For clarification, are you suggesting just taking the eggs for now, or actually physically taking away her nesting area? Just want to make sure I understand you right

 

[Thequast]

I definitely have high hopes for this hen as she gets older. Can't believe that she went broody after laying just 5 eggs in her whole life. Overall I'm impressed with how gentle she is with her eggs. Hoping she makes a good mom.

 

[nchls school]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. I´m glad I can come on here and glean your experience.

For clarification, are you suggesting just taking the eggs for now, or actually physically taking away her nesting area? Just want to make sure I understand you right

If you want her to go broody, yes, I would take nest and eggs from her. Let her start over in a new location. In that way the breeding/nesting cycle starts over. Remember, there are other reasons she may be acting the way she does. I would take nest and eggs and start over just to see if it works. From your posts it does not seem hopeful that she will brood her present nest correctly.

 

[Thequast]

I took the nest away this morning. She was sitting on two eggs. She wasn't a happy girl, and our Tom wasn't pleased either, but if it breaks this crazy cycle so she can go broody later then it's worth it. I'll update in a couple weeks. Thanks so much for the advice

 

[nchls school]

I took the nest away this morning. She was sitting on two eggs. She wasn't a happy girl, and our Tom wasn't pleased either, but if it breaks this crazy cycle so she can go broody later then it's worth it. I'll update in a couple weeks. Thanks so much for the advice

Good luck.

 

[nchls school]

I took the nest away this morning. She was sitting on two eggs. She wasn't a happy girl, and our Tom wasn't pleased either, but if it breaks this crazy cycle so she can go broody later then it's worth it. I'll update in a couple weeks. Thanks so much for the advice

I'm one of those people that plans ahead; especially with my birds. You mentioned cold weather to where you collected eggs. How cold does it get in Paraguay? Should you need to collect eggs from the next nest you're going to need dummy eggs. I use a variety of items. I've used white light bulbs with chicken and geese and the birds treated them like eggs; not sure if that would work with turkeys. Lately I have been saving extra eggs to use as dummies. With communal nests I blow the eggs and fill them with plaster; I've done the same thing with cheap plastic eggs. In your case I would recommend that you simply hold on to those eggs you have now and, if need be, use those as replacements for the fresh eggs. Mark the old eggs with a small X using a permanent marker. In that way you'll be able to tell the difference between those eggs that are fresh and those that are not. If you use the eggs as food the eggs can be blown and filled with sand or plaster and seal the ends with hot glue or something else that works as a sealer.