How many eggs beneath a turkey hen?

[Jrose]

My first hen sat 13 of her own eggs this spring. They're hatching as we speak

Another hen started laying today, which, by these girls' habits, mean 14 days of laying before broodiness. How many turkey eggs can a hen comfortably sit? I have the opportunity to add to her clutch, but I don't want to overload her.

 

[FarmerMac]

How many turkey eggs can a hen comfortably sit? I have the opportunity to add to her clutch, but I don't want to overload her.

I would say depending on the hen size, if she is small, she may not be able to cover all the eggs but if she is older and larger, she should not have a problem with more. I have a small Narragansett hen, first year sitting in her nest on 15 fake eggs. I will swap those fake eggs for the babies once they hatch in my incubator. I have two batches right now, one of 12 should hatch in 10 days, the other 17 I just put them in the battor last night.

 

[Jrose]

The hens are a variety of heritage. My two experienced hens are now 2 years old. They're probably close to 20lbs each. The hen who just hatched a clutch sat 11 with room to spare. In the past they've sat in excess of 22-26 chicken eggs! I have to move the greedy ladies because they will pick eggs out of the other nest boxes with their WINGS and carry them under wing to their chosen nest! Talk about a trip finding that out- I had no idea how they were stealing eggs until I picked one up and eggs fell out from under her wings!

Anywho, I would be tempted to sit a hen on 15-20 if she could cover that many. The next girl to go broody is a hatching maniac. I usually have to take her chicks away because she refuses to leave the nest even after all the eggs have hatched. She sat for almost 70 days last year before deciding she'd hatched enough to get up. Made for a convenient incubator