A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Bantambird]

I candled the turkey eggs last night and moved the fertile ones to the hatcher. As I expected someone wasn't doing his job. Eight out of 54 were fertile and got moved to the hatcher. I suspect that most of the ones left are going to be Tri-Color Mottleds.

speaking of, I did a candling of the batch of 26 and found 7 alive eggs. The rest looked unfertile.

 

[Molpet]

I had 8/12 hatch.. started in incubator and moved to 2 broody turkeys... all have good feet. Unlike one of a dz eggs I gave to a bycer.

 

[R2elk]

speaking of, I did a candling of the batch of 26 and found 7 alive eggs. The rest looked unfertile.

Sorry about that. Even so that is a whole lot better than the 8 out of 54 that I got. Now that there are broody hens, he is taking care of business with the ones that are not broody. He did the same thing last year with my two Royal Palm hens. He refused to breed them for the whole first month. After that he took care of business.

 

[duluthralphie]

Sorry about that. Even so that is a whole lot better than the 8 out of 54 that I got. Now that there are broody hens, he is taking care of business with the ones that are not broody. He did the same thing last year with my two Royal Palm hens. He refused to breed them for the whole first month. After that he took care of business.

Maybe he is just shy until he gets his sea legs back every year?

 

[Eric Exley]

Hi, i'm still new to BYC, but i have been keeping turkeys for about 6 years, and this year is the first year i'll be hatching baby turkeys (it took me so long to get my Golden Narragansett Tom a pair of female Narragansetts, mostly due to the neighbors cats killing them in the daytime, or reaching through and tearing out their throats before i could get eggs from them), but i have 8 eggs in an incubator, and they are due to hatch this week (i candled them a few days ago and looks like 6 of them are growing, but the shell is too dark/spotted to tell if they are growing)...
My Golden Narragansett Tom was found roaming around a neighborhood, unsure where he came from, but i ended up adopting him, and he is very tame now (he was 1 year old when i got him, and this year is his 6th year), most of his time on my farm is spent guarding the chickens (he has chased off dogs, cats, hawks are to afraid to try with him around, and even people are afraid of him because of his size) he stands 3 feet tall, and weighs about 40 pounds, he is a Big Tom (its his name too). I am looking forward to hatching Narragansett/Golden Narragansett poults from him (i wasn't having luck with Bronze turkey hens because they always spent their nights on the ground)

The baby turkeys that do hatch will be raised with a few baby chickens that just hatched a couple of days ago (the chicken eggs are from White leghorn hens crossed with Light Brahma, and pure White Dúccle roosters)...

And next week i also am expecting ducklings to hatch (i do not know what breed/type they are because they were given to me by a friend who found a wild duck nest), and what was left of the mother was only black feathers (since there were muscovies in the area odds are they might be Muscovy, or Muscovy crosses)

also just this past week, i see Wild Eastern turkeys showing up at my farm (as far as i can tell i have seen 2 wild toms, and 2 wild hens)

 

[feedman77]

@Eric E Chicken whisperer welcome to the thread. Goodluck on your up coming hatches.

The eggs I was waiting on to hatch did. One I was about to toss this morning as It was 3 days behind the others. Heard a cheap and noticed it pipped the very bottom of the egg. Decided to get him out. Yolk was fully absorbed. He was weak (legs and neck) and is now residing in a coffee mug. I give him about a 30 percent chance of making it.
The rest were chicken eggs from my brahmas and ees. 15 of 15 on those. Now have a dozen brahma babies.

Beautiful day not hardly a cloud and little wind. Got all the garden tilled for weeds. Put out 8 banana pepper plants, 4 cantaloupe plants, and 5 hills of watermelon. Trying seed this time. The greenhouse I usually get plants from is closing so no vegetables this spring just flowers.

2 of my turkey hens are wanting to go broody have to push them outta nest daily. Not snake hissing yet just give me the stink eye when they come out.

 

[Eric Exley]

i also have a yearling brown chinese goose (its a female), and i have her setting on duck eggs, she is my only goose (she has never seen another goose, and unsure what she would do to it), but she ended up bonding with me, so almost daily i check her nest to make sure eggs are ok (she even lets me pet her while she is on the nest), and I had to pull her off the nest a couple of times when she didn't leave it for 2 - 3 days in a row (i know when she is off the nest because she is louder than a car alarm when she leaves the nest for a break)...
and as for the turkeys, they are all doing well, I also have a male India blue peacock in there with them (the peacock is a descendant of a pair that wandered off from my grandmother's over a decade ago), i have a feeling he might be carrying pied genes because about 1/4 of his wing feathers are white.

 

[R2elk]

Maybe he is just shy until he gets his sea legs back every year?

Nah, He has his favorites and will not breed any others until they are the only ones showing interest. He used to breed the Sweetgrass hen at least twice a day, every day. Unfortunately she never laid an egg so she is no longer here.

 

[R2elk]

speaking of, I did a candling of the batch of 26 and found 7 alive eggs. The rest looked infertile.

On a good note, today is day 27 and two of the 5 poults that have hatched so far, are Sweetgrass. There is one Tri-Color Mottled Slate and 2 Tri-Color Mottled Blacks. It looks like another Sweetgrass egg is pipped.

 

[feedman77]

Nah, He has his favorites and will not breed any others until they are the only ones showing interest. He used to breed the Sweetgrass hen at least twice a day, every day. Unfortunately she never laid an egg so she is no longer here.

Your tom has standards. And is dedicated