A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[memphis]

Thanks Finnie. Still a lot missing. Rjohns was right in the middle of this....grateful hes ok.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks Finnie. Still a lot missing. Rjohns was right in the middle of this....grateful hes ok.

That RJohns!!

he will do anything for a little attention...

 

[rjohns39]

That RJohns!!

he will do anything for a little attention...

Too funny Ralphie

 

[Sara L]

If it’s not too late, I would suggest not cracking any open to check for fertility (unless you really want to eat one). Just start incubating them. In my experience, if you have a tom, the eggs are fertile.

One was cracked and the other was dirty, so not ideal for hatching. Fiance was warned that I would be incubating sometime soon. There's 2 toms with 6 hens. Not ideal ratio, but I'm hoping we can make it work.

 

[R2elk]

One was cracked and the other was dirty, so not ideal for hatching. Fiance was warned that I would be incubating sometime soon. There's 2 toms with 6 hens. Not ideal ratio, but I'm hoping we can make it work.

In addition to the possibility of hens getting injured, that ratio can lead to very poor fertility as the toms prevent each other from getting the job done.

If nothing else, pen one of the toms where he can't be seen by the others.

 

[Molpet]

I sent 2 jakes to freeze camp. Would have been more but slipped in the mud and torked my leg.... anyway the 5 remaining jakes are fighting amongst themselves when the tom is breeding. The problem now is the hens are clustering around pecking the jennie getting bred. 16 total females 6 are hens

 

[CindyinSD]

I sent 2 jakes to freeze camp. Would have been more but slipped in the mud and torked my leg.... anyway the 5 remaining jakes are fighting amongst themselves when the tom is breeding. The problem now is the hens are clustering around pecking the jennie getting bred. 16 total females 6 are hens

Yes, mine too! Chickens are mean to one another, but by and large I think turkeys are meaner. My goal is to pare them down to two Sweetgrass toms and maybe six to eight hens. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Molpet]

Yes, mine too! Chickens are mean to one another, but by and large I think turkeys are meaner. My goal is to pare them down to two Sweetgrass toms and maybe six to eight hens. Does that sound reasonable?

At least 6 , more is better...still better to separate into 2 flocks so they don't fight

 

[CindyinSD]

At least 6 , more is better...still better to separate into 2 flocks so they don't fight

I was thinking maybe just separate out the reserve tom. The jennies don't fight exactly. They just casually torment the one who's pinned down at the moment. How many girls can a tom keep satisfied, on average? Actually I might keep all the hens until I'm seeing whether my little Sweetgrass girls are ready to lay yet... I dunno.

 

[R2elk]

I was thinking maybe just separate out the reserve tom. The jennies don't fight exactly. They just casually torment the one who's pinned down at the moment. How many girls can a tom keep satisfied, on average? Actually I might keep all the hens until I'm seeing whether my little Sweetgrass girls are ready to lay yet... I dunno.

It depends on the tom but a single tom can easily handle 10 to 12 hens.