A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

Only had about a week of cold here and that was a month ago. Put out my heated waterers then and haven needed them since. Supposed to get colder next few nights but no signs of winter here yet.
It's freezing here but hot compared to last year. Snow is almost all melted.
 
Some of my hens are(and a few have been for two months or so) breeding, but no eggs yet. Is that something that usually happens?

Sometimes, out of season, I’ll just see a hen sit Down in the distance and let a tom mount her, and she doesn‘t lay afterwards.

I’ve been going through a warm One week, cold the next sort of weather cycle though for a bit now. I had one hen lay in October, and she’s now molting. Most molted way earlier, but she seemed to have started Slowly loosing and regrowing feathers, then stopped so she could lay, and is now in a more serious molt.
 
Some of my hens are(and a few have been for two months or so) breeding, but no eggs yet. Is that something that usually happens?

Sometimes, out of season, I’ll just see a hen sit Down in the distance and let a tom mount her, and she doesn‘t lay afterwards.

I’ve been going through a warm One week, cold the next sort of weather cycle though for a bit now. I had one hen lay in October, and she’s now molting. Most molted way earlier, but she seemed to have started Slowly loosing and regrowing feathers, then stopped so she could lay, and is now in a more serious molt.
Here breeding normally starts mid February with egg laying usually starting in mid March.
 
Sounds like a supplemental light issue.
I had a light on my Narragansett hen for a bit, but we turned it off to work on the outlet. A friend of mine wants a jake from my pair. The hen was already laying down to be bred long before we turned a light on, but the light isn't on now. And the eggs from the hens in with my red sweetgrass that stay in the goat lot have not had any supplemental lighting and they just started laying. My friend's turkeys that free range with no supplemental lighting are laying. Our winters are fairly mild compared to other parts of the country, so maybe that is what has them thinking it is spring.
 
If i were to provide supplemental light to the turkeys, they would definitely be laying eggs, but I don't. I don't use the heat lamps because hay barns are open sided, so heating the air in a hay barn is pointless. I had started out using heat lamps, but they can be hazardous, and hay is also flammable. I would like to have actual animal barns some day, but it is not likely to happen, but the hay barn itself is pretty enormous, they tend to be. At least the rain and snow are kept out, but that is pretty much all a hay barn is for, keeping hay dry while allowing cross breezes on the hay so it doesn't get combustible. Did you know that improperly stored hay can spontaneously combust?
 
Absolutely. Baled too wet can do it too.
Since it is horse hay, we get real picky about baling conditions and storage conditions. The old man turns 29 this year, he's getting to the end of his teeth, and there are 3 others that my mom has. My mom talked about how my hobby is expensive. I tilted my head and said, HORSES, MOM. My dad nearly died with laughter.
 

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