Any Turkey Nesting Ideas?

[Patriot1672]

So I’ve got a sheltered “shed” area that I let my fowl stay in at night. My turkeys are slowly starting to lay eggs and I was trying to think of a good nesting box build to fix up. I was wanting to build it off the ground some, but was unsure of how high they would like it. Last spring they laid their eggs mostly in this old brooder I had that was raised up about a foot off the ground. It wasn’t designed to be a nesting box so it was fairly spacious. On a side note, Last spring whilst they were laying eggs in the brooder two of my turkey hens were trying to hatch out all of the eggs. I came home one day and one of the hens had just died while laying on them. I didn’t know if it was because of malnutrition or perhaps the other hen pecked her just in the right spot (No blood or bruising was found). I just want to build it right now since they are about to start laying again. Thanks

 

[Huntmaster]

Turkeys naturally nest on the ground not sure it would be a good idea to build nest box off ground. I use large dog houses for nesting boxes in my breeding pens for my turkeys. Small enough for hens to feel safe and toms can't fit in them to bother the hens trying to breed them and injuring hen or breaking eggs. They work great for me and last forever. A few pics of them in my pens.

 

[Huntmaster]

Hens need to be able to get away from toms as toms will try to breed hens on nest and can injure even kill hens and destroy nest and eggs. So, whatever you do it needs to keep toms out of nesting area.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I've used a 55-gallon drum cut in half and welded together to make a trough successfully. They'll also use cat litter pans, large milk crates, lean-tos, and I've even seen them stuff themselves into those metal nest boxes that are made for chickens. Getting them out when they can't is awful. Watch them if you let them out at all to free-range in the afternoon for some bugs and grass. My hens started waiting to lay until I let them out and were going into the woods and laying. They are about as subtle as a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant if you see them headed in that direction. Just keep an eye on them and retrieve the egg when they are done.

 

[Patriot1672]

I've used a 55-gallon drum cut in half and welded together to make a trough successfully. They'll also use cat litter pans, large milk crates, lean-tos, and I've even seen them stuff themselves into those metal nest boxes that are made for chickens. Getting them out when they can't is awful. Watch them if you let them out at all to free-range in the afternoon for some bugs and grass. My hens started waiting to lay until I let them out and were going into the woods and laying. They are about as subtle as a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant if you see them headed in that direction. Just keep an eye on them and retrieve the egg when they are done.

I ran into this problem last spring! One hen I never found until she successfully hatched out a few and came walking back up, the other two would lay them either in the brooder I spoke of, or right outside it. Thanks everyone for the ideas though.