Are you smarter than a turkey hen?

[Happy Camper]

Cause I am apparently not

!!!

I have outsmart goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, cats and dogs... but this hen in driving me nuts.

What I want: have her hatch healthy poults.
What she does: Escape her pen, then wait for me to be two steps from her while trying to catch her and escape our fenced area (to the woods of course), then when I finally get her back... not use the two nests I have made for her (of course laying where is wet and muddy) and today when I finally made a nest exactly on the spot she has chosen to lay (not to mention I did this with an unhappy husband under pouring rain) she manages to roll her eggs out TWICE!!! (It is a nice nest with clean hay and a raised dog house roof as the ceiling of the nest)

I just placed three garden blocks at the entrance that rise about 4 inches from the floor so that she does not roll them out again.

They are actually 2 hens in the pen, but only one is giving me trouble... PLEASE any advice from experienced turkey owners will be appreciated.

 

[KrisH]

Cause I am apparently not

!!!

I have outsmart goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, cats and dogs... but this hen in driving me nuts.

What I want: have her hatch healthy poults.
What she does: Escape her pen, then wait for me to be two steps from her while trying to catch her and escape our fenced area (to the woods of course), then when I finally get her back... not use the two nests I have made for her (of course laying where is wet and muddy) and today when I finally made a nest exactly on the spot she has chosen to lay (not to mention I did this with an unhappy husband under pouring rain) she manages to roll her eggs out TWICE!!! (It is a nice nest with clean hay and a raised dog house roof as the ceiling of the nest)

I just placed three garden blocks at the entrance that rise about 4 inches from the floor so that she does not roll them out again.

They are actually 2 hens in the pen, but only one is giving me trouble... PLEASE any advice from experienced turkey owners will be appreciated.

My advice would be 2 options....

1) give the eggs to one of the other two.

or

2) buy an incubator

RobertH

 

[Happy Camper]

...

My advice would be 2 options....

1) give the eggs to one of the other two.

or

2) buy an incubator

RobertH
[/quot

Thanks Robert... I am currently incubating 4 turkey eggs and a couple of Peking eggs... but I wanted to give them the chance to hatch a clutch. Tomorrow I will start putting duck eggs in her nest to speed up the clutch growth and find out if she will indeed sit or not on them. I also figured I have to make as nice of a nest for the other hen too... duh. I only have 1 nest Which calls for trouble. We'll see...:/

 

[KrisH]

Our hens out smart us too.

I was trying to make a stall in the barn to keep some birds in. Put up deer/bird netting, worked great for the guineas. figured Great, this will keep the birds in. worked great until the hens were... well... turkey size. turkey hens fly straight through it.

Our hens cleaned off a shelf in the barn, threw my tools onto the floor, tore up a big box of nails, destroyed the box, scattered nails all over the the barn, layed one egg on the shelf.

two hens INSIST on having a nest in the back yard. One paces the fence until we pick her up and put her on the top of the fence, she flies down, lays an egg, then paces the other side until we put her back over.

We found a nest in a closed off horse stall. She flies over the 8 foot wall, lays an egg in the shavings then flies back out.

Tried to make a nest out of a short box. filled it with shavings. the next day the box was dumped and shavings scattered.

basicaly our turkeys get their own way. they free range during the day. locked up at night for safety.

RobertH

 

[frank53061]

I think this is a common problem with a lot of people I have done the same fixed up some nice nest to give them a feeling of being hidden and protected and I have had one egg lay ed in the nest all the rest here and there and every were Else

its almost Easter maybe that's whats going on a old fashion Easter Egg Hunt

 

[erinszoo]

I think this is a common problem with a lot of people I have done the same fixed up some nice nest to give them a feeling of being hidden and protected and I have had one egg lay ed in the nest all the rest here and there and every were Else

its almost Easter maybe that's whats going on a old fashion Easter Egg Hunt

Exactly what my girls do. Funny when they first started laying they made a nest behind the feed can, laid in it and sat on it for weeks, taking turns (with infertile eggs of course). We changed nothing but they quit using the nest and lay where ever they want whenever they want. We picked up the eggs and hatched out two batches in our incubator (a cheap one we bought on sale) successfully. Now we have more babies than we know what to do with.

 

[Happy Camper]

Our hens out smart us too.

I was trying to make a stall in the barn to keep some birds in. Put up deer/bird netting, worked great for the guineas. figured Great, this will keep the birds in. worked great until the hens were... well... turkey size. turkey hens fly straight through it.

Our hens cleaned off a shelf in the barn, threw my tools onto the floor, tore up a big box of nails, destroyed the box, scattered nails all over the the barn, layed one egg on the shelf.

two hens INSIST on having a nest in the back yard. One paces the fence until we pick her up and put her on the top of the fence, she flies down, lays an egg, then paces the other side until we put her back over.

We found a nest in a closed off horse stall. She flies over the 8 foot wall, lays an egg in the shavings then flies back out.

Tried to make a nest out of a short box. filled it with shavings. the next day the box was dumped and shavings scattered.

basicaly our turkeys get their own way. they free range during the day. locked up at night for safety.

RobertH

Oh, this is hillarious

... flying over the fence to lay and come back!!! They have their personalities, don't they?!?!!

I enjoy them so much... however some days (like the ones we have been having) when is rainy and muddy I'd really like them to behave.She has not been able to roll the eggs out again nor to escape her pen. But she spends a long time complaining and making a fuss.

Anyhow today I did put a duck egg in the nest. She rolled them (inside the nest) with the others, which is good/normal behavior.

We'll see.

 

[Happy Camper]

I think this is a common problem with a lot of people I have done the same fixed up some nice nest to give them a feeling of being hidden and protected and I have had one egg lay ed in the nest all the rest here and there and every were Else

its almost Easter maybe that's whats going on a old fashion Easter Egg Hunt

Hahahaha... hadn't think about that!!! She does not know I did not sign for egg hunting this year

,

This is my first experience with turkeys and I am enjoying them a lot!!! If she sits or both of them do I will be thrilled!!!

 

[Happy Camper]

Exactly what my girls do. Funny when they first started laying they made a nest behind the feed can, laid in it and sat on it for weeks, taking turns (with infertile eggs of course). We changed nothing but they quit using the nest and lay where ever they want whenever they want. We picked up the eggs and hatched out two batches in our incubator (a cheap one we bought on sale) successfully. Now we have more babies than we know what to do with.

Out of curiosity, how many poults did you ge to hatch??? Well, I really know what I want to do with mine!!!! He have some nice family meals planned

...

I regret only collecting 4 to incubate... I could have collected more before I began incubation. I will stick duck eggs and try to get them to sit... maybe they will lay a couple more or start another clutch and I can incubate it when the incubator is available again.

 

[newduckie]

i actually said today that I HATE being outsmarted by a bird with a brain the size of a marble... what does that say about me????? I dont think she is laying, but not positive about it. she has never in four years tried me even make a nest but usually by now she is laying, dropping them from the roost or just as she walks along... but nothing so far so I thought maybe she was laying and actually made a real nest, but I have never seen any sign that she is..