BR nest needs

[Koeyohte]

For whatever reason, after the reading I did previously, I didn't even think of this aspect. I live in FL and it's finally starting to cool off here (just barely though).

I have two Bourbon Reds, a tom and a hen. They are about 8 months old. No eggs yet, but seeing the posts about nesting, I need to ask - what is required to make a comfortable nest for a turkey?

My silver pheasant would just lay on the ground and our chickens would lay all over, then the eldest would pick them up and put them all together and sit on them.

There's not much in the aviary the turkeys are in right now... I have a small banana plant that is growing, so is wrapped off. Otherwise, there's just dirt ground and used to have planted liriope (which they ate).

Is there anything (or multiple things) I should add once it's warmer again so she can make a place for herself? Would she need anything or even know to make a nest or someplace to store her eggs with straw or timothy hay? Or should I just leave the space as it is and she'll lay on the ground?

Any help is much appreciated. These are my first turkeys and I have had them since they were almost 2 weeks old.

~Koey

 

[hogster160]

I put some straw, pine type soft branches and leaves in their run. This is what she did. My turkey is a standard bronze, is also 8 months and has been laying for 2 weeks. Notice the straw I put close to her nest, she didn't use any of it. lol. This is at the base of my rose of sharon. Just in the dirt itself. It's my understanding that she will make her nest in a place she feels safe and comfortable. None of the supplies I put in there has she used. This is the first time for turkeys for me as well.

 

[Koeyohte]

The image is actually very helpful. I am not sure what to do within the run so she can make a nice nest but will give it some thought. They do have one area at the back where they have made an impression and take dirty baths so maybe she'll go back there.

 

[Arielle]

For whatever reason, after the reading I did previously, I didn't even think of this aspect. I live in FL and it's finally starting to cool off here (just barely though).

I have two Bourbon Reds, a tom and a hen. They are about 8 months old. No eggs yet, but seeing the posts about nesting, I need to ask - what is required to make a comfortable nest for a turkey?

My silver pheasant would just lay on the ground and our chickens would lay all over, then the eldest would pick them up and put them all together and sit on them.

There's not much in the aviary the turkeys are in right now... I have a small banana plant that is growing, so is wrapped off. Otherwise, there's just dirt ground and used to have planted liriope (which they ate).

Is there anything (or multiple things) I should add once it's warmer again so she can make a place for herself? Would she need anything or even know to make a nest or someplace to store her eggs with straw or timothy hay? Or should I just leave the space as it is and she'll lay on the ground?

Any help is much appreciated. These are my first turkeys and I have had them since they were almost 2 weeks old.

~Koey

Keeping the breeding pair penned is a good idea. THe hens like to find secret places and move the nest when the eggs are collected. Her needs are simple: a corner of the coop boxed in some fashion. Mine picked the corner where the feed bucket suuport, a cinder block, made one wall.My girls use coarse hay and small twigs that I dumped intot he corner. THe hens did the rest.

Since you are in FL, you mightt start getting eggs before the NEw YEar. So you are on the right track to fix somehting up sooner rather than later.

 

[Koeyohte]

Okay... so maybe some hay or straw? And then perhaps she'll choose the place in the back corner, behind an old bookshelf acting as a perch.

 

[Koeyohte]

They are both penned and are only let out under my supervision. We have tons and tons of coons and cats who have taken birds in the past Also some opossums and foxes who have been here a few times over the years.

Should I put the straw in the corner area and she'll use what she wants? I don't know what to give her at all. Some old palm frongs from the bushes in the yard?

 

[Arielle]

My girls seem to wiggle in the debris to make a hollow, I don't see nest building the way the chickens do, unless I am just missing the action. THink small material , if the palm fronds are dry and in small pcs like 6-8 inches, and put in the hay/straw in the area you want her to use, along with the fronds.

My girls all like to use the same nest, so perhaps a fake egg might work like a chicken hen to say this is the place, it is ok it sit a while and do your thing.

 

[Koeyohte]

Okay, thank you. I will definitely see about getting some straw and mixing the palm fronds in with it. I'll see about a fake egg too. Don't know if a golf ball would do the trick, I'll probably try that.

It's going to start getting cooler here... will she lay at all at this time of the year? Or will I have to wait until after December, when it will get hot again? It's still really warm, just barely starting to cool off so we have lots of weeks left to go yet before it gets cold at all.

 

[Arielle]

You can get wooden eggs at craft stores.

 

[Celie]

They sell ceramic eggs in my area at Hobby Lobby and they are very life like, I get the large duck egg size. Turkeys start laying in December in Louisiana and most come into sexual maturity at about 9 months, so you will be right in time ! Good luck!