Breaking A boody turkey

[seasue]

Thanks to everyone for the information so far!! I now realize I need to remove Miss Margie's eggs as they are not fertile.

But I would like some advice on "breaking" her of the her sitting instinct and reintroducing her back to the flock of 9 chickens and Pete (Who is actually a female turkey too) You see, Pete has become aggresive to Margie ever since she started sitting on he eggs. Pete chases her around the yard, they all free range in the day, and grabs her by the neck. I try to seperate them, I know I am inteferingmbut I can't stand to see her being picked on.. She has lost weight from her sitting, barely eats. Should I remove the eggs and keep her seperate until she gets a little stronger? Thanks SO MUCH for the advice!!!

 

[Celie]

Sounds like she is being bullied, not broody! Any time a bird is isolated and reintroduced into the flock there will be squabbling to re-established again. If you think she is too thin and can not hold her own, I would separate them again, until I could fatten her up again and get her to eat better, but that's just me! Turkeys love grasshoppers and a box of crickets might get her interested in eating again?

 

[seasue]

Thank you Celie for the advice on the crickets, I will get her some tomorrow. There could be a combination of things.. She is sitting on eggs right now , but has recently ventured off for a few minutes outside (the past two days) Every time she does she gets chased by Pete (Miss Pete) I was told to let her sit on the eggs by the people at the local feed store where I purchased the turkeys. She seemed so stressed that I let her (Now I am Stressed!HAHA) Anyway, I need to remove her eggfs as they are not fertilized, and am worried that will stress her out. I read on a past thread that one reader put a couple of chicks under her and that helped. Is that the way to go? I'm not quite prepared for chicks just yrt, but will do what i need to for this bird.

I will definitely gt the crickets, and try to fatten her up until I feel she can hold her own.
Thanks Again

 

[Celie]

Not really sure about that, as I too have 4 broodies right now, too. They were laying and I was taking all of the eggs and incubating them. I have 13 hens and 13 toms, so they are fertile and hatched out @ about 95%. A few in the beginning weren't fertile, until they got their pecking order straightened out. I was getting 5 eggs a day since December. Now I am getting 1 egg a day, sometimes 2 for the past week or so. The broodies aren't laying, but started sweet talking the chicken hens to come lay their eggs, in the nests the turkey hens are in. Now each hen is sitting on about a dozen chicken eggs and I don't want to stress them, either, but since I have never let the turkey hens hatch their own, I am torn between letting them hatch the eggs they have or exchanging the eggs for some that are in the incubator, ready to hatch out. The ones in the bator should hatch on the 25th, but sometimes they hatch a day or two earlier. Can anyone out there tell me how long turkey Mamas take to ween their poults. Last year several chicken hens went broody and hid their eggs and I let them hatch the little ones and most were weened in a few weeks. i don't want to confuse the chicks, with a turkey as their Mama, but poults as so susceptible to a chill and we have had so much rain, I don't know if they would survive being outside this time of the year. @ of the turkey hens are in a small trailer where I have my tree branch chipper mounted, so I don't know how they are going to deal with the chicks eating and drinking when the hatch? I could move them to a Chain Link kennel inside the barn, but should I move them now or after the eggs hatch or The replaced turkey eggs from the bator peeps? Oh my, what a mess I got myself into! LOL