Broody turkey is trying to hatch chicken eggs!

[NWalker87]

I two female turkey's along with 14 hens, and two roosters. My hen's are completly uninterested in their eggs, however on 04/09/13 my turkey decided to take it upon herself to set on the eggs. It's been 10 days and she's still 100% dedicated to these eggs. I have candled the eggs (I've only let her keep 5) and they are all fertile. There isn't very much info out there about allowing a turkey to hatch chicken eggs, has anyone had any experience with this? I have never hatched chicks myself, so this is brand new to me. I'm afraid she will end up crushing the chicks once they finaly start to hatch, and I do plan to separate the chicks from the flock once/if they are hatched and until they are about 6 weeks old. Any suggestions or do's and don'ts for this kind of situation would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[JanO]

I would suspect that she'd do fine and raise them with care since in her mind they are her babies. If they seem to be doing fine just leave her be and let her do her thing. Why do you want to brood them separately?

 

[Habibs Hens]

remember one thing

turkey eggs are only slightly bigger than chicken eggs

so on hatch day and raising the chicks the turkey wont crush them

they will be pretty much the same size she expects


I reckon Turkey mom will do a great job if left alone

Good Luck

 

[NWalker87]

I wanted to separate them because in the past ive had hens/roosters/turkeys jump off the roost onto the smaller birds and kill them, so thats the only reason why