eggs

[chickenteen]

How often do turkeys lay? I want to know so i can geuss when they do so i can put them in the bator

 

[ihvpower]

I also would like to know. I have two Turkey chicks coming soon and wondered if they lay as frequently as a chicken???


Nancy

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Wild turkeys mate around mid march to late may depending on your climate, however domestic ones start as early as january through september(also depending on where you live). They will lay untill they have a full clutch, but if you take each egg they lay, you'll get around 80-100 each bird depending on her age.

 

[ihvpower]

Nice! Thank you for the info

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

yup =]

 

[ihvpower]

oh, One more thing?? So if the girls only lay after mating time, I will need a male? Maybe mating stimulates egg production?

Nancy

 

[pdpatch]

Turkeys do not need a male to start laying, they will drop an egg about every other day. Generally you can hold eggs for about 14 days or so before the viability starts to drop off. An of course you do need a male for them to be fertile. The hens will have there own "nest" or have a community nest. A nest is where ever they decide to lay.

If you have males they will mate about a week to two weeks before they start to lay.

Tom

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Quote:
Roughly 19% of hens can fertilize their own eggs with no male assistance. This is known as parthenogenesis. Some reptiles can do it too, cool eh?

 

[hunter1hall]

Wow. Didn't know that. Has anyone here had poults without the tom?

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

never had it happen, saw that on the discovery channel though ahah. most eggs of the clutch arent fertile but there are some that turn out fertile.