General Turkey Breeding

[Kt95]

I have a breeding trio of heritage turkeys. I’m hoping to get som babies this spring, but am wondering about what to expect. They free range on 3 acres, and when I’ve tried to train them to coop up like my chickens and ducks, they declined. I have 2 LGDs that love eggs, so I want to convince the turkeys to lay somewhere that I can keep the dogs out of... any suggestions of what they might prefer? Do they lay in the day like chickens, or early morning like ducks? Should I try to lock them up at prime laying time? Any tips or ideas are appreciated!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Turkeys like to make hidden nests on the ground with cover preferably. They can be hard to find. It's best to keep turkeys penned up if you want to avoid predation and to have poults survive.

 

[R2elk]

Do they lay in the day like chickens, or early morning like ducks? Should I try to lock them up at prime laying time? Any tips or ideas are appreciated!

Turkeys lay in the day with the egg being later the next day until they skip a day and then start over with a morning egg. Some hens will only lay an egg every other day. If the hen has a hidden nest, she will do the best that she can to hold the egg in until she can get to the nest.

The only way to guarantee that a turkey will lay her egg in a safe spot is to keep her penned in. You can use fake eggs to seed a preferred nesting spot.