hatch with tom in pen

[trunkman]

I have several turkey eggs that I put in the incubator last night so it will be tied up for 28 days so in the meantime the 2 hens are still laying. I'd love to have the hens hatch their own poults but I'm wondering if the tom will let the hens set on the eggs since they're in the same inclosure or is it better to separate the hens from the tom, and will the tom try to harm the poults once they are hatched?

 

[R2elk]

I have several turkey eggs that I put in the incubator last night so it will be tied up for 28 days so in the meantime the 2 hens are still laying. I'd love to have the hens hatch their own poults but I'm wondering if the tom will let the hens set on the eggs since they're in the same inclosure or is it better to separate the hens from the tom, and will the tom try to harm the poults once they are hatched?

It is okay to let the tom in the same pen until the hens starting setting. Once they start setting the tom should be removed from the pen. If he is not separated from the setting hens, he will take the fact that the hens are laying down as permission to breed. The hens will resist and this is when the hens can become injured at the least and killed at the worst. It is also not uncommon for the eggs to get smashed in the process.

It is best to keep the tom separate even after the poults are hatched. Each tom can react differently to new poults. Some act as very proud papas and carefully watch over their new flock while others can and do kill every poult they can catch. Even the proud papas can overnight turn into poult killers for no apparent reason.

I normally take the poults away from the hens when they hatch and put them in a brooder. It isn't that the hens aren't good mothers but some hens will kill any other hen's poults while some will gladly adopt other poults. Each hen will do her best to protect her own poults but it is not uncommon for poults to get stepped on and crushed in the melees that can ensue. If you want each hen to brood her own poults it is best to separate each little family group into their own pen until the poults are old enough to fend for themselves.