Hatching turkey eggs under a broody chicken

[smarsh00]

Hi. I’m trying to hatch 4 turkey eggs under a broody chicken hen. has anyone had any luck with this at all and can you give me some tips if so?

 

[R2elk]

Hi. I’m trying to hatch 4 turkey eggs under a broody chicken hen. has anyone had any luck with this at all and can you give me some tips if so?

Chicken hens are fully capable of hatching turkey eggs. AFter you give the hen the eggs, leave her alone and allow her to do her thing.

I even gave a turkey egg to a bantam hen and she hatched and raised the turkey just fine. I currently have a hen that has hatched numerous turkey eggs over the year is about a week away from hatching another one.

Good luck.

 

[smarsh00]

Chicken hens are fully capable of hatching turkey eggs. AFter you give the hen the eggs, leave her alone and allow her to do her thing.

I even gave a turkey egg to a bantam hen and she hatched and raised the turkey just fine. I currently have a hen that has hatched numerous turkey eggs over the year is about a week away from hatching another one.

Good luck.

Great. Thanks for the heads up. The eggs were given to me by a friend because the turkey they had died before they could give the eggs to her. We figured we would try it out with my broody hen and see what wld happen

 

[SarahGfa]

I even gave a turkey egg to a bantam hen and she hatched and raised the turkey just fine. I currently have a hen that has hatched numerous turkey eggs over the year is about a week away from hatching another one.

Did your bantam hen raise the turkey chick? What happens when the chick is too big for the hen to keep warm?

 

[R2elk]

Did your bantam hen raise the turkey chick? What happens when the chick is too big for the hen to keep warm?

My bantam hen raised the turkey poult. It was in the summer. By the time the poult was too big for the hen, it had enough feathers to be fine on its own.

 

[SarahGfa]

My bantam hen raised the turkey poult. It was in the summer. By the time the poult was too big for the hen, it had enough feathers to be fine on its own.

Do you remember how old the poult was when it became too big? I have a bantam sitting on 2 turkey eggs right now.

 

[R2elk]

Do you remember how old the poult was when it became too big? I have a bantam sitting on 2 turkey eggs right now.

Sorry, that was 30+ years ago. In my opinion, Two turkey eggs is about all a bantam can handle.

I have learned a lot since then. Now I will let a chicken hatch turkey eggs but I won't let them brood and raise them. Turkeys imprint far too easily and the imprinting causes them to not understand that there is a difference between them and whatever they were imprinted by once they become adults. This can lead to the adult turkeys harming the chickens once they become adults.