How many turkey eggs in nest before they begin setting?

[ibpboo]

Probably best to just let them be then. Wouldn't want anything to scare them off the nest. I hope you get a good hatch!

 

[chickenannie]

I thought i'd update this post and let everyone know that my double-duty RB turkey hens (#1 and #3 if you read the earlier posts) have hatched chicks today! I heard them peeping and saw 3 chicks plus 1 more chirping under one momma hen. I could see that it was causing confusion to the other momma who is still sitting on eggs, so I picked up the chicks and put them in a separate pen. Then I picked up momma (she didnt' even try to peck at me!) and put her in with them and gave her food and water. Boy was she hungry and thirsty. Both hens were upset about my separating them -- they've been sharing a nest for 30 days and were chirping madly! but I think it is better than them trying to figure out who's chicks are whose. (spelling?) (two of the eggs had gone rotten last weekend that I cleaned out when they were both off the nest momentarily, so I"m glad the others hatched!)

Hen #2 is still setting on eggs beyond the 28 days -- I will wait another week and then remove her since her's may not be viable any longer.

Hen #4 is setting great on my porch nest!

Hen #5 has had a tough time finding a good nest. She laid in 2 nests outside that i took the eggs from since a skunk kept eating them. I finally convinced her to start laying in a nest I made in the barn -- but she's probably laid 30 eggs herself by now and I fear she'll get worn out.

That's the update...

southernsibe, hows' your broody?

 

[ibpboo]

Congratulations on the hatch! Thats really cool!

 

[butter cup]

Turkeys are difficult breeders

they need a while to mature don't expect chicks the first year wait and see if she sets or not maybe she needs to mature

i hope this helps!

 

[R2elk]

Turkeys are difficult breeders

they need a while to mature don't expect chicks the first year wait and see if she sets or not maybe she needs to mature

i hope this helps!

That is funny. My experience shows that turkeys are normally sexually mature by the time they are 6 months old. My yearling hens have always gone broody and hatched a clutch of poults without any problems.

 

[ffmedic530]

So glad I found this post. We have a bourbon red Tom and a pair of Narragansett hens we’re trying to breed. This is our third season raising heritage turkeys and second attempting to breed. Last year our Black hen was killed by a predator after laying two eggs (I was able to remove a fully developed egg post-Mortem). Of the 3 we incubated the third made it to week 3 of development before it stopped growing.

This year we’ve had one of our hens laying in a corner of our chicken coop (two eggs so far) but last night noticed another lady missing, found her hiding on a clutch of eggs she had hidden under a tarp behind the coop. 12 so far. She’s been off them more than she’s on, this morning we candled them and didn’t see much of anything. No ring of death. But mostly clear and no visible veins. It’s also been in the upper 30’s through the morning after a week of warmer weather (for CT).

Following some of the advice we read my wife marked them all and we’ll start snagging the fresh ones for the ‘bator. Not sure if anyone knows how viable the clutch will be when exposed to such cold temps for so long. She’s been out foraging at least 4 hours at this point.

Also my incubator has cooling period settings. I’ve read turkeys leave the nest a bit. Anyone have experience with setting a cooling period daily? Ive seen up to two hours recommended to increase hatch.

Our Tom is a stud, after his mate died last year he took to our chickens. We’ve seen him knock a couple of them back so far this year but none of his lady’s (that we’ve seen). So fingers crossed we find some fertile viable eggs as the weather starts to warm from here on out!