how much longer?

[doop]

My turkey hens are a year old, and have been laying almost everyday for about 3 weeks when do they normally go broody? Being their first year, is it possible they won't?

 

[brahmabreeder]

Last year my turkeys went broody for the first time. They were roughly a year old. One hen only laid two eggs and then went broody. My other hen laid about fourteen eggs and then went broody. So it really just depends on the bird.

 

[beanmcnulty]

I am curious about this too, my 2 BRs have been laying for almost a month, I took the first 12 eggs for the incubator, and currently they have about 20 eggs in the nest. Everytime one sits to lay and stays for any length of time the other hen calls out like she's lonely, does this keep them from setting if they just want to be buddies? My tom got eaten by a fox or coon so its just the 2 of them right now. Also will they both go broody or will just one and then the other later? I imagine the other would have to build a second nest. It just seems like they are taking their sweet time to set!

 

[brahmabreeder]

I only have two hens too. Right now both them have chicken eggs. When the birds were starting to lay eggs they both laid in one nest. When the first one went broody I moved her to a new nest and then other turkey was fine. A couple days later the other went broody and her eggs are going to hatch saturday.

 

[beanmcnulty]

I saw them both in the nest at the same time yesterday, laying, so I guess they CAN both get in it! It's a bit tight quarters. Ugh I just dont know what to do with these eggs, I dont want them to go to waste but I want them to hatch a batch themselves. I think I will leave 20 old/bad eggs in the nest, start collecting them again in case no one wants to set for awhile yet.

 

[KWAK]

I am curious about this too, my 2 BRs have been laying for almost a month, I took the first 12 eggs for the incubator, and currently they have about 20 eggs in the nest. Everytime one sits to lay and stays for any length of time the other hen calls out like she's lonely, does this keep them from setting if they just want to be buddies? My tom got eaten by a fox or coon so its just the 2 of them right now. Also will they both go broody or will just one and then the other later? I imagine the other would have to build a second nest. It just seems like they are taking their sweet time to set!

SO you have no tom? then the eggs arent fertile?

 

[ivan3]

KWAK wrote: SO you have no tom? then the eggs arent fertile?

Just general info: 99.99% of the time unfertilized turkey eggs will not hatch. However, turkey hens are capable of `self-fertilization' (automictic parthenogenesis) all offspring are male
The record for viable sperm storage (in a Broad Breasted Hen) was 72 days (for those folks who lost their toms in the past month).

Hens will, almost always, remove bad eggs from the nest on their own (you'll find broken ones here and there around run/yard).

 

[beanmcnulty]

SO you have no tom? then the eggs arent fertile?

The tom was eaten a few weeks before the hens started setting (YES they start setting last Thursday!!) so they should be fertile.

 

[beanmcnulty]

That's interesting about the bad eggs, i wonder about the first 10 that were laid in there- we had a frost of 32 degrees at that point, they were in the dog house nest so i hope they didnt get frozen. There are 20-25 in there that the 2 of them are setting on now- hatch date of around May 17- I'm so excited! I did buy a new tom this weekend, but he will be separated until the poults are well started- maybe longer if he might hurt them at all.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Well I can tell you your turkeys will probably be good moms. My turkey hen just hatched two baby chickens and is taking care of them very well. Hope fully my other turkey will be as good of a mom. I will have to wait until this coming weekend though

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