How to incurage mating

[Nlchicken]

I have 1 Tom a bronze and two hens not sure what breed they are all approx one and a half years old. I have never seen them mating. I see the hens laying down for him all the time but he just walks away. He is always strutting around showing off and making a drumming sound but never seems to show interest in mating.The hens started laying eggs a few weeks ago and one of the hens is broody. I put six eggs in the incubator and candled them after 10 days and none were fertalized. I am assuming all the eggs in her nest are the same.

I have 2 questions

1. Is there anything I can do to incurage my Tom to mate or do I need to look at getting a new Tom?

2. Do I need to worry about the eggs freezing when the hen leaves the nest to eat and drink? They are inside but we are currently getting temp of -10c

 

[R2elk]

I have 1 Tom a bronze and two hens not sure what breed they are all approx one and a half years old. I have never seen them mating. I see the hens laying down for him all the time but he just walks away. He is always strutting around showing off and making a drumming sound but never seems to show interest in mating.The hens started laying eggs a few weeks ago and one of the hens is broody. I put six eggs in the incubator and candled them after 10 days and none were fertilized. I am assuming all the eggs in her nest are the same.

I have 2 questions

1. Is there anything I can do to encourage my Tom to mate or do I need to look at getting a new Tom?

2. Do I need to worry about the eggs freezing when the hen leaves the nest to eat and drink? They are inside but we are currently getting temp of -10c

All domestic turkeys are the same breed which is Turkey. If you post pictures of your hens we might be able to identify what variety they are.

1. I don't know of any method that will encourage a tom to breed turkey hens. The closest that I have come to your situation was last year when my Sweetgrass tom refused to mate with my Royal Palm hens until late in the breeding season. He was breeding the other hens but not those two. He eventually began breeding them after the other hens began going broody. Given time your tom may come around. As you said the other alternative is to replace the tom.

I do know that if there are multiple toms around, the toms often have more interest in fighting and keeping each other away from the hens than they have interest in mating.

I have often not witnessed any breedings but have found piles of feathers and the hens were laying fertile eggs.

2. The research that I have done indicates that temperatures of 27°F (-3°C) or lower will kill the embryos. If the hen is broody the brief time she leaves the nest to eat, drink, etc. should not hurt the eggs. I had hens that would sit on eggs at night when the temperature got below freezing but would get back off the nest during the day. Those eggs all hatched later when the hens finally got serious about being broody.

 

[Nlchicken]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully he comes around.

I can breathe a sigh of relief about the temp. Thanks for the info I was worried they would freeze. Every time I check she is sitting on the nest. I guess only time will tell if any eggs are fertilized.

I updated my post to add some pics.

 

[R2elk]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully he comes around.

I can breathe a sigh of relief about the temp. Thanks for the info I was worried they would freeze. Every time I check she is sitting on the nest. I guess only time will tell if any eggs are fertilized.

I updated my post to add some pics.

In the first and last pictures, the tom looks more like a Narragansett than a Bronze. It is entirely possible that it may be from the way the light reflected off of the iridescent parts of the feathers but I can't tell from the pics.

The hens look to be mixed varieties that may or may not have bronze color genes, slate color genes and/or Narragansett color genes.

Good luck.