Incubating? Best method.

[turkey girl 0964]

I have one turkey hen and one tom, and I want to raise some poults for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I dont know the best way to do it. I have read that I should take her eggs when she starts to lay them, and to incubate them. Then what? We only have one turkey coop. What ways have worked best for y'all? Thanks!

 

[R2elk]

I have one turkey hen and one tom, and I want to raise some poults for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I dont know the best way to do it. I have read that I should take her eggs when she starts to lay them, and to incubate them. Then what? We only have one turkey coop. What ways have worked best for y'all? Thanks!

I recommend that you get more hens to make lifer easier for her.

I collect the turkey eggs and incubate them until I have hatched the amount that I want to hatch. After that I let the hens keep their eggs and hatch them themselves to encourage them to quit laying.

Even with the hen hatched eggs, I gather all the poults and move them to a brooder. Too many bad things can happen when allowing a hen to raise poults in the general population.

If you allow the hen to set her own eggs, it is best to make it so the tom does not have access to the nest. Toms take the hen lying on the nest as an invitation to breed. The unwanted breeding attempts will end with broken eggs at the least and or an injured or dead hen at the worst.

Good luck.

 

[Molpet]

Some hens are great mothers and some aren't. Most of mine are good but I did sell 2 that weren't.
A nesting turkey needs to be in a place that the tom can't try to breed her while she is on the nest. Eggs get broken and hens have been killed.
I incubate some and let her sit on some. I time it so they hatch the same day. Some people take the poults and some give her the incubator poults.

 

[turkey girl 0964]

Thank you for your info.

 

[NY Coturnix]

I recommend that you get more hens to make lifer easier for her.

I collect the turkey eggs and incubate them until I have hatched the amount that I want to hatch. After that I let the hens keep their eggs and hatch them themselves to encourage them to quit laying.

Even with the hen hatched eggs, I gather all the poults and move them to a brooder. Too many bad things can happen when allowing a hen to raise poults in the general population.

If you allow the hen to set her own eggs, it is best to make it so the tom does not have access to the nest. Toms take the hen lying on the nest as an invitation to breed. The unwanted breeding attempts will end with broken eggs at the least and or an injured or dead hen at the worst.

Good luck.

When you take the chicks I'm sure it's a fight but is it something that's traumatic on the hen where she'll be calling and looking for the chicks or is it more of a fight to get the chicks then no so bad? Also if you take the chicks will she start laying again or does that end for the season once she's gone broody?

I find this very interesting.

Thanks

 

[turkey girl 0964]

Interesting questions.

 

[R2elk]

When you take the chicks I'm sure it's a fight but is it something that's traumatic on the hen where she'll be calling and looking for the chicks or is it more of a fight to get the chicks then no so bad? Also if you take the chicks will she start laying again or does that end for the season once she's gone broody?

I find this very interesting.

Thanks

It depends on the hen whether or not there is a fight. I try to position myself so that the hen is behind me in case of a flogging.

The hens will call for the babies. Again it depends on the individual hen how long she will call for them. Most usually stay by the grow out pen watching for the babies. They can't see them because they are in the brooder. If I have two week or older poults in the grow out pen, I will let the hen in with them. In the majority of cases the hen will immediately adopt the older poults. Sometimes it can take a couple of days for the older poults to accept her as their mother.

Hens that lose their poults after hatching do tend to start laying within a week or two unless it is the end of laying season.

Hens that get to keep their poults or adopt older poults tend to be done laying eggs for the year.

 

[turkey girl 0964]

This is all great information, thanks!