Hanks has been living with only chickens since we ate his girlfriends for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So you can only imagine how fast he blew up when I sat the first girl inside the pen with him. The funny thing is, I think she was even more randy than he was. I sat her on the ground just inside the door of the pen. She went straight to the ground in a submissive, come do me, posture. Unfortunately, our frizzled rooster tried to take advantage first. He got on top and was trying to do his thing. Of course he couldn't hold onto the back of her head and reach the sweet spot at the same time so no harm, no fowl. Sorry.
Anyhow, she just set there and let him TRY to do his thing. I moved toward them to run him off and she got up. Another rooster came running up and grabbed her by the back of the neck and ripped out a bunch of feathers. I finally got that rooster away from her and she reassumed the position and Hanks did his thing. I put the second hen in and the same thing happened. Hanks covered both of the them at least 3 times within 15 minutes. The girls were all too happy to oblige him.
Ok, so after all that rambling... this is our first time with turkeys of breeding age. The first two females were broad breasted whites and were there just over the fall and winter until we processed them. These 2 girls will be his permanent harem. So the girls being under a year but clearly sexually mature enough to know how to assume the position and lie their willingly, are they old enough to actually lay fertile eggs? It's my understanding some geese won't lay fertile eggs their first season, so I don't know if turkeys can be the same. Hanks is an Eastern Wild. The girls we got at a swap and were told they were likely Eastern/Bronze mixes. They are quite pretty so whatever they are, the mixes should produce nice offspring.
BTW, the 2 roosters that were so abusive to the turkey hens got ejected from the pen. They're now free ranging it with a bunch of other bachelors. You would THINK the hens would have stopped it considering they're 3 tiimes the size of the roosters OR that Hanks would have whipped their butts for bothering his girls. Silly birds.
Ok, so after all that rambling... this is our first time with turkeys of breeding age. The first two females were broad breasted whites and were there just over the fall and winter until we processed them. These 2 girls will be his permanent harem. So the girls being under a year but clearly sexually mature enough to know how to assume the position and lie their willingly, are they old enough to actually lay fertile eggs? It's my understanding some geese won't lay fertile eggs their first season, so I don't know if turkeys can be the same. Hanks is an Eastern Wild. The girls we got at a swap and were told they were likely Eastern/Bronze mixes. They are quite pretty so whatever they are, the mixes should produce nice offspring.
BTW, the 2 roosters that were so abusive to the turkey hens got ejected from the pen. They're now free ranging it with a bunch of other bachelors. You would THINK the hens would have stopped it considering they're 3 tiimes the size of the roosters OR that Hanks would have whipped their butts for bothering his girls. Silly birds.
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