Laying Hen Turkey

[alphawolf]

Hello Everyone
Have a question and problem that I need help with. My Bourbon Red hen is laying for the first time. I have all my turkeys penned up, in a large run, with a nice shed for them. Problem that I have is that she is laying her eggs outside on the ground, not really in a nest, just scattered. Hate to lose all of the eggs, but have no idea what to do other than try to incubate them. Will she ever nest like she should? Thanks for listening and need your advice.

 

[kuntrygirl]

If I were you, I would collect the eggs and incubate them when you have enough. How many turkey eggs can your incubator hold?

Where are your nesting boxes located?

 

[markb816]

the first few eggs are usually scattered about. This is typical, it takes awhile in the cycle before the hen realizes, -hey these eggs don't stop coming, might as well make the best of it, have some chicks and start a family- (that's the hen's mentality.

). If she is the only fertile hen, you may want to separate her along with her eggs. Collect the scattered eggs and put them together in a safe dry nest that mother hen has access to. Once she sees them piling up she will know that's a safe place to lay on them..Then the real magic begins.

 

[Celie]

My turkeys would rather lay on the ground, rather than in a nest. Maybe it is more natural, IDK ! I have only had one nest that was not in the dirt that any would lay in, and it was 2 feet off the ground, and was the trailer that my branch chipper was mounted to. When I provided large nest boxes, last year and the year before, the hens would not touch them, even with large fake eggs in them. They would take a long walk-about until they found the hardest place they could to lay. One had a favorite nest under a wild blackberry bush, another, in my neighbor's tractor shed, down the block, and the third, in the fruit orchard, between the fence and some tall weeds. So what I did was to 1/2 of a very large dog kennel, inverted over an depression in the sand, in which I put some hay. I did 6 of these, but out of 15 hens, they will only use 2. Birds will stand in line to lay where someone else laid their eggs already, so to attract them to where I want them to lay, I put some large fake eggs in them and I only had 2 available, when they started to lay. They no longer have the fake eggs in them, but birds are creatures of habit, so.........!

 

[daniel rainey]

you might need to make your nesting area inside easyer for her to access. and make sure you have good nesting matterial

 

[alphawolf]

Thank you for your information. This gives me a sigh of relief. Hope she does what you said. This is my first time dealing with turkeys that are laying, and I dont want to mess things up. Want to hatch all of the eggs I can. Thanks Again.