Moving a brooding hen?

[LittleDinosaur]

Is it possible to successfully move a brooding turkey hen to a safer location much like one would a brooding chicken hen? I've never owned turkeys before, but rescued a hen that got ditched alongside the road winter last. I got her a Tom about a month back and they have mated aplenty. About a week back I found a single turkey egg in my chicken coop, but none since. Today I found my turkey hen hiding among the branches of a fallen pine tree and she hasn't left that spot since breakfast, so I'm assuming she's brooding. It's not a bad spot, but my dog was the one who alerted me to her being there, so if my dog can find her so can a coyote. I've a secured pen I could move her to, but as I've no prior experience with turkeys I'm not sure if I'd just end up breaking her brood or getting myself beat up lol

 

[R2elk]

Is it possible to successfully move a brooding turkey hen to a safer location much like one would a brooding chicken hen? I've never owned turkeys before, but rescued a hen that got ditched alongside the road winter last. I got her a Tom about a month back and they have mated aplenty. About a week back I found a single turkey egg in my chicken coop, but none since. Today I found my turkey hen hiding among the branches of a fallen pine tree and she hasn't left that spot since breakfast, so I'm assuming she's brooding. It's not a bad spot, but my dog was the one who alerted me to her being there, so if my dog can find her so can a coyote. I've a secured pen I could move her to, but as I've no prior experience with turkeys I'm not sure if I'd just end up breaking her brood or getting myself beat up lol

You can try moving her and the eggs. My recommendation is to have a pen ready where you can put both her and the eggs. I would move the eggs first, then lock her in the pen with the eggs in their new nest. If she is broody enough, she will sit on the eggs. If not, she will keep trying to go back to the old nest.

Good luck.

 

[feedman77]

You can move her. Would be best after dark. Catch her and gather eggs move to secured pen. Put them in the nest housing and put her on top of them. She should take to them fine.

When my hens get determined they will try to hatch rocks.

 

[LittleDinosaur]

I moved her last night into a secure pen with a nice nest set up. She wouldn't take to her eggs then, and this morning she was pacing around and crying a lot. Did I completely break her brood or might she still take to them? If she doesn't take by the end of today I think I'm gonna incubate them myself.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

If it were me, I'd choose my hen's safety over the desire to hatch eggs if she was in a dangerous location. I'd try to move her and hope for the best. Maybe try at night. In my experience with chickens, when I moved my chicken to a new private coop she rejected the nest. When I moved her to an isolated area within her usual coop with the other birds, she accepted the nest. I know zilch about turkeys though!

 

[LittleDinosaur]

If it were me, I'd choose my hen's safety over the desire to hatch eggs if she was in a dangerous location. I'd try to move her and hope for the best. Maybe try at night. In my experience with chickens, when I moved my chicken to a new private coop she rejected the nest. When I moved her to an isolated area within her usual coop with the other birds, she accepted the nest. I know zilch about turkeys though!

Yeah, that's why I decided to risk moving her. Only reason I didn't move her to her chicken coop is my dogs can get in the coops during the day, so if any hen has eggs on the ground they get eaten right up! I'm hoping she'll settle down today, if not, I suppose I'll be on broody watch if she tries to set in the woods again.