New layers and fertility.

[flgardengirl]

Hi, I have 8 turkey hens that started laying this spring. They are almost a yr old. Im in FL and its warm now.
There were three toms with them but I removed one since he is becoming aggressive toward us and fighting the other two calm males.
So there are two males w the hens and I have seen them both mating them. I checked the cracked eggs on both sides for fertility and found nothing.
They have been laying for three weeks but the males have been mating them for the last few mos.
Any ideas on what the problem is?
The hens dont seem stressedand gheir feathers look good.I dont *think* they are being over mated.
They get good feed etc plus veggies, greens etc for treats. I offer calcium free choice and they are eating it. The egg shells are hard like they should be.

 

[turkey girl 0964]

Hmm, odd. Maybe @Bigtom Turkey or @R2elk Could help.

 

[R2elk]

Hi, I have 8 turkey hens that started laying this spring. They are almost a yr old. Im in FL and its warm now.
There were three toms with them but I removed one since he is becoming aggressive toward us and fighting the other two calm males.
So there are two males w the hens and I have seen them both mating them. I checked the cracked eggs on both sides for fertility and found nothing.
They have been laying for three weeks but the males have been mating them for the last few mos.
Any ideas on what the problem is?
The hens dont seem stressedand gheir feathers look good.I dont *think* they are being over mated.
They get good feed etc plus veggies, greens etc for treats. I offer calcium free choice and they are eating it. The egg shells are hard like they should be.

Multiple toms in with a small group of hens often results in reduced fertility due to the males preventing each other from completing the mating.

Set some eggs in the incubator and check for development after 14 days.

 

[cmobley]

Multiple toms in with a small group of hens often results in reduced fertility due to the males preventing each other from completing the mating.

Set some eggs in the incubator and check for development after 14 days.

Could that be a problem with 3 toms and 15 hens if they're not separated and all range together? Only reason I ask i set 17 eggs and 6 or 7 are clear seems like alot of clears out of that many eggs.

 

[R2elk]

Could that be a problem with 3 toms and 15 hens if they're not separated and all range together? Only reason I ask i set 17 eggs and 6 or 7 are clear seems like alot of clears out of that many eggs.

Sometimes. The other problem with multiple toms is that they will often spend more time concentrating on each other instead of the hens. Depending on the individual tom, a tom can handle 10 or more hens.

I have a tom that will only breed his favorites at the beginning of the season but will eventually breed all of the hens once the favorites start going broody.