Royal Palm Hen laying too soon

[Cribbs74]

Relatively new with Turkeys. I bought some Royal Palm poults this past spring, ended up with three Toms and one Hen. I ate two Toms so now I have a breeding pair. I assumed I wouldn’t be seeing any eggs until spring 2019, but I went to collect eggs today and in the back corner of the chicken coop there was a weird big mottled egg. At first I was wondering what chicken laid it and then it dawned on me it was a turkey egg.

It’s December obviously and it’s way to soon. It is too cold and she is not broody so the eggs won’t be viable.I have seen no mating activities either. By the time I collect they are already too cold to do anything with, besides eat them.

Is my Turkey Hen off kilter and will she still lay in the spring? I was hoping for a fresh batch of poults this year. I was excited about the egg, but at the same time concerned.

Any help would be appreciated!

Ron

 

[ShannonR]

She should still lay in the spring. Laying this time of year isn't exactly normal, but not totally unheard of either. It's happened to me once before... but only once, in 6 years of keeping turkeys.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Relatively new with Turkeys. I bought some Royal Palm poults this past spring, ended up with three Toms and one Hen. I ate two Toms so now I have a breeding pair. I assumed I wouldn’t be seeing any eggs until spring 2019, but I went to collect eggs today and in the back corner of the chicken coop there was a weird big mottled egg. At first I was wondering what chicken laid it and then it dawned on me it was a turkey egg.

It’s December obviously and it’s way to soon. It is too cold and she is not broody so the eggs won’t be viable.I have seen no mating activities either. By the time I collect they are already too cold to do anything with, besides eat them.

Is my Turkey Hen off kilter and will she still lay in the spring? I was hoping for a fresh batch of poults this year. I was excited about the egg, but at the same time concerned.

Any help would be appreciated!

Ron

Where are you located? I have read more southern states can see their hen start as early as February. Are you running extra lights? It is a bit early but I wouldn't worry about it. Make sure to put out a separate bowl of oyster shells for the calcium needs.

 

[Cribbs74]

Where are you located? I have read more southern states can see their hen start as early as February. Are you running extra lights? It is a bit early but I wouldn't worry about it. Make sure to put out a separate bowl of oyster shells for the calcium needs.

I am in Oklahoma. I have no extra lighting. She sleeps outside and only gets daylight. It’s been an off and on winter as far as temps go, but daylight starts around 7AM and the sun goes down around 5:30.

As a poult I fed her and the Tom high protein feed, but now she eats layer mix with the chickens. I do supplement with black oil sunflower seeds and kitchen scraps every now and then. Also give mealworms as treats. She free ranges most of the day. She has access to everything nature provides. I don’t normally use oyster shell as I have no problems with brittle shells. This first egg was perfectly formed and very hard. Unlike the chickens which lay small mishapen and sometimes yolkless eggs when they first start.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Offer the oyster free choice I use a bucket laying on it side better for all I take allot from bird to give us eggs not an easy job buy the 50 or 40 lb bag that is cheap if you buy little bags it cost a arm and a leg

 

[Cribbs74]

So, what I feared happening, happened.

My Hen went broody, while I was away from home of course. So it’s the beginning of February Freezing temps and she has been sitting for close to two weeks.

I don’t know if anything is going to hatch or not, but she rarely gets off of the nest. In fact I have not seen her get off in the last 3 days. I gave her food and water. I guess we will see what happens.

 

[Cribbs74]

I candled today, nothing looks viable. She has been sitting since late Jan.

Should I assume this year is a bust? What If I take the eggs? Will she snap out of it and lay again? The Tom is getting impatient that’s for sure.

Ron

 

[R2elk]

I candled today, nothing looks viable. She has been sitting since late Jan.

Should I assume this year is a bust? What If I take the eggs? Will she snap out of it and lay again? The Tom is getting impatient that’s for sure.

Ron

Late January is not the required 28 days for hatching since it is only the middle of Feb. If the candling did not reveal any development (not really possible to tell unless it is dark out or you took the eggs to an unlit place to candle them), you can discard the eggs. It can take awhile but if you can keep her off the nest site, she should start breeding and laying again.

The caveat here is that you are in the northern hemisphere. Here, breeding season is just starting which will soon be followed by laying season. If you are in the southern hemisphere, hatching season should be wrapping up.

 

[Cribbs74]

Just an update. So my hen did decide to lay another clutch of 16 eggs. She sat and hatched out 10 poults. One was very sick and died, but the other 9 were healthy. I travel quite a bit for work, so I wasn’t around on hatch date. Luckily things went smooth, my wife set up an extra large dog crate to lock mom and poults up at night. Well, she forgot last night and a racoon took 7 of the 9 poults and left one healthy and one with a broken leg. So, that’s were things are at. I guess I should be happy that I have one. I hope it’s a hen.

 

[SuperK]

Late January is not the required 28 days for hatching since it is only the middle of Feb. If the candling did not reveal any development (not really possible to tell unless it is dark out or you took the eggs to an unlit place to candle them), you can discard the eggs. It can take awhile but if you can keep her off the nest site, she should start breeding and laying again.

The caveat here is that you are in the northern hemisphere. Here, breeding season is just starting which will soon be followed by laying season. If you are in the southern hemisphere, hatching season should be wrapping up.

Love the reference to the Hemisphere issue, I am in the northern hemi so dates referenced are good for me- however this is a world wide forum and its nice to remember those that have different conditions-Bravo to you R2Elk for that.

I currently have a mixed flock of chickens and turkeys, with Bourbon Reds (4) and Royal Palms (4) one male and three females each breed as breeding stock for the up coming seasons. These birds are all the same age at roughly 18 months and the hens have been laying for just about a year now. We will be separating them into their own runs to keep the genetics purer but until the new pen is up and the birds are settled and are considered "DNA clear" (about 4 months post separation) we will be processing any and all hatchlings from the mixed eggs directly into to our freezer. As for those eggs we choose not to incubate rather than discarding them, we wash them and use them in our cooking just chicken eggs.

We have found that only a few recipes have had to be modified due to their slightly higher volume. I can taste no difference at all compared to chicken eggs. We chose to eat them since the eggs we get from the chickens are going to sale to our limited customer base of friends and mom and pop restaurants and we get a bit of 'resistance' to eating eggs that are not from chickens.

We get 2-4 eggs a day from the 6 turkey hens we have at peak season and 0-1 a day during the "off -season". Winter here is just a calendar marking for us as temps year round are in the 70's to to high 80's and the turkey hens don't seem to know they are not supposed to be laying for part of the year. We don't mind a bit.