**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[HEChicken]

Linda, that's amazing! Guess what my hen turkey's name is? MADGE!!! And my Tom is "Ned Kelly" (named by DS).

 

[karimw]

Quote: I lost my first generation of females I think because they weren't born here and refused to lay in a safe place. Their children were raised in the coop so most of them chose to lay there. The one RP that kept flying over the fence and laying in the neighbors corn field fed the fox at some point.

Quote: Interesting! My hens don't do that.

 

[ChooksChick]

I love the shots of the Turkey Tango!! They tilt their tails towards one another...It's the Turkey Tail Tilt Tango!!!

Lordy...I need more coffee...I'm still a bit blithery.

So, Hubs hauled home a 5' x 5' wood crate from some equipment they got at work, and then he made it into a cozy little brooder/studio apartment for me. I guess he got tired of the broody and the girl with the blocked crop running around in the house when it was really cold out...





It's going to be awfully cute when finished. He's putting panels in the top half that are removable, and there's going to be permanent 1/2" 14 gauge hardware woven wire in there. It's much stronger and nicer than typical hardware cloth.

Yay!!

 

[NotAFarm]

Great score Renee!

On the box....

.....and the handy hubby!!

 

[Wisher1000]

I got a phone call from a lady I know and she offered me all the eggs her turkey lays between now and Easter! She even saw some major turkey love going on last week!

I can throw in my own barnyard eggs for turkey tutors...... I'm set!

 

[mlm Mike]

I got a phone call from a lady I know and she offered me all the eggs her turkey lays between now and Easter! She even saw some major turkey love going on last week!

I can throw in my own barnyard eggs for turkey tutors...... I'm set!

Sounds great! If you set on Easter you'll be about a week ahead of us, and we'll get to see the poult pictures while we're waiting.

 

[mlm Mike]

Renee, you asked for it! Okay, technically these don't count because although I did participate last year, it turned out the eggs, acquired locally, were not fertile. I opened all of them up when it was clear they were not developing and they were all clear as can be. So I did the next best thing and acquired some established birds. The hen was shipped in from the Pacific NW by a friend, who had to order a minimum of 6 and that was more than she needed so I bought an extra female. The tom came from a bird guy about an hour from here. They were each about 3-4 months old when I got them in September. Since then, they have grown and matured and the hen laid her very first egg yesterday. This series of pics was taken on Valentine's Day. Love was in the air for everyone, including turkeys that day, and I was honored to witness this courtship dance between the two. Before I ran to get my camera, there was a point where they were walking side by side and he had a wing over her back, like a gentleman escorting his lady. Once I returned with the camera, he didn't do that again but it was very cool to watch them both displaying and moving in circles around one another.

That's a neat photo sequence! I didn't see any courtship, but I did see my tom taking care of some business today, so I should have a few fertile eggs to hatch.

 

[gryeyes]

HHandbasket's MW 3 turkey hens are laying (she gave me my two MWs) and two have gone broody. My BBB hens Edith and Edna hens are almost a year old now.... But I haven't ever found ANY turkey eggs... Until today. I realized I hadn't seen Melissa MW very much for the past two days. Found her -broody as heck and hissing at me - inside the playhouse coop on a clutch od various chicken, duck and TURKEY eggs! I stole one and checked, but it wasn't fertilized. Melissa moves much faster than the BBB ladies, so Sarge hasn't been seen standing on her back. :/ But now that I have held a turkey egg in my hand and seen the speckles, I know what to look for. No laughing; of course I saw turkey eggs last year during the Hatchathon, but those weren't eggs from MY girls.

 

[NotAFarm]

Are you going to let her hatch any of the eggs?

 

[debs_flock]

Assignment for last year's participants:

Take pics of your turkeys. Post them.

Assignment for new participants...think about your favorite color/pattern/material for clothing...'cuz you're going to need it!

My turkeys from last year just started to lay.



I'm in.