Should nesting turkey hens be separated from tom

[rasorbackq]

I have 3 Beltsville turkeys and 2 hens are nesting on 5 eggs Yesterday the hens were off the nest and there is only one egg left. I looked for shells but found none. later in the day I found the tom trying to mount the hens in the nest . After they moved out he continued to stomp his feet in the nest . He was removed to out side but continues to harass the hens.
Any help would be muchly appreciated..

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Move the tom

Steve in NC

 

[rasorbackq]

What I just did you built a frame work around the hens so he can't get in.

 

[rasorbackq]

Seems I might be getting out of the turkey breeding hobby as the eggs in the bator all not doing well . Had 24 now down to 8 eggs might be 4 that are developing and still 2 weeks to go . The other bator has 12 turkey and 12 chicken . didn't see any life in the turkey eggs last night and they are due to hatch in 3 days. 11 chicken are looking good.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

Yeah if you are to try and let the hen set on her own eggs the tom must be moved to an new pen where he can't see the hens or able to harass them, or else yes he will stomp the eggs or try and breed the hens while they sit and the eggs will get broke.

Are the eggs fertile ??

When you say no life in them, were they developing and then now they are not ??

If your chickens eggs are doing good, I would have to say that your turkey eggs are not fertile to begin with.

How many toms do you have in that pen ??

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

its like you guys are reading my mind and solving my problems BEFORE i ask them...

... we had another broken egg yesterday. this time from setting BR hen#2 (the egg was not developed but again contents in one place - shell in another). so we cried enough!

we gathered up our tools and built like the wind. and promptly moved the BRhen#3 (who wont sit) and TurkZilla, our mean tom, entirely out out out. they have a lovely new coop with no access to the setting hens whatsoever.

little did my hubby know but i had designs on that wood shed for a while and now its Turkey Shed#2 b/c heaven knows we're about to be over run!

no broken eggs this morning and hens#1 and #2 are firmly locked down tight on their nests. whew!

 

[Kev]

Also need to either remove one hen or split them up onto two nests. Removing one hen is better.

Multiple hens on same nest rarely works out well. Hatch percentages normally are much higher under a single hen.

Not direct for the OP, but another common problem are allowing the hens to sit on way too many eggs. That's almost a sure fire way to get some eggs broken and reduce the overall hatch rate.

Turkey eggs are slightly harder to incubate than chicken eggs. Chicken eggs are "hard to kill".

I make nests that are accessible to hens but harder for toms to get in and/or not so easy for tom to see the hens(hen being almost completely hidden from view once she is setting). I've frequently left toms in same pens with setting hens, but did remove toms from pens where setting hens are very visible or easily accessible, just in case he tries to breed the setting hens(never knew for sure, looks like they do from this thread..).

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

move the Tom..I didn't he ended up killing the hen. I found the Tom on top of the hen and he had tore her skin off and he was taking his feet and tearing into her meat. It was a horrible experience. A hen will be fertile from one breeding with the tom up to 10-14 days. So the tom really doesn't need to be in with hen very long. Hope this helps. DJ

 

[wilds of pa]

With juvenile turkeys you may have to separate depending on space..
If there is plenty of room along with other hens they may be fine,

but if a one to one ratio your gonna have problems with an over zealous Jake and a broody hen or even just two or three hens with him, may want to consider turkey saddles(HEAVY CANVAS TYPE) if the hens are limited... Toms should have a minimum of at least 10 hens to keep them busy,

our oldest boy has 13 hens and he services them quite well...

I know my Elmer will not get on a hen until he is invited on to her.

He's got experience and he knows when the hens want to breed. Ever so gently he is, swaying back and forth in slow motion and creeping his way up onto the hens back very gently..not one bit of aggression in his breeding..

Also you can stack bails of hay up for the hens to nest under and then the young males cannot get on the hens once they are inside the hay bails stacked up

similar to the way Ive done it, however i just like to keep the bails in there cause some of the hens like privacy to lay there eggs in.

~Wilds~

 

[ChurchillWolf123]

when should the hens start laying