Long story short -- I don't have a working pen for my turkeys at the moment, but there is one in progress. Because there is no pen, the girls pretty much lay where they want.
My blue slate jenny has decided that the perfect place to lay her eggs is across the street in the field, in a thicket of brush that runs along a little creek coming from the pond, in briars that are thicker than You-Know-What. Of course, no self-respecting turkey hen would do anything less.
As I was pulling into the drive today, I saw her coming back across the street, so I knew what she was up to. I grabbed an egg basket and put on my rubber boots, because every egg I get is critical this year, since I had such a disastrous year last year -- two hens and a tom got accidental heat stroke, one jenny got eaten on her nest, and I lost all but three poults to predators and some mystery illness. (I think it was bad feed, because I didn't have the problem after that bag was finished.) After digging around in the stickers for about a half hour, I found 7 eggs partially buried under leaves, still wet from last night's rain. I know she has to have another nest somewhere in there, because there was no fresh egg in the clutch. I have no idea how old these eggs are, but because it's been cool here, I figure it couldn't hurt to try and incubate them.
And not one of the potential poults will appreciate the battle wounds I received today. Gotta get that pen finished!
My blue slate jenny has decided that the perfect place to lay her eggs is across the street in the field, in a thicket of brush that runs along a little creek coming from the pond, in briars that are thicker than You-Know-What. Of course, no self-respecting turkey hen would do anything less.
As I was pulling into the drive today, I saw her coming back across the street, so I knew what she was up to. I grabbed an egg basket and put on my rubber boots, because every egg I get is critical this year, since I had such a disastrous year last year -- two hens and a tom got accidental heat stroke, one jenny got eaten on her nest, and I lost all but three poults to predators and some mystery illness. (I think it was bad feed, because I didn't have the problem after that bag was finished.) After digging around in the stickers for about a half hour, I found 7 eggs partially buried under leaves, still wet from last night's rain. I know she has to have another nest somewhere in there, because there was no fresh egg in the clutch. I have no idea how old these eggs are, but because it's been cool here, I figure it couldn't hurt to try and incubate them.
And not one of the potential poults will appreciate the battle wounds I received today. Gotta get that pen finished!
