they finally started laying!!! a few questions...

[spish]

so my hens have finally started laying, i now know what a turkey egg looks like lol. we've gotten 4 in 3 days, so that must mean 2 of the 4 girls are laying? (do turkeys lay 1 egg per day or 1 every other day?) and best of all they are laying them in the poultry house!

now, we've been collecting the eggs in the hope of persueding the girls to lay more, as opposed to letting them lay a clutch and brood them out. does that work with turkeys? i mean will they keep laying if i keep taking the eggs, or do they just lay a set amount (whether i take them or not) then will sit on them ? would i be better leaving the eggs in the nest? i had hoped to collect enough eggs to fill the incubator, then let the turkey lay more to sit on themselves...

also in the box next to where the turkeys are laying, the geese have started laying, if i leave eggs and both goose and turkey decide to sit...will there likely be fighting between the neighbours?

 

[spish]

anybody?

 

[FarmerGilland]

Sometimes they lay everyday and sometimes every other day. If you want her to keep laying eggs then take them otherwise she will lay until she feels that she has enough then she will set and go broody. I personally have not let a hen go broody, I put mine in the incubator. That's just my preference at the moment because we eat the eggs also. On the goose eggs, the turkey might take over the goose nest and hatch those eggs off herself. I don't know about the fighting. I have read on here where turkeys have hatched off other bird eggs. Hope this helps.

 

[spish]

many thanks for the reply, i think i'll give it a try putting them in the incubator. is it the same as with chicken eggs? (temp, humidity ) i think its a few days long if i remember correctly..im gonna have to go and google incubating turkey eggs lol!

 

[FarmerGilland]

Temp. 99-100 degrees
Humidity 60-65 However mine was around the 45% and they did fine
28 days to incubate, on the 19th-20th day put the incubator in lock down

 

[newduckie]

I have never had my turkey go broody so I have no opinion on that. However, my turkey is avery shy and non combative and my geese are very combative. I dont know about "normal" birds, but I do know that mine would be taken over by the geese if they were anywhere close. My turkey laid her first egg yesterday... that I found. I feel she had a nest out in the brush somewhere but as shamed as I am to admit it... she is outsmarting me. lol. I hate to admit that a bird as stupid as a turkey is, can outwit me but... there you have it. the one egg she laid, was after a streeful incident for her and she just dropped it in the floor in the chicken house. Waiting to see if she does it again.

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

My turkeys always go broody after laying a while and when a turkey is broody she is mean as mean can be. She well fight a cougar to keep her eggs safe so a goose as neighbor will not do very well if you don't have something to so she cannot see goose. As long as she is somewhere where she has board or something so she cannot see anyone she has to be alone. Some turkeys do not go as deep of broody as others I have noticed and break up fast, then some go broody and won't break up till I set them. The broody turkey is not just horrific mean to me they single me and my husband out as caregivers but will still bite us like broody hen. We let them hatch and they can hatch guinea eggs, goose eggs, or turkey eggs. There may be some others that I am not aware of their shells being tough enough but a turkey will break chicken and duck eggs accidently just because they are too heavy to sit on them. They are very good mothers to their babies but have to be in pen alone. If with other animals will hurt them. When they are sitting I just move them at night where they can get off and on their nest alone and give them nest of eggs and never had one not take it. After babies are 2 to 3 wks old I let her loose free range and go to bed with chickens like normal and she will raise babies.