~*Third Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch-Athon*~ all poultry welcome!

[ChooksChick]

Soooooo....Sally's avatar is coming to get me? EEEEeeeek!

 

[HEChicken]

I endured the bites and candled Penelope's eggs tonight... Poor baby is risking her life for nothing; apparently Mr. Jake's enthusiasm isn't enough to make up for his clumsiness. The ten in the 'bator are clears, as are the six she's setting on. Now what? She is in a vulnerable area & won't move, and setting on infertile eggs. Suggestions, please?!?

Are you able to get her some fertile eggs to sit on?

I agree with whoever said moving the hen made her quit the nest. I've had some successes moving chicken hens but only, at best, 20% of the time. I've tried moving them in daytime, at night when they're sleepy, with and without other broody hens for company. Most of the time it breaks their broody. Just yesterday I let two hens out of a broody cage I've had them in over a week. They sat in nest boxes for a week so I moved them both, at night, and left them in the broody coop more than a week thinking at some point they'd go back to it but when they hadn't by yesterday I let them out and today they are still not acting broody again.

The best success - and I kid you not - was when I moved a hen who I had always thought of as more intelligent than most. I put her on the new nest, she bounced off it and followed me to the door of my hoop coop. I exited, then squatted down and talked to her and explained that I really need her to brood here rather than in the nest box because she'll be safer and have more privacy and it will be a great place to raise chicks. She appeared to cock her head and listen to me and next morning she was sitting tight on her new nest of eggs.

I've never tried moving a turkey but I have one who is showing signs she is getting ready to brood where she has been laying her eggs. I've started leaving her eggs there to collect a clutch to encourage her to brood there because it is a place I will be able to segregate off so she can brood safely without having to move her. I'll simply pull a cattle panel across in front of the corner of the sheep shelter she is already in, and there will be plenty of room to give her her own feeder and waterer, and the cattle panel will keep the sheep from trampling her if they get excited.

Perhaps rather than moving her, you could cordon off the area and make it her special brooding place where she will be safe?

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Sorry the eggs are not developing. The only experience I have is when moving a chicken hen and her eggs to a safer location, she quit the eggs and the new nest.

*I'm* sorry I didn't get online early yesterday - I'd have bought those eggs in a heartbeat!

I have moved hens successfully, but they were always BO's. I didn't actually put them IN the new nest; I put them in a 4x4x4 enclosure with the nest & eggs already in it and complete privacy/semi darkness - so far it's worked all three times, but that really doesn't mean anything, LOL. Problem is that Penelope will beat me black & blue if I try to pick her up; and I speak from experience...

Slip her some chicken or duck eggs instead. I have rainbow layers & polish mixes if you need some cheap eggs.

Probably the best plan. I have fertile chicken eggs coming out my ears, and while the ones I have most of are the only breed with no outstanding orders - there's a poultry auction ten miles away

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I was SO looking forward to baby turkeys, and I've read that wild turkeys will re-start a clutch if they lose one early in the season, but don't know if domesticated ones will, or how to remedy the fertility issue. Any idea how many chicken eggs she can cover?

Are you able to get her some fertile eggs to sit on?

I agree with whoever said moving the hen made her quit the nest. I've had some successes moving chicken hens but only, at best, 20% of the time. I've tried moving them in daytime, at night when they're sleepy, with and without other broody hens for company. Most of the time it breaks their broody. Just yesterday I let two hens out of a broody cage I've had them in over a week. They sat in nest boxes for a week so I moved them both, at night, and left them in the broody coop more than a week thinking at some point they'd go back to it but when they hadn't by yesterday I let them out and today they are still not acting broody again.

The best success - and I kid you not - was when I moved a hen who I had always thought of as more intelligent than most. I put her on the new nest, she bounced off it and followed me to the door of my hoop coop. I exited, then squatted down and talked to her and explained that I really need her to brood here rather than in the nest box because she'll be safer and have more privacy and it will be a great place to raise chicks. She appeared to cock her head and listen to me and next morning she was sitting tight on her new nest of eggs.

I've never tried moving a turkey but I have one who is showing signs she is getting ready to brood where she has been laying her eggs. I've started leaving her eggs there to collect a clutch to encourage her to brood there because it is a place I will be able to segregate off so she can brood safely without having to move her. I'll simply pull a cattle panel across in front of the corner of the sheep shelter she is already in, and there will be plenty of room to give her her own feeder and waterer, and the cattle panel will keep the sheep from trampling her if they get excited.

Perhaps rather than moving her, you could cordon off the area and make it her special brooding place where she will be safe

This was kinda my plan earlier - but it depends on DH. She's in the front corner of an empty 40'x60' hay barn that is not connected to the barn lot or any pastures. It's a steel building, so f it weren't for the drive-through doors, she would already be perfectly safe. He wouldn't let me build panels across the bottom of the doorways, and there's already been one opossum incident. So... my next thought was to use pallets to build a 'box' around her & cover them with 1"x2" cage wire. BUT!!! She is nestled behind the frame of the old haywagon DH is repairing, which is leaned up against the front wall - I can't get the pallets in there. Last week he said he was going to pull it out and work on it, but that could be in twenty minutes or in two years?

This is her position. (yes, she either rejected or otherwise broke one egg the day after I gave the rest of them to her) The interior framing of the building is wood, so I can nail to it; and he never took the forms off of the foundation, so it's kinda insulated a bit at the bottom - but that wagon frame is twelve feet long and six feet wide - I neither have enough pallets to enclose it all (which I'd get killed for) nor can I manage pallets six feet off the ground. I could use my tractor to move the frame, but again - DH.

 

[HEChicken]

I was SO looking forward to baby turkeys, and I've read that wild turkeys will re-start a clutch if they lose one early in the season, but don't know if domesticated ones will, or how to remedy the fertility issue. Any idea how many chicken eggs she can cover?

I only have one experience with this. Your results may vary.

Last year I had a RP hen who went broody and I successfully moved her to my hoop coop. She was in a dog crate in the hoop coop, and I left the door of the crate open so she could go in and out and to eat and drink. About halfway through, we had a huge rainstorm that dumped many inches and the chicken yard is on a very slight decline in the yard so it ended up with more water than anywhere else. Unknown to me immediately, the dog crate was low enough on the ground that the straw bedding absorbed the water. Several days later the entire clutch of eggs - and the poor hen as well - were crawling in maggots. Candling indicated they were all rotten so I had to discard the entire batch and kick her out of the hoop coop.

I don't know how much later (maybe 2 weeks?) but she started to lay again and some time after that, went broody again. This time she made herself a nest out in our pasture. I was really concerned about this but figured she had a point. She had tried it my way and it didn't work so now it was time to do it her way. So, against my better judgement, I let her. For three weeks she faithfully sat on the eggs and I walked out and checked on her every day. On day 21, I decided to candle and see how many were viable and on the way there, saw a few feathers and got a bad feeling. A fox got her. And all the eggs too. There was nothing left but one of her wings and a lot of feathers. It was devastating and I am so thankful I had also incubated some of her eggs so I had some poults to carry on. In fact, it is her daughter who is now sitting on her nest and I've just enclosed her with the cattle panel.

Long story. My point is that yes, in my case, she did lay and set a second clutch in one season.

As for how many chicken eggs. Both times she sat on 20 turkey eggs easily (I couldn't see any sticking out). I would say 25-30 chicken eggs should do it

But if you don't want that many chicks raised, I'm sure she'll happily sit on fewer.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THank you for positng this-- lesson learned.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

I only have one experience with this. Your results may vary.

Last year I had a RP hen who went broody and I successfully moved her to my hoop coop. She was in a dog crate in the hoop coop, and I left the door of the crate open so she could go in and out and to eat and drink. About halfway through, we had a huge rainstorm that dumped many inches and the chicken yard is on a very slight decline in the yard so it ended up with more water than anywhere else. Unknown to me immediately, the dog crate was low enough on the ground that the straw bedding absorbed the water. Several days later the entire clutch of eggs - and the poor hen as well - were crawling in maggots. Candling indicated they were all rotten so I had to discard the entire batch and kick her out of the hoop coop.

I don't know how much later (maybe 2 weeks?) but she started to lay again and some time after that, went broody again. This time she made herself a nest out in our pasture. I was really concerned about this but figured she had a point. She had tried it my way and it didn't work so now it was time to do it her way. So, against my better judgement, I let her. For three weeks she faithfully sat on the eggs and I walked out and checked on her every day. On day 21, I decided to candle and see how many were viable and on the way there, saw a few feathers and got a bad feeling. A fox got her. And all the eggs too. There was nothing left but one of her wings and a lot of feathers. It was devastating and I am so thankful I had also incubated some of her eggs so I had some poults to carry on. In fact, it is her daughter who is now sitting on her nest and I've just enclosed her with the cattle panel.

Long story. My point is that yes, in my case, she did lay and set a second clutch in one season.

As for how many chicken eggs. Both times she sat on 20 turkey eggs easily (I couldn't see any sticking out). I would say 25-30 chicken eggs should do it

But if you don't want that many chicks raised, I'm sure she'll happily sit on fewer.

Thank you for the input. That's a heartbreaking tale, and I appreciate your sharing it. I've decided it's best to stop her, and already pulled the eggs - DH told me she was headed for the barn lot and we thought she might have given up. She went down for a quick dust bath and I ran out and got them while she was off; at least they won't be rotting under her. Unfortunately, I hadn't come to a full decision at the time, and I left that darn golf ball in the nest to keep her attention so I could get today's BO & BR eggs. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see if she leaves again (for some reason, I don't want her to know it was me?), if she does I'll take the golf ball; if she doesn't take a break by approaching dusk I'll go in and take it from her. I really don't expect she will, she hasn't left the nest in three weeks. Her food & water are within reach of it, and she seems to just turn like a dial when the poop pile gets to a certain level..

I have enough incubators now to set weekly, so I really don't need her to hatch chickens for me. Perhaps she will build another clutch, perhaps not, but hatching chickens isn't worth having her vulnerable like that. Now I have to figure out the fertility issue. Giving roos a haircut was bad enough, I don't wanna try holding Jake for a trim!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Quote:
They typically sit on a dozen or more of their own eggs & chicken eggs tend to be smaller. I would say she can easily cover 18 eggs.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

I have found the answer to all of Penelope's problems, and as everyone else on BYC probably already knows, it's really simple and the answer to most things - BUY SOME EGGS!!! (I didn't feel that chicken hatching justified her state of exposure...)
She will get the chance to raise baby turkeys, DH will have occasional non-bovine "awwww" things for the farm FB page if she succeeds, and my insertion of $ into the equation means the wagon frame gets moved as soon as the grumbling stops

. Heh. I am *such* a problem solver!

 

[Arielle]

 

[mlm Mike]

Well done!