Incubators full until next week, so it looked like I wouldn't be able to set turkey eggs for the Cinco de Mayo hatchalong. Then I checked for eggs this evening, and one of the turkey hens was setting on the nest! I put some eggs under her, and she hissed and carried on and just about took my hand off. Hope I can convince the two other hens to lay somewhere else. To get to her nest, I have to crawl over one roost and under another...I've been gathering eggs with one of those clamper-reacher thingies, and don't look forward to trying to sort out new eggs way back there every day.
So, of course, when I went out to set the eggs under her, I was a bit excited. So I forgot a few things. Like new batteries for the headlamp, which went out while walking out to the coop. Nice moon, no problem. Oh, and my cell phone...also not a big deal. But then I forgot to flip the latch down so the door to the turkey house wouldn't accidentally flop down while I was in the turkey house. Guess what...? Yep, after being mauled by the hen I found that I was locked in the turkey house with no cell phone and no flashlight. It took quite awhile to work the latch into a position where I could release it, but thankfully I was able to do so. Tomorrow I will move the latch to where I can reach it from the inside!
Poults will be mutts...3 hens and 3 toms, lots of possible combinations. They will taste good, though, if all goes well!