Tom not interested in breeding?

[callieisspooky]

Our Tom refuses to mate with our female turkey. We only have the two turkeys, a female, 11 months, and Tom, 7 months, plus several chickens - we had a predator attack recently which wiped out our turkeys save for the two. They are kept separately because female attacks Tom when I try to introduce. I let them free range together, and there they get along without much interaction. Lately the female has started "sitting" when Tom gets near. However, Tom doesn't have any interest in her. He only seems to strut when I approach, and lately he's been attacking my young son as if he's competition for me. I raised Tom from an egg, so maybe he's imprinted on me. Do you think there's a chance he will never mate with our female?

 

[HEChicken]

Turkeys don't reach sexual maturity until about 7 months so he probably just isn't quite ready yet. When he reaches full maturity, he'll probably suddenly get interested in her.

 

[mrbuch]

Can you tell me if aturkey can hatch chicken eggs I have a female sitting on a clutch of 14 in fertile eggs and I don't want her efforts to go to waste so I thought about chicken eggs

 

[HEChicken]

I personally have had a duck and a chicken co-parent a batch of ducklings and a chicken raise a brood of turkey poults. A friend of mine had a turkey hen hatch and raise 4 chicken chicks. She said the turkey was a very attentive mother and they still slept under her when they were almost grown.

The biggest problem I faced was a communication problem. The chicken who raised the turkeys, had 3 chicks and 2 turkey poults, and she struggled to communicate with the turkeys at first. She would call them all over to eat but only the chicks would respond - the turkeys would continue what they were doing, apparently not "hearing" the mama hen call to them because they hatched pre-disposed to hear turkey sounds, not chicken sounds. The chicken was very patient with them and gradually taught them to understand her, so after a few weeks, they were following her around and responding to her calls.

I never saw the turkey hen raising the chicks but I imagine there was a similar issue in the beginning, though apparently resolvable.

 

[mrbuch]

Thank you for the info I guess it wont hurt to try it I will post if it works

 

[chknoodles]

Can you tell me if aturkey can hatch chicken eggs I have a female sitting on a clutch of 14 in fertile eggs and I don't want her efforts to go to waste so I thought about chicken eggs

Try to use a thicker shelled chicken eggs...Maran, Olive Egger, etc. A turkey hen can break chicken eggs by her weight and shifting..not that she means to.

 

[Rodster]

Hey there,
I have twice now had a turkey successfully hatch and raise chicks from chicken eggs. The first time I slipped a chicken egg in about a week after she had set on her own clutch and the timing was perfect. In that case, the chick never really bonded with either the other turkey peeps or with the other hens later in life, but momma took care of her as tho she was another turkey peep. The second time was about 4 months ago. The situation was just as yours with mama setting on unfertile eggs and i did a swap-a-roo on her with 3 hen eggs. Altho only 2 of them hatched out, the third just wasn't fertile but didn't break. i saw it weeping after week 2 and promptly tossed it at the egg board and sure enough... POP. i candled the other 2 and they were alive and growing. a week later we had 2 baby chickens peering out from under mama... i love seeing that. at this time, the chicks are about 3/4 grown and are getting along just fine with each other and seem to be accepted by the rest of the flock. there was never a problem from the beginning as far as who mama was. i wish i had spent more time with them, as they are still pretty skittish of me, but one is more tollerable of me then the other. Mama just started laying eggs again this week and i am now looking for a tom for her so i can have some more baby turkeys. i sincerely love the baby turkeys and watching them grow up. this is my 5th or 6th hatchout in the last 2 years and looking forward to many more. good luck

 

[mrbuch]

Thank you love the story. I did find some fertile chicken eggs put them under her yesterdaywish mme luck. Thank you for sharing your info with me