Turkey behavior

[Firedancer87]

I know chickens like the back of my hand, but I have now ventured into turkey territory lol. I recently aquired a pair of 1 year old royal palms & have noticed a rather odd behavior from the hen. (again, odd to me) It varies when she does it, but she will just plop down, no matter where she happens to be & sit there like the proverbial knot on a log. This rather flighty bird, will then allow me to pick her up & set her in my lap with zero fuss. It's like she's in a trance or something. Then 5 or ten mins later she will snap out of it and take off. She does this a lot when I enter the run for daily chores & I have seen the tom try to mount her once like this. Is this normal? New ground here, so any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[onthespot]

She is ready to breed.

 

[Jmiller429]

Yep, she is squatting, telling the tom she is ready to breed. My eastern/narragannsett cross has been doing this the last 3 weeks, seems like everytime i open the barn door, he's mounting her. still no eggs for me, but cant be far.

 

[Firedancer87]

I figured about the same. I go into check this morning & there is a pretty little speckled egg in one of the chicken's nests.

 

[Denninmi]

Question -- if the hens aren't "squatting" does this mean that they aren't going to be laying?

My 2 boys keep trying to impress, but the 4 girls just aren't paying any attention.

Meanwhile, I check twice a day for eggs, and NADA. The ducks have been laying for 6 weeks already. I want turkey eggs. I mean, I really want turkey eggs.

I don't know who is more frustrated, the boys or me?

I guess we both have to be more patient. Warmer weather finally appears to be coming to Michigan, and that along with the longer day length should help (I hope!!!).

 

[SED]

Mine laid eggs for about a month before they started to breed.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
Don't feel bad. When I first got my turkeys I did the same thing. Went into their tractor and one of the hens was on the ground. Nudged her with my foot and she didn't move. I was thinking she was injured or ill so I picked her up and examined her closely all the while she was looking at me like I was some sort of idiot!

About a moment later I realized I was! I put her down and left blushing.

The tom finally got in the mood a few days later and started mounting his hens. Of course he didn't have a clue as to what to do after that. He just knew he had to stand on them. The patient suffering hens would look at me with an expression that said as plain as day "would you teach this idiot what he's supposed to do?!" I now recognize this expression as universal to ALL females of every species.

Tom eventually figured it out. We males eventually do.

 

[Firedancer87]

A.T. Hagan :

Quote:
Don't feel bad. When I first got my turkeys I did the same thing. Went into their tractor and one of the hens was on the ground. Nudged her with my foot and she didn't move. I was thinking she was injured or ill so I picked her up and examined her closely all the while she was looking at me like I was some sort of idiot!

About a moment later I realized I was! I put her down and left blushing.

The tom finally got in the mood a few days later and started mounting his hens. Of course he didn't have a clue as to what to do after that. He just knew he had to stand on them. The patient suffering hens would look at me with an expression that said as plain as day "would you teach this idiot what he's supposed to do?!" I now recognize this expression as universal to ALL females of every species.

Tom eventually figured it out. We males eventually do.

LOL. That's exactly what happened with mine. I was worried she was sick or something, but apparently it took the tom longer to figure it out then I did. He would strut all around her, pecking at the back of her head, but not try to mount her. Only after I had her in my lap & set her down did he try to mount her. I guess I made him jealous

 

[Jmiller429]

one of my four current hens ( the only one i kept all winter, the rest i got again about a month ago), was squatting, so i went and got 3 more hens and 2 toms. The dominant tom has been breeding her nonstop for the last 3 weeks. I moved them all up into the top haybarn where its nice and warm and dry with plenty of secretive nesting spots. still no eggs, so i know how you feel. They gotta be coming soon, Im tired of taking a flashlight and searching every nook and cranny of that huge barn.

 

[karimw]

I got my hen and 2 toms at an auction last september. They were about 10 pounds each, but I have no idea how old they were. They aren't showing any kind of mating behavior now except the toms' strut of course. Is it possible they are too young to breed this year?