turkey crushing eggs in the nest

[jbugw]

Why is this happening? We brought several eggs in for the incubator but left about a dozen for our hens to take care of. Everything was good for about a week. Then one night a skunk got in and got 3 eggs. We've fixed the problem of the skunk quickly. But since then we've been finding crushed eggs that are being kicked out of the nest. A couple at a time until all the eggs have been crushed and kicked out. Are they crushing them because they are bad or eating them? One of the girls has only moved off the nest once in 3 weeks. The other one gets up and comes out about once a day for a dust bath and then goes back in. I moved food and water over there so they don't have to get up to eat or drink. Also gave them raspberries- one of their favorite treats. Also gave them some scrambled duck eggs with peas. If they are eating them I don't think its for nutritional stuff. I felt so bad. They have been sitting there for weeks and all the eggs are gone. I poked some chicken eggs under them a almost a week ago. So far they have crushed one of the 7 chicken eggs but I haven't seen any other signs of crushed eggs.

 

[ivan3]

Turkey hens can be pretty particular about egg quality issues. Have had a hen abandon a yet-to-be-set nest owing to a opossum getting a few eggs, one night (was shot) - hen was locked up for night and never saw the opposum - but after turning/futzing with eggs for a bit she moved to the Raspberry patch to start over. Another hen, however, was mortally wounded by a raccoon (in the middle of the afternoon, at that) protecting her nest (had observed decrease in egg count, but had attributed it to her removal of bad eggs - not a coon thieving eggs on a daytime schedule - after trapping/dispatching coon found egg shells at base of big Hickory snag where coon had carried them - that the little RP hen had tried to protect a yet-to-be-set nest, from a raccoon, in the middle of the day? Pretty intent, i.e., "reproduction or death").

Could be the "skunking" was simply too much of an "insult" to the perceived "integrity" of the clutch.

The above occurred during our first year, hens are now limited in nesting locations to the back of their shed, behind 6 ft. fencing.

 

[WalnutHill]

If there is any residual skunk odor, which has a sulfuric whiff like a rotten egg, the hens may still be smelling it. Their sense of smell is very good.

You may need to remove the nesting area to a completely fresh area, new bedding, nest box cleaned with Pine-Sol, etc.

 

[jbugw]

hmm, I no longer smell the skunk. Its quite possible the odor is on them. Near as I can tell they did not move from the nest when the skunk stole the eggs. They are both off the nest right now and I ran out to check. Of the 7 chicken eggs I put in the nest only 3 are still whole. The rest have been cracked but only one has been pushed out of the nest so far.

 

[WalnutHill]

If the hens picked up the odor, you may have to incubate the eggs yourself. It will take a while before the odor passes their inspection.