Turkey Mating

[AVizcaya]

ok... so here it is. Up until I picked up my poults at the post office last April I had never even seen a turkey in person. I have done TONS of research/reading, books, online, and of course here but I needs some specifics no one seems to cover. I kept 2 toms and 3 bourbon red hens, was it a mistake to keep two males? I didn't want to have to wait a second year if I happened to chose only one tom that happened to be infertile. They free range together all day, sleep in their pen in the trees at night. It's seems like the only time the toms want to mate the hens is when I am with them and from everything I have witnessed I have some questions. How long should the actual act take? IF my tom doesn't get on backward, and IF he doesn't start a fight while on top of the hen, AND IF the hen doesn't get mad and buck him off, he seems to be take under a minute, is this usual? LOL It sounds so ridiculous typing it, but I really don't know. Should I worry for my hens if they are being mated and the toms start getting mad at one another and she is stuck under the fight? Or should I just relax and let nature take its course? Turkeys have been mating without our interference for centuries, what do I know? Thank you, Alex.

 

[FlashPointFarm]

I'm sure they're getting the job done. ;D

When your hens start laying, you can check the egg yolk for fertility.

 

[newduckie]

Quote:
lol.. it doesnt take long. they are fast and furious. My geese are doing the same things. I took some video of them last night in the pool and one male was on a female and then the other male jumped on and I thought they would surely drown her with them fighting on top of her and her head kept getting pushed under the water.

 

[chickenannie]

Turkey mating is hen's choice, so trust me, she will make sure mr. tom gets the message to make her eggs fertile. I wouldn't worry about that -- they'll be doing it when you're not around for sure.

However, not sure about the toms fighting on top of her back. That could be hard on her. You might want to pen up one tom for a day or two. The mating "lasts" for 15 days, so the hen only has to do it once in 15 days for all 15 of those eggs to be fertile. Trust that she knows what she's doing.

Also, if she lays eggs and starts to set on the nest, it can be a problem if the toms think she's sending out a mating signal -- they may step on her back and cause her to crack the eggs below. So, once she's setting you don't want those toms interfering with her nesting.

Just remember that the act of domesticated turkeys mating on their own is a rare and special act these days, with all the artificial insemination going on in the commercial turkey world.

Hope that helps!

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

I don;t know much because this is my first year actually raising turkeys, but I got my first egg Tuesday and my second one today

. I was outside the other day and this is what i saw(I have one RP male and one RP female): they were in their pen and the hen layed down while he was strutting around her and when she layed down, it took a sec for tom to realize what she wanted though lol, and he got on top of her and they mated. It lasted only about 45 seconds I think (this is weird typing)

but chickens lasts all of 5 seconds at the most. And I can honestly say I the 13 years I have raised guineas, I have never seen them mate

but I have great fertility rates year after year.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Quote:
what would the yolk look like?

 

[byoung14ever]

If its fertile you can see a bulls eye( or a little dot) in the center of the yolk.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Does it have to be in the center? Also, I saw a chicken egg yolk yesterday in my barn that broke and had a red dot, (not centered) but my dad said that doesnt alwasy mean its fertile.

 

[newduckie]

look here....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[pdpatch]

Generally I advise not to have just two males. But we went against my own advice this year and we have two Males with 5 Hens for the Spanish Blacks. It has turned into that worst case scenario for use here.

I did see our number two male try to mate with a hen and the number one male knocked him off her, the hen wasn't hurt in this case. Also our number two male has gone psycho on us. When ever any one goes into the out side pen he tries to attack them, and keeps it up until number one tom grabs him by the skin on his head and settles him down.

The year before last we did have one red bourbon tom who did turn out to be infertile. But I suppose the odds of that happening to often are slim to none.
Once the snow drifts get melted down, we will move number two tom to his own pen, then check the fertility of the eggs. If they are fertile number two goes to the freezer, if not number two will get his chance. But I am pretty sure number one will do his job.

Tom