Turkey Question

[ThePigeonKid]

How many broods can a turkey have in a year and how many chicks are in each brood?

Thanks ThePigeonKid

 

[farmerlor]

If you take the eggs away from turkeys they supposedly can lay anywhere from 80-100 eggs in a year depending on the breed. If you let the turkeys sit the nest she will usually stop at somwhere between 10 and 15 eggs and of course that process can take up to three weeks and then you must count another month to brood the babies before you can start the process again so if she sits two nests you're looking at over a 3 month period which will just about take you out of breeding season. (Boy, there's a run-on sentence for you!) Anyway, you can count on two possibly three broods per year with perhaps as many as 30 poults if you get three broods and don't lose too many in the hatching and early days after hatch whereas if you take the eggs you could get at least twice that many counting mortality for hatch rate.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Yeah, that!

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
Four, not three. Turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch as opposed to the 21 days it takes chicken eggs.

 

[OmaBird]

This year I had one turkey sit on 28 eggs. 22 of those hatched. Not all of them where her eggs. I had another hen sit on 20 eggs. 19 hatched. These where opps, hatches, where the hens hid the nest. I usually coolect all eggs to keep them laying.

Some breeds like the Midget Whites lay only 60-80 large eggs per year. This is mostly because they where highly inbred comming from only 6 birds. Other breed usually avegage about 90 eggs a year.

 

[farmerlor]

Quote:
Four, not three. Turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch as opposed to the 21 days it takes chicken eggs.

I meant that it can take up to three week to lay enough eggs for them to decide to sit on a nest. After that it does indeed take four weeks to hatch those eggs.