when turkeys lay eggs in wrong place

[gregmk]

birds usually have a natural instinct to know what to do, sometimes we need just to keep an eye on them & help them out & if in doubt post a question, "there is much wisdom in many counselors", good luck!

 

[gregmk]

up date- day before yesterday i found an egg outside of the nest & looked like it had been stepped on by a goat(no evidence of embryo development). yesterday a 2nd hen was sitting by the first for about 1/2 the day, then both got up in the afternoon for a short time(I went to check on eggs, there were 15 & all but 2 were warm), after about an hour 1st hen returned to nest.
today i found another egg smashed, but this one was in an ajoining room of the barn( this one had small blood vessels inside). i'm not sure whats going on yet, but i suspect that the 2nd hen is starting to lay. she may have deposited several eggs by the 1st nest & the 1st hen mixed them with hers.

Note: before 1st hen started her nest she dropped several eggs out in the open, i removed them or they would have been broken.

 

[gregmk]

Update: It is now April 14 & no hatching yet both hens are still on their nests, every 4 or 5 days they will get up for about 10 minutes eat something & back on the nests. I'm not sure whats happening with them yet, the 1st hen estimated hatch date was April 8, the 2nd hen hatch date is April 25. They are both side by side on their nests. Also since I've last posted I've found empty egg shells in various places, inside & outside. 4 total, all but 1 were empty. I've seen both the tom & a rooster hanging out by the nesting hens, I'm suspecting the rooster may be eating them, but don't know how he could be getting them out of the nest. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[frank53061]

Is there any way to prevent the Tom and Rooster to get to the nests maybe blocking off the nest to there access or penning the Rooster and Tom up for now.

 

[chooks4life]

For the sake of the potential poults as well as the hens I'd give them a safe enclosure. Could be anything eating the eggs. Rats will go under a hen sometimes and fetch out eggs or babies. Some hens won't protect the nest. Could even be the hens breaking them in an egg-swapping situation. Two side by side is usually a recipe for losses. I'd even look at the goats suspiciously, lol...

Are the eggs broken outright or do they have most of the shell intact? Any star fractures or are they crushed completely? The tom could be doing it attempting to mate if he thinks they are propositioning him, since most toms do interpret a sitting hen that way. How could he not, since in the wild they don't encounter sitting hens, only at mating time.I'd check all your suspect's faces closely. If you have an egg eater sooner or later you'll catch it with yolk on its face.

 

[gregmk]

The nest is in the corner of the goat shelter portion of the barn, on the broken shells the top 1/2 is pushed in & the contents are mostly gone. I built a platform above the nest strong enough to hold anything that stands on it. I think that I just need to keep an eye on them sooner or later I will see whats happening.

on a better note:
I was out today trimming the goats hooves, my wife came up outside the fence & said, "quick catch that baby", I turned to look & a poult was running across the goat pen.

We caught it & set it up in a box, didn't want it to get trampled! there were 10 eggs left, one partialy was crushed with wet dirt stuck on the crushed portion, poult had another day or two to go. The first hens are starting to hatch.

 

[chooks4life]

Once I found a random baby turkey in the middle of the chook pen... I still have no explanation for that one!

About your eggs, it sounds like maybe it's the tom doing it, but like you said if you watch you'll catch the culprit. My hens usually carry the eggs away from the nest if they're broken. Sometimes they'll eat the yolks if it's not far gone in development. If your goats were crushing the eggs I'd think yo'd be seeing pieces of shells everywhere, probably, or a fully flattened egg... It'll be interesting to see what's doing it though.