Date Posted:17:40:43 03/27/09 Fri Author: Cari Subject: Turkeys revisited...
You all likely remember the turkeys that came to visit and I ended up catching them and taking them to my sister's farm... Back in the winter, one of the turkeys got pretty beat up by the 3 others. I assumed (and you know what assuming makes me) that she had 2 toms in the pen and that one was establishing pecking order. She let the beat up bird out of the pen. After releasing him, he stays right there, even roosts on top of the pen and displays often. This leaves 3 birds in the pen. We'd been waiting to see who laid eggs. She started getting eggs a couple of weeks ago. She'd get one a day, then she started getting 2 a day. Today she got 3. I asked her if any of the birds remaining in the pen displays and she said she'd never seen any of the 3 do anything remotely like the tom she let out of the pen.
I think she should incubate a couple of eggs to check for fertility, but she doesn't want to. I'm thinking she's got 3 hens in the pen and 1 male outside the pen... So
1. Will hens try to establish pecking order over toms.?.. this tom has an eye missing because of the birds in the pen.
2. Will caged toms display?
3. Are turkey hens like chicken hens--do they lay depending on the amount of sunlight or is it a seasonal thing? Will they stop laying when they get a clutch? Is her removing the eggs going to cause a problem for her girls?
Turkeys revisited...