Last month I showed you our Spanish Black turkey hen hiding in the hedgerow and setting eggs. (That post here.) The incubation for turkeys is 28 days, so I had the end of May circled on my calendar. Sure enough, right about that time she got off the nest and Dan spotted three poults. The problem was that being out there meant that those babies could be easy pickings for a cat, skunk, or raccoon. We decided to put her and the poults in our big dog carrier and move her someplace safer - the turkey yard.
She also had about 8 unhatched eggs, which we put in the carrier along with the poults. These three were the only ones that hatched.
So, we have two and are hoping for the best. It's always hard to lose animals.
In the hen house, we have our other turkey hen, one of our Muscovies, and a chicken all hunkered down tight on nests. I told you about the egg fiasco, and it seems that that Jenny J won the battle over the eggs. When Dan checked, Mom Muscovy was sitting on an empty nest. So he gave her five duck eggs, which she twittered over and tucked into her nest. The question is whether she's got another 32 days of broody left in her. Of Jenny J's, we're thinking something should have hatched by now, but she's about a week behind Jenny B, so she may yet get some poults. Or ducklings. Or chicks. We'll have to wait and see.
19 comments:
Cute little buggars!
Michelle, it's hard to believe they're turkeys!
So sweet!
Daisy, and so busy. :)
I’ve never seen turkey poults that young. The closest I’ve seen happened a handful of years ago when two or thee hens had a dozen or so somewhere behind our house. I only saw them in the evenings as the made their way by and all were six inches tall by then.
Ed they certainly grow fast and turkeys make the most profound changes. I should write it down the age at which they start to look more like turkeys than chickens.
Turkeys, chicks, or ducks....that made me smile. Never a dull moment is there?
X, exactly! :)
Yes full of fun, feathers and vinegar. My laying chicks at the tender age of two weeks are already hopping to the top of their feeder. This will include raising the roof a bit. The poults are sweet and so sorry about the little one gone on. Looking to see the others as they grow.
Goatldi, glad to hear your chicks are doing well! So far so good with the remaining two poults. No news yet from the chicken house.
Baby poultry are all pretty adorable handfuls of fluff. I've heard that turkeys are much more difficult to raise when they are very young. I hope the remaining babes thrive.
Nina, we've heard the same thing, so it's a concern. So far so good, so we're hopeful.
Turkey poults are so extremely challenging to raise. We’ve raised them 3 times so far, and every time the survival rate has been <50%. Currently, we’re at 2/6 living poults this spring (a royal palm and Narragansett) and as they are at 9+ weeks old they look to be out of the woods. I was wondering for a while if we’d lose the Royal palm too. They are so worth it though! May be my favorite of all poultry
Kaelin, I hope all your poults make it. Last year we started with four, then had three killed by a skunk. I'm sad to lose one of our three so far, and remain cautiously hopeful!
When I was little dad would take about half the turkey eggs and put them in the incubator. Their would be 10-12, and put the incubator eggs back under mama right near hatch time. The hens rarely hatched more than 2-3 and 3-4 of the incubator eggs would be viable so it upped the odds a little. Still, they got stepped on and found many ways to die but we usually get a few to adult stage.
Annie, that's a good idea. Even a few survivors would be a good thing. I'm not sure we need a whole lot of turkeys anyway.
Gratz been so long since I had a broody hen of any species I can only imagine how entertaining it will be to get em mixed up. The luck I had back in the day they would all be males too!!!
PP, there's never a dull moment with poultry! And it does seem there are often more males than females.
We do have at least one duckling! Dan saw it yesterday. I ran out from under our turkey hen, took one look at the big bright world, and ran back again!
Cute babies!!!
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