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Turkey nest

Started by Michigan Mike, May 05, 2008, 05:12:59 PM

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Michigan Mike

Okay I want to know if I really messed up here or not. I went out late this morning to cut up a downed tree top for firewood.  picked up all the loose wood on the ground ran the mower through area to  clear the brambles and  the prickers. Started up the chainsaw and started chunking up the first branch got that one done and started on the next as I am working my way down the branch I look down and see twleve large light brown speckled eggs right at my feet. I shut down the saw and got on the tractor and got out of there. What I want to know is what are the chnces the hen will come back. I cleared most of the cover on one side of the nest and spent probably  a half hour making lots of noise and moving brush before I discoverd the nest. How bad did I mess up :-\

Tom

With no hunting pressure, and if the coons stay away, she may return.

She might not have been sitting there when you drove up.

SwampDonkey

Season is young yet isn't it? She may relocate and start over, but I'm no turkey man.

I know grouse are setting now, I've seen a couple momma grouse this past week. They usually have eggs before leaf out here.

But, the leaves are actually coming on as fast as last year considering the harsh long winter we came through. Absolutely, no ground frost. Aspen leaves are 1 " long now and flowers are almost gone past on trembling, white birches are out along with the shrub birches (alders and hazel and such). Soft maple has been flowering for awhile. No fruit bearing trees/shrubs out yet. Some folks have potatoes planted already.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

pigman

Last June I was clipping pastures with my big mower and a turkey jumped off her nest right in front of the tractor. I stopped and backed up and mowed around the nest leaving only about a three foot circle of weeds around the nest. The next day she was back on the nest and several days later I noticed the eggs had hatched. So maybe the your turkey will come back and take care of the eggs.
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

beenthere

From what I hear, if the hen was actually sitting on the nest, and was scared off, then she likely will not return.

But if she was out for a stroll, to get another egg fertilized to lay in the nest, then she may well come back and continue laying more eggs.

When all the eggs she wants are laid, then she will stay on the nest to incubate the eggs. Once that starts, and gets kicked off, they often don't return.

Hope yours will come back. Turkeys have an interesting behaviour in many ways.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Michigan Mike

Okay I will just cross my fingers and hope I didn't run her off. Anyone know what the incubation time is for turkeys? I plan on just staying clear of the nesting area but would like to check to see if they hatched after enough time has passed.

LeeB

You could always gather them and incubate them yourself. A small incubator is pretty easy to make and fairly cheap.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

thecfarm

I think chickens are 21-22 days.No idea about wild turkeys.If she is coming back,she would be on them now.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Michigan Mike

I thought about incubating the eggs myself . I supect the michigan DNR would frown on it and I'm not sure what I would do with them if I did hatch them. Might be fun though. I think I will just stay clear of the area and hope for the best.







LeeB

Several years ago we had four chicks show up. They took up with a momma pea hen we had that had two chicks of her own at the time. The turkeys had gotten seperated from thier mother when they ran from my daughters car as she came in from work. They stayed around for about a year and a half and eventually went back to the wild.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

Riles

10-15 eggs in a clutch, 28 days incubation.
Knowledge is good -- Faber College

Michigan Mike

Okay I'll give it about a month before I take another look. I will  post  to this thread how it turns out. Thanks for all the information.

Reddog

Mike,
What did you find?

zopi

heh..i have a red bourbon turkey setting on a clutch of chicken eggs...even slipped a fresh laid one in on her the other day...she's cool with it so far..
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

SwampDonkey

Last week I walked in on a ruffed grouse giving cover to her chicks. They all scattered in under big green leaves with peeping noises while the hen made off like an injured dog. I followed her a bit and she carried on for 100 feet and then flew out of sight. They had not been hatched for long.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Michigan Mike

Thanks for reminding me. I went out about 2weeks ago and checked the nest :-\. Not what I had hoped to find. All the eggs were still there. I wasn't really surprized I made a lot of noise and commotion in the area where the nest was before I discoverd it. I don't think I hurt the local population much I still see lots of turkeys in the fields around here. Yesterday I turned the corner on the edge of my land and surprised a hen and five chicks. The chicks were big enough to fly and they did up into the nearest tree.

ely

i missed this post, we had a hen that raised chicks each year right out moms front yard. where they stop mowing and it gets thick again she will put her nest there. we run her off on a daily basis and she still hatches the eggs. when we find the nest out in the woods we take the eggs and hatch them at home. the chicks will leave for the woods when they grow up.
folks tell me to only hatch them if you do not have chickens around your house, if you have chickens the turkeys will take parasites and desease from the chickens out to the wild turkeys and cause problems. who knows, i am no turkey man either. we do raise them at a buddies house that has no chickens.jic.

i do know that the turkeys are good eating, that i do know.

Reddog

Thanks for the update.

maestro

Shame she didn't come back but if the eggs were still there, you must not have too many predators around.  Most turkeys loose half their clutch by autumn anyway but if that nest was "that" exposed and still not found then you can assume other nests are fairly safe from predators too.  The population is fine, one lost clutch won't hurt anything in the long run.  As long as the hens in the area keep producing at least one surviving breeding female per year, the population will grow. 
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.  Martin Luther

Michigan Mike

 Maestro you might be right about predator populations around here. I haven't seen as many dead racoons along side the road and haven't heard the coyotes in a while. On the other hand our new next door neighbor had their porch flowers and some they had planted ruined by racoons almost as soon as they planted them. Makes me feel a little better thinking that in the overall scheme of things I probably didn't hurt the turkey population any. I still  :-\feel bad about running her off her nest.

Michigan Mike

Well I think the hen might have evened up the score a little. I was out picking blackberries and looked ahead just in time to see a turkey chick about six feet in front of me. I was just forming the thought that if there were chicks the hen must be close  when she took off flying from about ten feet away right in the blackberry brambles. Most of the blackberies I had picked went up in the air and landed on the ground. When my heart stopped pounding I just laughed. Nice to know that even if that clutch of eggs never hatched there were others that did.

SwampDonkey

 :D :D

I can imagine it. Sometimes that happens (heart in throat) when a grouse flushes. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Tom

Oh yes!   Walking up Quail can take years off of your life.  I can't even imagine flushing a Turkey hen. :D

Did you live? :-\

Ron Scott

I've had that happen a few times with turkeys. Almost got thrown off a horse once in the West Virginia backcountry when one took flight in front of the horse causing the Tennessee Walker to reach for the sky.
~Ron

Michigan Mike

I lived Tom and actually enjoyed seeing the chicks. This one ranks right up there with the time during deer season when I was sneeking through the woods. As I was trying to quietly move through the woods I reached a large downed log  I eased up on it and stood there watching and listeningfor about  three four minets. I stepped down off the log and the grouse that had been there the whole time took off. I thought the end of the world had happened. I think that is the biggest surprize I have ever had in the woods.

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