It's official.....Spike is a father. Auntie Turkey, the Royal Palm hen who had helped
the Buckeye hen raise her chicks earlier this summer, has hatched 2 poults so far. This crazy determined turkey hen went broody at the start of November.
We tried a new approach, we let her set and get broody in one of the beautiful turkey nest boxes Ralph made. Then when she was well set we moved the entire box into the utility building at night. That way her nest had 'not' been disturbed. (Sort of) It worked. To deal with the obsessive nature of the turkeys...not eating or drinking I boiled and mashed eggs with a bit of milk, then took that to her in a small bowl. It seemed to keep her eating and yes coming out of her nest to poop and drink.
Today was 29 days. I have to admit I was not hopefull. Tonight we checked, she hissed at Ralph and she has not done that before.
Our Christmas presents are here. A Chocolate colored poult peeked out from a very concerned mother, then a second poult peeked out, a black one with the cream colored, head mark that the chocolates have.
It might seem rather ordinary news to some but it is a blessed miracle to us, we are still concerned, there are still eggs under her.
It's pretty wonderful though and yes the Trouble with Turkey's is looking hopefull.
God Bless you all and with luck Photos very soon.
Hooray! Turkeys are so finicky to work with - but that is great news! How many eggs is she setting on?
ReplyDeleteShe is a very attentive Mother, no baby pics yet as she worries when we are near her.
DeleteShe is eating really well and we are supplementing her feed with game bird ration. The poults are fierce about their share of the food.
Wonderful news! Don't you just love turkeys. And it always cracks us up when they hiss. At least she didn't come off the nest at Ralph when he checked her, which I have heard happen to some turkey breeders. Thankfully, we have never had that happen. I've been walloped by the wings of toms when they have tangled up and it smarts.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the poult pics!!
Congratulations! :-)
We ended up with 3 from her 5 eggs. Two brown and the little black one. It has black legs and pink feet:)
DeleteWe don't have domestic turkeys, but we have many little flocks of wild turkeys. A few days ago, we were driving home and going through a road cut. Suddenly many wild turkeys were flying over our heads. My wife had never seen the wild one's fly, and she was thrilled. We always worry about the turkeys until hunting season is over.
ReplyDeleteYour wife would have enjoyed it here this past spring, 30 to 75 wild turkeys were coming to our pasture, our young domestic Tom's were trying to woo....the wild girls!
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