Hi all,

I was given 4 baby wild turkeys last year, and successfully raised them.. They roam lose during the day and are normally confined at night.

I had to give two of them away last week, (well actually 6.. as one of them had 4 babies in tow) cause of a stupid neighbour that was complaining because they would stroll through his garden... But that's another story.. :angry:

I kept one male (Benny) and 1 female (Lafille) who started laying eggs right under our kitchen window!! I couldn't bare to part with these two!!
This past week, Lafille would spend most of her time during the day on the nest with Benny not too far away. Then they would go back into the barn at night. Yesterday was the first real day of brooding. She spent all day brooding..

Last night when it was normally time to go to bed, Lafille went into the barn to roost, but Benny got on the eggs...and stayed there all night!!!!!!!!! :blink:

Now this morning, Benny is still on the nest, and Lafille has settled down.. right beside him...

I know this is really not normal, but should I let him continue????? He is worse than a mother hen!!!!! Oh.. and this same bird runs after cars in our yard!!!!

Oh and I should add, that we discovered a family of skunks in the barn where they normally roost. I thought there was just one, and wanted to try and scare it away when we discovered two young ones also!!!!!
Last night Benny was going crazy...and actually ran after the mother skunk when she left the barn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We often say that we live on a funny farm, and this whole situation is just proving it.

Oh and we also have Canada geese that come back every year on our lake which I feed at night that come up to the house to get me when they are hungry!!

I've actually heard from one other person who swears that their tom (Eastern wild turkey) brooded and hatched a batch of babies. I was very skeptical. My tom used to destroy eggs and never sat on them. I've never heard of toms incubating eggs. The fact that your tom is helping to brood the eggs shows that he's one of the rare (and good) boys. Hopefully, they can hatch the babies and both parents will be good to them! The hen should sit on the eggs all but 30 minutes a day. When she went to bed, the tom must have figured he'd stay and keep them alive overnight! As long as he doesn't harm the eggs, let him sit. Now, he does NOT have a brood patch so the incubation temperature may be off leading to fewer hatching but this other person got poults from it.

That's funny. I can't quite picture a turkey chasing a skunk. I've yet to see a live skunk but smell them after they've been on our land and see dead ones on the road.

Thank you for responding. :D

Well the night shift has just begun.... :P

Lafille brooded the eggs all day, with Ben in very close check. They both went to have some supper, now, Ben is back on the eggs... I guess for the night.. He coos like a hen when he is on them!! As I said they are right under our kitchen window, so I have a fantastic view!! I guess I just have to hope and pray for the best!!

Have a look... I've taken a load of pics, but I've put only two up on a webpage.

Benny the wild turkey brooder

As for the skunk....I was about to take a walk with our dog Shadow, and Ben went flying past us on the run. Then I saw the skunk! I wish to heck I had my camera with me last night... You had to see it to believe it!! Totally unreal!!

I'll keep you all posted!!

that is so funny!! please do keep us posted!!

my mother had an albino skunk when we were young she had it descented and it was the family pet! it was really neat! we had it for roughly 5 yrs. it never would have made it if she hadnt got it. a mother skunk had babies under our porch and she left this one assuming b/c it was white. so my mom adopted it

Benny is one strange turkey! He's got a big snood (that's the droopy thing that hangs over his beak)! Definitely male. Does he have a beard too (can't see in photos). Let us know if babies hatch!

Some states allow domestic skunks as pets, kind of like half ferret, half cat. They're illegal in my state.

Oh he's one funny guy!! :)

I took some more pics tonight to try to show you his beard.
In one of the pics his snood (I didn't know the name of that.. so thank you. I did have other choice for that thingie) is flying high!!! :D

More pics

OMG you won't believe this!! I ran in the house and logged on to come here, intending to start a new subject, but then my eye fell on this one, I hadn't read it yet before.

I have now 4 eggs in the "dark" spot. About two hours ago, two hens were sitting in the dark spot, probably to lay their eggs. Now I went back to the coop, intending to mark the eggs and take the brown or green eggs away and what do I see? One of the roosters is sitting on the eggs!!! It is Sissy (the non dominant one). I guess there are a few explanations here.. maybe the non dominant rooster is not a rooster? After all I have never heard him crow. But then, he looks exactly like a rooster. He looks more like a rooster than Joe does who is the dominant one and crows all the time. Sissy has a huge comb and a nice beard, he's got to be a rooster! All the other chickens are in the pen and Sissy is in the coop sitting on the eggs. Can it be coincidence? Maybe he is just taking a break from being outdoors and he saw the other chickens in the dark spot so he figured that must be a nice spot to sit?
The dark spot is in one of the lower cages and this is the first time Sissy sits in a lower cage, the only place I've ever seen him in the coop was high up above the cages.. I can't figure this out.. :blink:

All right, just as I was hitting the reply button I heard one of the chickens talk (like tooook tok tok toook tok toook) Don't they do that after they lay an egg? I quickly ran out of the house to the pen to see which one was talking. Sure enough it was Sissy! He (or she?) was no longer sitting on the eggs. Sissy was in the pen with the other chickens. I went into the coop and checked the eggs. One egg was real warm. Is it possible that Sissy is a hen with a huge comb and nice beard? I am even more confused now!!
Judging by the color of the ear lobes, I should only have 1 white egg, but I've been having two white eggs a day. I assumed that my white earlobed hen was giving me two eggs a day, but maybe it is Sissy who has been laying eggs?

I have to say that since the day my chickens arrived.. when they were still in the van, I pointed at Joe and asked the guy if that was the rooster. He said no, and he then pointed at Sissy telling me that this was the rooster. I believed him because he has been handling chickens forever, plus Sissy has a nice comb but Joe does not have a comb at all. Judging by the way Joe acts (standing up to me), and knowing that he crows a lot, I know for a fact that Joe is a rooster, despite his appearance. Joe is also the smallest creature in the coop.
But what about Sissy now?? Is it possible that Sissy just imitates the hens because Joe bullies him and he doesn't have a chance to act like a real rooster? Or is Sissy really a hen that looks just like a rooster??

When my hens lay an egg, they squawk really loud like they're dying! And not just the one laying but the others join in!

It sounds like Sissy is a hen. Can you get some photos of your chickens? As I mentioned, with some varieties, males don't have much of a comb. One of my hens has a nice big comb because that's normal for her variety.

My roosters have sat in the nest box or on eggs but never for more than a few minutes. While I've heard two people say their male wild turkeys were/are brooding (of which I was skeptical), I've not heard anyone say their male chicken has brooded.

Hens never crow so if a chicken crows, it's male. Roosters never lay eggs so if you catch one in the act, he is a she.

If Sissy is a big bird, if she/he were a rooster, he would probably act somewhat like it and try to fight with Joe, at least once in a while.

A "chicken expert" gave us our first three birds, all girls he said. Ha! One was a rooster so maybe your "expert" was wrong too.

Robyn... you have the pics above to prove it on my end.... although Benny has given it up since he got sprayed by the skunk. He spent 2 nights on the porch railing, but tonight he is back beside Lafille on the ground!!! :D :D
Between the bunch of us... our birds are going to drive us nutty!!! lolol

This afternoon Benny was very quietly sitting beside Lafille, until my brother in law drove in.... Well .....Benny took off after his car like a bat out of hell!!! He's a crazy bird!!

Why some cars.... and not others!!! :blink:

when we first bought chickens we thought they were all hens b/c they didnt have much of a comb or beard but we went out there one day and all 3 were crowing away! it was so funny!! we were some chicken farmers huh lol

I wish I could take pictures but I don't have a camera. I wonder if you buy one of those disposable cameras, could they put the pictures on a disc so that they can be used on the computer? They can do that with regular cameras but I don't know about the disposable ones.

I think we can conclude that it is hard, even for experts, to distinguish a hen from a rooster.
I am actually having fun trying to figure this out.

Here are my facts so far:

6 creatures in the pen
2 white ones: Joe and Julie
2 brown ones: Browny and FFC
2 golden brown ones: Sissy and Maggie
4 eggs a day on average.

Joe: definitely a rooster. He crows and he is "the boss". No comb.

Julie: presumed hen with white eggs

Browny: Could be a hen or a rooster. One person told me Browny is a rooster. Fact is that if Joe fights, he fights with Browny. No comb.

FFC: Definitely a hen. Brown eggs.

Sissy: Presumed rooster. Nice big comb and beard. Never crows.

Maggie: Presumed hen with green eggs.

If I assume that each hen produces 1 egg a day then I have two roosters. The second rooster must be either Browny or Sissy.

as for the birds in question put them in a pen by themselves for a while and see if you get any eggs out of them hens dont have to have a rooster to lay so this may help you out on that

has any one started brooding?

Without seeing photos, my guess would be that you have two roosters - Joe and Browny. Don't fixate so much on the comb as it varies breed to breed. Size also varies breed to breed. Look more at behavior (crowing obviously) like how protective they act of the hens and whether they sit in the nest box. I've found a rooster in the nest box only maybe 4 times in the 5 years that we've had chickens. If you can catch a hen in the act of laying, that will help identify the sexes. My hen makes so much noise, it's easy to see her laying.

What is the beard to which you refer? It must be different than a turkey beard which chickens don't have.

You can have a disposable camera developed and the photos put on disk. I think some places can even put them directly on-line where you can order prints on-line. You could even resort to what one anti-techy person did. They mailed me photos which I scanned and put on-line.

Jessw, I only have 1 coop and 1 pen, so separating them might be impossible.

Robyn, I think you are right. I went to the coop around the same time as I did the other day and Sissy was sitting on the nest again. I stayed around the coop until she got off the nest. Sure enough there was a nice and warm egg again. I can't believe the comb SHE has.
As for the beard, you know.. the little red lobes that hang down their throat, but I guess they all have them.
So Sissy has now been identified as a hen.
Next time I go to the store I will buy a disposable camera. I did go to the store this morning but forgot to buy one. I also must take pictures of my sunflowers before they are done blooming.

No sign of brooding yet. I now have 5 white eggs in the nest and the eggs are starting to get dirty.

keep waiting and maybe they will brood i didnt think mine would ever brood ! the fisrt batch we ever got results from only had one successful hatch.we would have had 2 more but a chick hatched on a tuesday and then 2 days later one more started to hatch and the other hens ate it before it hatched all the way then then next day we had one more but it got suffocated some how we left for church int he morning and his beak was sticking out and you could see the egg "breathing" but when we got home he was nearly all the way out but had rolled over in the box and suffocated i am not sure wether the moma rolled him or he just kind fell over in the box?

robin,
any suggestions as to why that happened?we are wanting to hatch some of our sizzles but, i love them so much i dont want that to happen again!! we were heart broken about my little leghorn that suffocated!!

What did you use to line the nest box? If it's too soft, that may make it easier for a chick to get smushed. I used straw. This baby was later hatching? If so, the mother may not take interest in late babies. Perhaps they know such babies may not be as healthy, or the hen just wants to concentrate on the first born. Did the other chickens have access to the nest box? Sometimes they'll attack chicks or bother the hen so she squishes one. I suggest keeping a brooding hen by herself to reduce that problem.

Still waiting.. FFC was sitting on the nest this morning so I assumed she was getting rid of an egg. A half hour later I went back to check and Browny was sitting on the nest. I found that strange as Browny is still one of the presumed roosters. So I wanted to make sure to stick around and see if Browny would lay an egg. But when I came back to check, FFC was sitting on the nest again. LOL the nest has been occupied all day. If they all go sit on it for a while maybe the eggs will stay warm enough.

robin,
we used pine shavings in the box so it may have been to soft. the other hens were able to access the box so how do i seperae them when and if any of my new ones start sitting? just pick her and the box up and move it?this wont disturb her?

Somehow I missed this message when you wrote it. Yes, you would just pick up the nest box and hen if possible once she starts to brood. If you can't move the box, then you can set up another nest box and forcibly pick her and the eggs up and move them. You can expect a fight in that case as she would NOT be happy. But, once moved, she should again sit on the eggs if the nest box is similar to what she left. When my two chicks were born a year ago, after a day, they still couldn't get out of the nest box even with a ramp. I picked up the cheepers and put them on the ground. Mamma attacked me while I did this but then things were fine. I had to move her and her surviving son after the snake got his sister. That involved a lot of squawking, flapping, and chasing!

28 days later.... It's starting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

Here is a pic of the first born of 11 eggs.. She/he hatched this afternoon sometime.
When I got home from work, Ben ran after my van...which he never does when I come home, so I figured something was up..

He seems to be extremely protective... so far!!! Fluffing himself up, and strutting his stuff!!! :lol:

Benny's a Daddy!!!!
You can see the little one between Lafille and the pot on the left!!

Once they start hatching... I believe Robyn, that I read on your site that it goes pretty fast??? Out of 11 eggs, (1 hatched .. 10 to go)how long can I expect the hatching to go on??

The reason I'm asking, is that they are still outside.. obviously, and they are announcing alot of rain on Sunday, and I'd like to get the little family inside the barn, where it's nice and warm and dry!!!

The poults should all hatch within 24 hours of each other. Sometimes, there will be late eggs that weren't incubated just right or were laid too early or too late compared to when the incubation started. Those poults usually don't make it but you could try to put any that haven't hatched in an incubator once the hen gets up and starts walking the hatched poults around (at the point when she abandons any remaining eggs for the sake of needing to feed the hatched poults who must eat and drink within 48 hours of hatching). Usually with wild turkeys incubated naturally, all the eggs hatch. I wish I could be there to see!

Thanks for responding!! :D

Well, we ended up with 5 heathly looking poults!! Lafille got off the nest yesterday afternoon, and stayed off. I waited for a couple of hours.. just to make sure..by then the rest of the eggs were cold. I checked them one by one to see if any were cracked or any signs of hatching.. and there was nothing!

3 of the eggs were totally liquid, and the other 3...well I didn't open them up to see!! I used to have a hatching box that my hubby had made for me, but we lent it to a friend of ours a few years ago, and have never seen it since! So anyway, as the eggs were totally cold.. I didn't keep them!

I then tried to move the new family inside!! Oh man... Lafille was nasty!!! lolol Good!!
Anyway I finally took a chance and picked up the young ones... placed them in a box and headed for the barn with Lafille and Benny in very close tow!! lol

Put the babies on the floor on some nice fresh shavings.. and Mom gathered everyone up underneath her, and then settled down!! Phew!!!!

Today she seems to be very happy, with food and water close, and the 5 young uns' have made it through their first 24 hours!! Actually I went in to check on them.. only for umpteenth time today, and they were eating. Ben has taken up the habit, of knocking all of the grain out of the feeder and onto the ground, so the poults were sitting amongst that and eating!! :)

Oh and Benny.... Looks like is going to be a great father... so far!!! Although I noticed he is losing alot of long tail feathers..... Is this normal?? New ones seem to be growing in, but this is strange..A male turkey with no fan feathers!! lol

I'll post pics tomorrow!!

Why didn't you open the other ones? I opened all the chicken eggs I incubated and looked at the poor babies that didn't make it even though it was really hard to do. The liquid ones died within the first week, maybe because you said the brooding wasn't consistent at first with her getting off of them for periods of time and then him getting on them (without a proper brooding spot of bare skin on his breast to make warm contact). Didn't the adults hit and attack you when you touched the babies? That must have been some sight.

Benny may be molting some of his feathers. For a short time, my tom would have no tail feathers either during the molt.

In the wild, wild turkey toms after mating never see the females and poults again until the poults are mature so it's against their nature to even care about the babies let alone help with them. He's special.

No....... I couldn't open them. I just figured that if nature wanted it this way, well I'd follow suit!! Besides.. it is too hard... I've done it before when I use to incubate our own chicken eggs.. Gosh I use to spend the night with them sometimes when they would start hatching before I went to bed.. I did that more than once... helping and encouraging, etc.

Did the adults attack me?? Oh you bet!! Lafille was going literally crazy. Of course when I tried to walk them all to the barn, Ben stood in the way. And as the grass was fairly long around the poults, they just couldn't walk through it! Anyway I got pinched a couple of times on my legs, by Lafille.
Of course I had to be careful, not to get caught in my face, and also be careful of the youngun's!! lol
My hubby was watching this whole thing laughing his head off.. Big help he was!! :blink:


So it is normal that Ben is moulting!! Phew! All of his tail feather are almost out now... of course, they are all over the barn floor!! lol As long as they grow back!

Anyway as promised here are some quick pics that I took tonight. They were getting ready for bed so I had to move fast!!

The family - Have a look!!

OMG they are absulutely adorable. Congrats!!

Do you know whether they are boys or girls yet?

They are so cute! Enjoy them because they will grow so fast! Within the next few weeks, you may notice one poult acting more dominant. For example, if you put in a handful of live mealworms, there's usually one or two who will get them first and run around with them to keep the others from getting the mealworms. Those dominant poults are normally male. You may be able to guess sexes in about a month. It should be easier to guess by 2 months old but sometimes people never know for sure until around 6+ months when males gobble and display their fan tails and females lay that first egg.

I wonder how they are doing now.... got any recent pictures?

Hi!!

Well the bad news is... that we only have one left!!

4 of of them died during their first week. we had a rather cold spell, and I guess Mom didn't want to spend the day sitting on them in the barn. They just didn't grow...and eventally died!! I wish now that I had brought them in the house under a light!! Oh well live and learn!!

The good news is, the one we have left is doing beautifully!! He/she is growing well.. loves it when I bring some grass cuttings in to them...
I took a pic of him/her last week, but he/she is growing so fast, so I'll take another one of him this week!!

Thanks for asking!! :)

I'm sorry about the lost poults. A wild turkey hen normally knows to brood the babies when it's cold but I guess she's learning too. I hope the survivor continues to do well! Keep in mind that the baby is still susceptible to dying from exposure until he/she is about 2 months old and gets real feathers.

Oh....dublon, I am so very sorry about your baby turkeys.

Darn... I didn't get my email notifications this time!! :unsure: Oh well, I'm glad I checked in!! :D

Our other little guy/gal is doing just fine! I let the family out when it's nice and sunny out and not too cool!

Thanks Robyn for that advice and heads up. I didn't realize they were susceptible until 2 months old!! So I will continue to be extra careful!!

It is soooooooo cute to see the family walking around outside and looking for bugs and what not! Lafille on one side, "Little Guy" in the middle and then Benny on the other side!! They are doing their darnest to protect this last one!! And do they ever have good instincts when they are young!!! Wow!!!! :blink:

Two weeks ago I had let them out for their daily stroll!! I came back in the house, as we had guests... when my hubby yelled that there was a huge falcon flying around in the yard!!! I ran out like a stupid fool.... and looked and looked and looked for Little Guy( who was only 2 weeks old).. Couldn't find him anywhere. Lafille was not happy, nor was Ben!!

I thought.. Oh no!!!!!!.. I've lost the last baby!!! But then ..... I heard chirps, and saw a little fuzzy body come running out of his hiding place!!!!
Was I relieved!!!!!! He sensed the danger and hid in some grass right beside the barn until the coast was clear!!
I took a couple of pics but they are not clear!! I want to get one the three of them together!!! As soon as I've got it I'll post it!! :D

That is one lucky dude! Hawks killed two of my chickens and injured another a few years back.

Oh it's so sad that the other ones died, but I'm very happy to hear that you still have a baby left. It seems that you are taking care of it very well. Will check back to see pictures.