I have a couple of Eastern Turkey that have laid several eggs the past couple of weeks. I have these turkey penned up. I have heard from several of my friends that caged turkey will not sit on their eggs, is this true? Should I put them in an incubator?

Hi bjenkins99!
I just wanted to say welcome to the forum! :)
Robyn or some other bird person should be on the board tomorrow to answer your incubator questions so do check back.

As far as I know the answer is YES! My old neighbour had turkeys that she kept in pens 24/7 and she got babies (the natural way) every year. The pen was about 12 feet by 12 feet by about 8 feet high. They were never in smalled cages though.
Hope this helps. It was a real joy to see the babies every year :D

Thanks for the response! The cages they are in are not too small probably around the same size as you mentioned, just not as high. I'll cross my fingers.

Eastern wild turkey hens sometimes sit on eggs when confined. It depends on how skittish they are and how many other birds are in there. If she's alone or with just another hen, she will probably sit. If there's a tom with her, she may not sit as the males often pester the females too much. My turkey hen laid eggs but never brooded. When she'd sit on the nest to lay or whatever, the tom would step on her. A typical wild turkey hen will start to brood a batch of eggs once they get 8 to 12 of them. As long as nobody is breaking the eggs (the turkeys) or stealing them (predators), I would wait until there's a full clutch. If she's still not sitting, you can try incubating them. As long as the weather is not extreme (below 40 degrees F, above 80 degrees F), the eggs left in the nest should remain viable for a week or even two since it takes two weeks to lay say 14 eggs.

I miss my turkeys!

I'll give the whole scenario just in case anyone cares. I have 4 turkey, 2 hens and 2 jakes, they were all born last season. I have 1 jake and 1 hen together in 1 pen and the other 2 are in a pen by themselves. They are surrounded by about 20 chickens in different cages. One hen has laid about 6 eggs, while the other has around 11. They both started laying eggs around the same time (March 25th). At first it was one here and one there but in the last week, especially for the one with 11, they have laid one a day. I'm thinking that they are just about done. Should I separate them, with the hens in one cage and the jakes in another? This would involve moving one of the hen's eggs. Or should I just wait and see what happens?

If you move them now, that may prevent brooding if they are so inclined. I would wait and see. Since this is their first spring, if things don't go well this year, you can always try again next spring with each hen in her own large pen with a nest. After this batch of eggs, they can also still lay more clutches through summer and fall but they're generally smaller and not as fertile. A hen can retain sperm for a few weeks after mating so, if she's mated, the male doesn't need to be with her. Since the males are just yearling jakes, they may not yet be that fertile or even have mated. Did you see them mate?

Yes, I have seen them mate.
Oh by the way, I wanted to thank you for all of the information.
This stuff is very helpful and you can't always find this info online.