Something you don't see everyday- Turkey Nest

That is very cool!

 

Interesting reaction amongst different hens! I was checking for morels around a dead elm behind the house and I heard a hiss. I was practically on top of her!

 

That is a really neat find. Unfortunately, as you may represent a predator to her, research says she’s likely to abandon that nest if she had started incubating. 10 days of egg laying may have been lost.

 

Last 2 years I've jumped a hen off her nest (no idea she was there). Both times I went back in the next day or 2 to set up a cam and the eggs were broken and scattered. What are the odds?

2018, 26 eggs, that can't be from one hen??



2019

 

Yep. Good chance that she won't return to that nest. I think we accidentally destroy a lot of nests. Not as many as coons, but a lot while we are hunting or hunting morels.

L & O

 

This is the reason why many states in the NE stop hunting at 12noon or 1pm - many of the seasons start around May 1, and the thought is it keeps most people out of the woods while the older hens are actively sitting on the nest.

Did the hen stay in the tree or fly off? If she flew off, the nest is most likely toast...

 

A turkey biologist on a recent MeatEater podcast said that 75% of turkey eggs never hatch, 75% of the ones that do never make it passed 4 weeks, and 75% of the ones that do never make it passed one year.

 

Life as a prey species is really tough.

 

After spending the last 3 days and hiking over 20 miles looking for turkeys up north, I’m pretty sure none o lf them make it....

 

1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 = 1/64 survive.