Hen on the nest

[schuyler olt]

This weekend I was at a friends place, tooling around the woods on a Gator. Lo and behold, not eighteen inches in front of us a hen explodes out of some tall weeds. She was sitting nine eggs. Looks like something got her first clutch and she renested. Hopefully the weather will be better for this batch of poults!

[MrBowhunter]

I'll tell you what, I heard a bunch of hens and poults Saturday morning just a popping away! 20 minutes later here comes an old Tom struttin and gobblin his head off down the opposite hill. I couldn't believe it!

[turk2di]

Just when we think we know turkeys, we don't.Thanks for the uplifting story.

what u get out, is what u put in

[Ky Headhunter]

Last year a local farmer told me he had chased hens from two nests cutting hay in mid-July. Still not hearing good reports on poult sightings around here, though my "polls" are not exactly scientific.
Hope Schuyler is right & a good late hatch will help make up for monsoon season!

[Valley Station]

Talked to a huntin' buddy in Breckinridge county yesterday, who had just seen a hen with six(6) poults in his pasture. Said at first he didn't see them , no older than a week old. That hatch is about 4-weeks late.
When it comes to the turkey hatch , it's better late than never![:)]

[raktrakr]

i was at the farm last weekend and stumbled onto six eggs that HOPEFULLY were hatched


raktrakr
>>----->

[rlb165]

One afternoon last week, I was doing Thistle duty in one of our fields. I had been standing in one spot looking around, when a hen took off from just a few feet behind me. Coincidentally, at that exact moment, I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped several feet into the air. I stepped over to where she had taken off from, and just like Shuyler's hen, this one was on 9 eggs.

We've found 4 or 5 broken eggs scattered around our fields this year, this was the first intact nest I've seen.

A few years ago I was cutting hay on July 18th, and jumped a hen from her nest. The nest was next to a 4 foot tall persimmon tree. I had stopped the tractor to raise the mower over the tree. She took off as I was raising the mower. That nest had 11 eggs. I didn't cut anymore in that area, and went back to check a few days later, and there were only a few pieces of egg shell left.

Is there any way to tell if eggs have hatched or something has gotten them?

[Ky Headhunter]

Anyone know whether late hatched poults have a lower survival rate than those born during the "typical" time period? I suppose it would be difficult to do that type of study.

[GSP]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Coincidentally, at that exact moment, I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped several feet into the air. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

LMAO!!![:D]

I had a similar experiance when I stepped into a covey of quail on my way squirrel hunting one morning, while it was still dark.
I don't know why???????[:o)]

"Life's too short to hunt with an ugly dog".