Poults

[JDMiller]

Did'nt hunt today due a birthday gathering at my wifes folks.... but did make to the farm this afternoon around 6pm to check on the cabin. Unlocked the gate....drove back .... and sorta got a suprise.

A hen with 4 really small poults was in the yard of the cabin....just picking around. Which not unusual to see..or even flush a turkey out of the yard driving up.... just did'nt expect the little ones.

I just shut the motor off & we watched them head down into the woods behind the cabin.

Definitely....first sightings for me this year ...and dont ever remember seeing poults before season went out.

Always did like seeing young critters..... just makes a lot of the habitat improvements we done over the years worthwhile.

Hopefully it's a sign of things to come with a great hatch year.

[deerhunter1984]

Not that big of a surprise. The birds mated/bred here back in March..some will argue the fact, but I seen it take place. Explains why things in my county have pretty much shut down. Good to hear you're seeing them though, maybe this year they can hatch before the floods hit.

[hitch]

That is a terrible sign, if a hen only has 4 little tiny poults than she has a very small clutch, clutches of itty bitties should be around 10 birds. More than likely none of those poults will make it since there are so few.

[turk2di]

Not real surprised myself..I suspect that is going on more than usual!

[JDMiller]

That is a terrible sign, if a hen only has 4 little tiny poults than she has a very small clutch, clutches of itty bitties should be around 10 birds. More than likely none of those poults will make it since there are so few.

Hitch.... my daughter spotted them before I did ..but 4 poults was all we saw. Again they were small....definitely bigger than what I would call chick size ... guessing maybe been on the ground for a couple weeks...just not sure and wont speculate any further.

We wont mow around the cabin while season is in...and the grass / clover is above your ankle for the most part.

You could easily see the birds in the grass.. but if there were any more in the group.... they had made it to the woods ahead of moma & these 4.

However....even later on ..plum on into fall... on average the number of young birds I've seen with a single hen ..4 maybe 5 making it at the most. This is not to say we dont have a good established population because we do... and can attest to that every fall. Not uncommon on around January... to see 40 plus birds around the food plot.

Seing poults now... just makes me hopefull this will be the best hatch year we've had in a long while.... lots of dry...basically drought like weather(About 5 1/2 inches below normal) ....with seasonal to warm temps.

[Oak grove]

Congrats mr. Miller! Some thought this was a tough year wait till next. I hope we have a good hatch. I need one. Poachers and mother nature keeps my numbers stable. Im shocked that we haven't had a ton of post stating sightings. With the four you got I hope they make it.

[Valley Station]

With Kentucky's 2011 hatch at 1.3 poults per hen , the spring of 2013 turkey hunting may be worst we've seen in a decade. I know I've heard and seen very few jakes this season. Won't be many silly 2-year olds runnin' thru the woods next spring.
Sure hope this early greenup and warmup will produce great hatch and survival of 4 or 5 poults per hen.