Nesting hen

[Oconeeguy]

Here in NE Georgia, the woods are greening up fast. Today, my uncle walked up on a hen sitting on a nest that had 12 eggs (she ran off). Strange thing is, the nest is on a mature, open hardwwod slope. Big oaks & hickories, but very little undergrowth. Anybody ever see a similar nesting location?

[HARPJ_is_HOOKED]

Not many slopes down here in the coastal plain, but I have seen 2 nests full of eggs over the last week. Both in clear cuts.

[turkey_slayer]

Yes. She stayed sitting on it and never even acted scared. Next morning there were 14 busted eggs there

[DirtNap647]

I have seen it before

[R AJ]

Whether in hardwoods or piney woods most nests are very flat and may be in open areas. A slight slope allows for drainage of water in case of  a heavy rain.
As I was marking timber last spring I had a hen fly off leaving about 12 eggs in the nest. It was near a tree and I never saw the hen on the ground. The crew didn't cut near there for three weeks and when I checked, the eggs were apparently never sat upon again. I hated for that to happen but in the wild many times they will re-nest but with fewer eggs and possibly another lost nest to predators. In areas of little predator pressure and other activity during the nesting season there is of course a better chance of survival . By fall the number of surviving poults is dramatically reduced.

[870FaceLift]

I accidentally flushed a hen off of a nest along a field line last year.  It was a pretty open area and she never returned.

Not to stray from the original question, but do the hens ever return after being spooked?

[R AJ]

Yes, as I have seen them fake injury to get a predator away from the nest and see her back on the nest later in the day. It is a survival instinct fro them, especially when hatched. When dry the young have very little scent for predators to trace. As they get wet they are more vulnerable as the scent increases and they lose insulation, that prompts the hen to cover them with her wings during rains.

[gobbler777]

Here in Maryland, I saw a nest with 8 eggs in it.

[JALA Strut]

Years back we found a turkey nest that was actually overtaken by a grouse...Once the grouse took it over the turkey never came back and the grouse remained with the nest with a combination of grouse and turkey eggs in the nest.  We were camping there only for a week so I don't know what the hatch would have looked like ... would have been pretty funny to see a grouse with a mix of turkey and grouse poults if they all would have hatched.

[Bologna Budget]

I have seen them return within the hour. In Arkansas, there was a study done where a little over 300 nests were made and had cameras on them. Only seven nest made it. Coons were the main culprit.

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