Turkey Biology

[bkraft]

 I live in South Central Ks, yesterday morning I saw a gobbler with about four hens in stubble field. What was unusual was that Tom was in full strut. My question is since we have had 23+ inches of rain since May 1st much of it torrential could he have been tending hens whose nests had washed out.

[neal]

Yes absolutely, or possibly juvenile hens.


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[HookedonHooks]

I've been observing  similar behavior around me in more northern central KS as well. I think many hens lost nests early season and are trying again.

Been a very tough spring for most, all over the country, will definitely have lots of late hatches and the total hatch will certainly be lower. (Good thing is everyone reported MANY Jakes this year pretty well across the country too.)

[tal]

 What Neal said. Jennys are usually the last to breed and may not try again after losing a nest. Adult hens (2 yoa or better) will start earlier and will try multiple times using up available body resources, I think studies have shown up to 5 or 6 times. A little tidbit... Gobbler sperm is viable up to 30 days in the hen. So a hen may not need a gobbler after losing a nest. Conjecture, not enough studies yet. So what you saw is not out of the norm, and could be a combination of things.

[Spitten and drummen]

May be trying to breed and re nest being all that water most likely destroyed their nest.

[Yoteduster]

I've noticed a little of that here in utah and now our rivers are breaching from the spring runoff so we could possibly lose some more