Disturbing sight this morning

[Cowboy]

I've seen more hens and poults this year than I have in a long long time in my area. We must have had an extremely good hatch.

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[Yoder409]

Something I have wondered/theorized for a couple decades now...........

It seems that every year, I always seem to have the "same" 6 or so hens in a group with no poults.  It began to occur to me.......  Could these be barren hens   The ones who are still running with the toms on the last day of season ??  An "old bitty" group ??

I don't supposed there's any way to confirm or deny this without some million dollar university study.   But it's a theory of mine..........

[RutnNStrutn]

Something I have wondered/theorized for a couple decades now...........

It seems that every year, I always seem to have the "same" 6 or so hens in a group with no poults.  It began to occur to me.......  Could these be barren hens   The ones who are still running with the toms on the last day of season ??  An "old bitty" group ??

I don't supposed there's any way to confirm or deny this without some million dollar university study.   But it's a theory of mine..........

Definitely interesting. Seems like it could be possible. Who knows?

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[Sir-diealot]

By the title I thought maybe you saw me naked or something. I have not seen any poults yet but I have been doing a lot of driving and was not able to get out to do anything other than drive the Mennonite the past week and a half because somebody stole my medicine and I was hurting to much to do much walking or any photography.

That said the Mennonite said he has seen poults on a few of the job sites or on the way to job sites in the area and while working his aunts farm, so that is good news. His daughter had found a nest I guess within the last 2 weeks it would be and left it alone as not to disturb it,  Friday night while out walking she saw the nest had been destroyed. As I understand it the nest was set up in a bunch of old concrete rubble that had been all overgrown.

[5arraquiver]

Something I have wondered/theorized for a couple decades now...........

It seems that every year, I always seem to have the "same" 6 or so hens in a group with no poults.  It began to occur to me.......  Could these be barren hens   The ones who are still running with the toms on the last day of season ??  An "old bitty" group ??

I don't supposed there's any way to confirm or deny this without some million dollar university study.   But it's a theory of mine..........

Definitely interesting. Seems like it could be possible. Who knows?

This is an excellent point! I have seen the same bearded hen in my yard the last 3 years without poults. I have also seen a pair of hens running together. Neither one have poults. It could be that some of these hens likely can't produce viable eggs any longer??  Do these old maid hens take away from the success of the breeding in the area due to there dominance? Maybe shooting boss hens in the fall could help success. Seems counter intuitive, but these are some thoughts I've had on the numbers issue.

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[Rapscallion Vermilion]

It is my understanding that jakes are not very successful breeders and that the majority of them aren't reproductively viable.  So I wonder about the jennies.  I haven't been able to find much information at all on how frequently jennies are bred, their interest in breeding and viability their first year, and their nesting success if they are bred.  Since you had a big hatch the previous year, it sounds like many of the hens in your area would be jennies.

[Turkeyman]

Lovett Williams stated in his Book of the Wild Turkey that the biggest hatch he encountered was seventeen by a juvenile hen.

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[Stoeger_bird]

I've been keeping up with it on the property I'm on here in MS and its the best hatch I've ever seen. Averaging 10 poults per hen. Saw one brood of 6 to 8 hens with 70 to 100 poults.

[RutnNStrutn]

By the title I thought maybe you saw me naked or something.

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[RutnNStrutn]

It is my understanding that jakes are not very successful breeders and that the majority of them aren't reproductively viable.  So I wonder about the jennies.  I haven't been able to find much information at all on how frequently jennies are bred, their interest in breeding and viability their first year, and their nesting success if they are bred.  Since you had a big hatch the previous year, it sounds like many of the hens in your area would be jennies.

Interesting theory. I'm new to Tennessee, only been here 15 months. I'm not used to birds disappearing and forming big winter flocks, but that's what happens here. I also don't know if the same birds return each year to the same properties they were on the previous year. So while I'm certainly not discounting your theory, at this point I have absolutely no way of knowing if it is correct.

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[RutnNStrutn]

I've been keeping up with it on the property I'm on here in MS and its the best hatch I've ever seen. Averaging 10 poults per hen. Saw one brood of 6 to 8 hens with 70 to 100 poults.

That's great!!! Especially since the guys here on OG say MS has really gone downhill from what it used to be. You are fortunate.

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[jhoward11]

I haven't see many coons on my place for awhile now either. Their just disappearing My birds do winter off the property for the most part. I was walking to the woods the other morning with my German Shepard and saw a coon going the other direction, once the dog seen it, the fight was on. I actually felt a little sorry for the thing....for 2 sec. GOOD BOY!!!

[Kansan]

I haven't seen a poult in years...

[Cowboy]

We had a hen hatch out 9 poults. She was visiting the front yard at my Dads hunting camp quite frequently.  9 went to 5 fairly quick. Then 5 dropped to one! I saw her last week with one poult about half grown. However, overall I've seen more hens with poults this  year than I have in a long long time.

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[zelmo1]

Finally saw a huge rafter of hens and poults, assorted sizes, lol. The boss hen had a nice beard too. 7 hens and 28, for sur, maybe 30ish poults. It is a great sign I hope. Things were looking grim around here. This is a huge area and this was in a central location that I usually see birds in. In the woods and the farmer just cut the field. There are thousands of grasshopper and cricket carcasses in the freshly cut field. I hope they ;oad up. Z