sad sight to see

[singlestrand]

Four hens crossed the road in front of us.  There were no poults.  I told my wife, there should be 48 little ones with them if everything had hatched and lived.  Makes me sad.

[Farmboy27]

If every hen hatched and raised 12, most places would be over run. But I do agree it's sad to see old hens without any.

[Tail Feathers]

I saw two cross the road in front of me last week with no poults.
I'm hoping they gave them the "stay" cluck and the followed after I went by.

It don't hurt to hope!

[markjm15]

Not the case here in PA, it seems like every hen has 12 poults and 10 of them are hens!!!!

[Cut N Run]

I had 5 hens cross a backroad in front of me a few days ago and there wasn't a poult to be seen.  Not sure if coyotes had taken 'em out.  We haven't had a wet or cold Spring, so I'm not sure what the deal is. 

Jim

[Farmboy27]

I had 5 hens cross a backroad in front of me a few days ago and there wasn't a poult to be seen.  Not sure if coyotes had taken 'em out.  We haven't had a wet or cold Spring, so I'm not sure what the deal is. 

Jim

Maybe they never bred. Not every hen gets bred. And some that do don't ever successfully hatch or raise broods.

[GobbleNut]

I had 5 hens cross a backroad in front of me a few days ago and there wasn't a poult to be seen.  Not sure if coyotes had taken 'em out.  We haven't had a wet or cold Spring, so I'm not sure what the deal is. 

Jim

Maybe they never bred. Not every hen gets bred. And some that do don't ever successfully hatch or raise broods.

Years ago a study was done here in NM on our Merriam's birds.  We found out that, generally speaking, our one-year-old hens do not nest.  I'm not sure if they determined that they did not breed at all, or if they were just not capable egg-laying/nesting.  I wonder if that situation is true in other parts of the country with different subspecies? 

Here, it is pretty common to see a group of hens together with no poults.  And for obvious reasons, hens with poults are more secretive until those poults get big enough to be less predation-prone.  The hen/young-of-the-year groups don't seem to start showing up until later in the summer when those poults are big enough to fend for themselves a bit. 

[quavers59]

Could be a group of really old hens that flock together.

[singlestrand]

A couple days after my original post I saw a hen cross the road onto a piece of property I own and she had 4 poults with her.      Then a couple days later I saw her cross again and she only had 3.   A man should thank God that he wasn't born a turkey poult. 

[ferocious calls]

Gobblenut wrote:
Years ago a study was done here in NM on our Merriam's birds.  We found out that, generally speaking, our one-year-old hens do not nest.  I'm not sure if they determined that they did not breed at all, or if they were just not capable egg-laying/nesting.  I wonder if that situation is true in other parts of the country with different subspecies? 

All my Merriams' started laying eggs at 8 months old. Fertile eggs. 11 hens have laid well over 500 eggs since April. 1 hen is sitting a large clutch currently.

[GobbleNut]

Gobblenut wrote:
Years ago a study was done here in NM on our Merriam's birds.  We found out that, generally speaking, our one-year-old hens do not nest.  I'm not sure if they determined that they did not breed at all, or if they were just not capable egg-laying/nesting.  I wonder if that situation is true in other parts of the country with different subspecies? 

All my Merriams' started laying eggs at 8 months old. Fertile eggs. 11 hens have laid well over 500 eggs since April. 1 hen is sitting a large clutch currently.

Interesting.  I went back to look at the study results to make sure I was not mistaken about my statement.  Over the eight years of the study back in the early 1980's, they found that 93% of yearling hens did not nest.  Of several studies done on Merriam's at that time in different states, the highest documented nesting of juvenile hens was 56% in Wyoming.  New Mexico was the lowest by quite a bit, but also did the most extensive research on it.  It was interesting to note that the nesting rate for older hens was significantly higher (80%). 

I would assume that the difference in your success (assuming captive birds here) is most likely based on nutritional differences between captive birds which are (probably) fed a regular, fully-nutritious diet as compared to wild birds which are dependent upon naturally-occurring forage conditions found annually in wild habitats. 

Regardless, your success rate for your birds leads one to ask the question as to what might be done to increase the reproductive potential in wild populations in those areas that are struggling to maintain their turkey population numbers? 

[ferocious calls]

Yes the feed would be different. My birds have not missed a meal to be sure.

[larry9988]

I saw three adult females a few days with four poults that were all the same size and must have been from the same brood. I was disappointed at first thinking that two of the adults were just tagging along and were not productive. After studying them with my binoculars I could tell the were smaller and thinner and looked to be two jennys with one adult hen and here brood of four. I got to thinking and came to realize they served a great purpose in the survival of the remaining poults. They provided two more sets of eyes and ears to detect danger. I am convinced that even though they may not have nested or were unsuccessful, they still serve a great purpose to the adult hen's brood. Just my observation and not backed by any scientific study.

[turkeyfoot]

Saw 2 hens other day with 6 poults for my area if we get 3 poult survival per hen average its great hatch about best we can hope for habitat issues with lack of brood range kills us in western NC

[Dr Juice]

I did some scouting last weekend and saw plenty of hens but only 1 poult of the bunch. Not good.