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Author Topic: Procreation  (Read 3984 times)

roosterpull

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Procreation
« on: May 17, 2011, 12:28:29 PM »
Hope I'm not repeating a question that has already been on here. How many hens would you say a gobbler mates with during a breeding season? I mean, wow, they start gobbling in late February and I still hear them in June. Are they mating all that time? I got two mountain birds this year. One had most keel feathers gone, I guess from the reproductive act. The other did not, even though the birds weighed the same, had same beard length and same spur length. I guess one was either more aggressive or more attractive or both. Thanks.

Offline Lovett

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Re: Procreation
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2011, 09:50:19 AM »
A gobbler will mate with all the hens he woos. 

How often does a hen copulate?  There is reason to suspect that hens do not copulate often, perhaps only once or twice per season.  I have seen copulation in the wild only seven times despite hundreds of hours spent hunting and watching turkeys from blinds during the breeding season.  Another thing that suggests infrequent copulation is that the hen has an organ that stores sperm enabling her to lay fertile eggs for several weeks following a single copulation.