Giving Turkey poults to broody mother?

[Pearlescent]

I have been incubating my hens fertile eggs since July 1st. The eggs range from day 5-day 27. I would’ve loved her to raise them, except that she wasn’t Broody. But all of a sudden she’s gone fully broody, barely ever leaves her box, Poofed up, stopped laying. Definitely broody.

Now I’m unsure what to do. Could I give her the eggs now? Would she still accept them if they hatched only a few days after being given to her? If I do give them to her, i only plan on giving her the two that were layed on July 3rd and July 4th, so taht they hatch near eachother. After that, if she accepted them, could I put more with her as they hatched, or would she not accept them?

 

[casportpony]

How many turkey eggs?

 

[R2elk]

I have been incubating my hens fertile eggs since July 1st. The eggs range from day 5-day 27. I would’ve loved her to raise them, except that she wasn’t Broody. But all of a sudden she’s gone fully broody, barely ever leaves her box, Poofed up, stopped laying. Definitely broody.

Now I’m unsure what to do. Could I give her the eggs now? Would she still accept them if they hatched only a few days after being given to her? If I do give them to her, i only plan on giving her the two that were layed on July 3rd and July 4th, so that they hatch near each other. After that, if she accepted them, could I put more with her as they hatched, or would she not accept them?

You can try giving her the eggs now. The sooner the better. Place them near her, she will move them under herself on her own.

Whether or not she will accept additional poults later depends on the individual hen. You can try but be sure to observe and be ready to remove the new poults quickly if she doesn't act like she will accept them. Do not try to sneak anything under a turkey hen like people do with chickens. It can end in disaster. You have to let the hen decide on her own and not try to force anything.

 

[R2elk]

Every turkey is its own individual with its own quirks. I had a hen that I could give any amount of poults to. Her last year she ended up adopting 27 poults of different ages. She raised them all without any losses.

I have had other hens steal poults that weren't theirs and at least one that would kill any that weren't hers.

It is far more common for turkey hens to adopt any poults of a similar age.

 

[Pearlescent]

How many turkey eggs?

12

 

[Pearlescent]

I placed 3 of the 5 day old eggs under her, so she isn’t just sitting on fake eggs, and because the incubator was out of room for when they hatch.

 

[casportpony]

How big of a hen is she? Can she cover 12 turkey eggs?

 

[Pearlescent]

How big of a hen is she? Can she cover 12 turkey eggs?

She is medium sized, she can cover 10, I don’t plan on giving her all 12, it wouldn’t be possible with how spread out the hatch dates are.
I can raise them inside, it just wouldn’t be ideal because I have a big trip in a few months and I will need to have a friend take care of my animals. The breeding happened at a very bad time so I was very hopeful that she’d take in the babies.

 

[R2elk]

She is medium sized, she can cover 10, I don’t plan on giving her all 12, it wouldn’t be possible with how spread out the hatch dates are.
I can raise them inside, it just wouldn’t be ideal because I have a big trip in a few months and I will need to have a friend take care of my animals. The breeding happened at a very bad time so I was very hopeful that she’d take in the babies.

In the future, save the eggs and put them in the incubator on the same day.

 

[Pearlescent]

In the future, save the eggs and put them in the incubator on the same day.

I wish I had, but I wasn’t sure if they were fertile yet, cause I didn’t know if the breeding was successful. I definitely will in the future.