Turkey hen setting during the day but not at night

[karimw]

I thought she wasn't laying at all but finally on the weekend I missed her and went looking. I found her in the corner of the garden in tall grass by the fence. She got a little huffy about us looking but after a while she got up and went to get a drink. She has 10 eggs so far but from what I can tell she sits on them during the day and roosts in the barn rafters at night like usual. Last night they got a nice dusting of snow

So not sure what to think. I would like her to raise babies this year if she's willing, but I can't believe these eggs would be any good. It has been in the 20s at night and if she is incubating them all day and letting them cool at night? Can't be good.

 

[pdpatch]

Most likely they won't hatch. You might try candling them to see if the embryos inside are growing. But most likely they are not.

If they don't show any signs of growing you should take the eggs and dispose of them. She will lay more.

Tom

 

[Thomasturkey]

Many hens spend a lot of time on the nest during the day until they finally go broody and sit at night. The eggs could be good. You can't candle them until she has been sitting at night for a while. I candle at 4 to 5 days but others are saying they can't see anything until ten days. We had snow until May last year. One of my hens hatched 22 poults in the snow. The ground where my hen was sitting had lots of rotting leaves. They seemed to keep the nest warm enough, so the eggs did not freeze when she was off the nest.
I would build a brooding box around the hen to keep her safe or move her after she sits tight on the nest. They are like sitting ducks where they will lose there life sitting on those eggs.

 

[karimw]

Update on this hen - I went outside Saturday and found a couple broken eggs near the barn door. I was mystified until I saw the hen running along the garden fence with an egg in her beak! She had clearly been at this for a while. I guess she had second thoughts about where she wanted the nest to be and was trying to move them back to the barn? She wasn't having any luck getting them all the way there intact though, poor thing

I decided this was a good time to pen her up and give her a nest box. Hopefully she will start over once she gets accustomed to her new accomodations.

 

[karimw]

Quote:
Good to know this. I do think this is what wild turkeys must do so the eggs must have some sort of survival mechanism to tolerate periods of heat and cold.