Do Spooked Hens Return To The Nest?

[Joe2Kool]

After an afternoon hunt a few days ago, I checked a trail cam. As I started to walk away, I spooked a hen off her nest. She was literally 2 feet from me when she flew. It was about 15 minutes before sunset.

I hunted this morning and went to see if she had returned to the nest. From about 20 yards away, I could see the eggs. I know they get off the nest to feed, so maybe I just caught it at the right time.

Question for you guys, will a hen return to the nest when she was spooked from that close? My gut says yes, she will. But my eyes told me a different story.

 

[tntrkkllr]

I have spooked some off the nest and have seen them return so I'm going to say yes

 

[Huntaholic]

ONCE, yes. More than once, no. AT least thats what Ive seen happen.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Depends on the hen and a bunch of other factors. I listened to a podcast yesterday with Michael Chamberlain. He talked a lot bout the individuality of turkeys. We want to lump them into broad categories when discussing how turkeys behave, but each turkey is different. Some take more risks, some are extremely risk averse, and those characteristics can and do change throughout the year depending on pressure (human and other predators), flock dynamics/dominance (for hens and gobblers), and their individual experiences and personalities. He specifically mentioned that hens that are more willing to take risks have higher reproductive success, but are also more likely to be killed during the spring. If your hen is willing to tolerate some risk, she may be back on the nest right now despite "knowing" that the nest has been discovered by something dangerous. Or she may not be willing to risk it, in which case she will abandon that nest and hopefully re-nest elsewhere. And I think it is fairly well accepted that, the more often a hen gets bumped from a nest, the more likely she will abandon that nest site. Nest and poult survival is a low percentage game, and they can renest if necessary, so evolutionarily, it makes sense for hens to prioritize their own survival over the survival of any particular clutch of eggs.

 

[Remington700]

I have seen hens spooked off a nest multiple times by people walking by. They seem to return if they are just spooked by something walking by and not messing with the nest. If something was more danger or messed with the nest, that might be different.

 

[megalomaniac]

Normally, she would be back in an hour or so.

However the timing of when you bumped her off is not ideal... basically right at fly up time in the evening. I suspect she ended up roosting in a tree overnight, in which case the eggs would have completely cooled down to ambient temps overnight. That's pushing the envelope for successful incubation and she won't waste time or energy setting on eggs that won't hatch.

 

[Joe2Kool]

Nobody else has been hunting the property and nobody else goes back there. Hopefully she was feeding this morning and will be back.
But as someone mentioned, hens frequently renest. There were 10-11 eggs in the nest.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Once I spooked one off nest driving by on tractor. Finished what I was doing and then stayed out of the area. Returned few weeks later and found every egg had hatched except one. So she did return.

 

[Joe2Kool]

I can spot the nest from 20 yards away, so I walked by it this morning. No hen. Hopefully she is renesting.

 

[Carlos]

Yes, I'd recommend avoiding the area for awhile, just to make sure you don't attract any preds with your scent trail.