Poults already?!?!?
- Thread starter Billboy
- Start date
Wompuscat
Well-Known Member
The way this weather has been I wouldn't doubt anything right now!
doubledownranch
Well-Known Member
That's wild.
pseshooter300
Well-Known Member
That is odd
LA man
Well-Known Member
a friend of mine told me a few days ago that he seen some poults the size of small chickens
Trevor2
Well-Known Member
I been watching some birds last couple weekends here and no poults yet but the hens are already leaving to nest at 9-10 am.
Dang!
A
Anonymous
Guest
Good that a lot of breeding before season starts. I would think that will increase birds for next season .
Setterman
Well-Known Member
Virtually impossible, naturally anything is possible but it is highly unlikely. I have been in the deep south for the past dayssssssssssssss, and have not seen the first hen out alone as if she was sitting. However, in Knoxville, TN where I live there are poults already on the ground.
Like I said anything is possible in nature, but the chances of this are rare like bigfoot.
Like I said anything is possible in nature, but the chances of this are rare like bigfoot.
catman529
Well-Known Member
Gonna be some super jakes next year I guess?
TNhunter
Well-Known Member
catman529 said:
That was exactly what I thought reading the original post. And that is what I call them - super jakes or boss jakes.
I've been seeing lots of lone hens the last couple weeks.
Howa
Well-Known Member
The trees, the foliage, the grass, the insects, and the weather are all a good month ahead of schedule here. As far as I know theose turkeys ain't got no calendar, they are on nature's schedule too, so it seems perfectly sensible to me that they are also about a month ahead of schedule, a little early for poults, but certainly not out of the question, it's been 75-80 degrees for a month now. Normally at opening day there is absolutely nothing green adn growing here, a redbud blooming is the only sign of anything alive in the woods. Not this year, everything has leaves already, dogwoods been blooming a week, the wheat fields are knee high already. We're a month ahead of schedule easily.
This past weekend while in middle TN I saw several lone hens out in fields in odd places. Furthermore, I saw two hens that had been hit by automobiles, I swerved to miss one crossing the road and had one fly right across my windshield Saturday afternoon, both of those being alone. I typically start seeing live hens along the roadside acting nonchalant, dead hens on the roadside and these occurrences of hens in odd places about the second or third week of season. Take it for what it is worth. 
Good time Charlie
Well-Known Member
You guys have not seen Poults yet,I do not care.... I am not going to sit here and listen to this nonsense...It takes a turkey 28 days to nest and hatch ..Most have not even bred right now
I cannot believe someone has not thrown the BS. flag by now.
The weather has nothing to do with the breeding,it is like deer mostly the length of the day..It will be some time in May before you see poults.This thread is ridiculous
Read this
Once the mating season is fully underway, hens seek out nesting areas to lay eggs. Laying generally begins in late March to early April through most of the country. Turkeys usually nest in areas (old fields, cutovers, pine forests, stream edges) with a well-developed under story that provides some bushy/vine concealment. One egg is laid daily until a clutch averaging 9 to 11 eggs is completed. Incubation takes 28 days, and all poults hatch within a 24-hour period. Depending on weather, the brood hen and poults leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching. Peak hatching period is from about May 20 to June 10. If the first nest is destroyed, some hens attempt a second nest. Hens that have to re-nest lay fewer eggs.
I cannot believe someone has not thrown the BS. flag by now.
The weather has nothing to do with the breeding,it is like deer mostly the length of the day..It will be some time in May before you see poults.This thread is ridiculous
Read this
Once the mating season is fully underway, hens seek out nesting areas to lay eggs. Laying generally begins in late March to early April through most of the country. Turkeys usually nest in areas (old fields, cutovers, pine forests, stream edges) with a well-developed under story that provides some bushy/vine concealment. One egg is laid daily until a clutch averaging 9 to 11 eggs is completed. Incubation takes 28 days, and all poults hatch within a 24-hour period. Depending on weather, the brood hen and poults leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching. Peak hatching period is from about May 20 to June 10. If the first nest is destroyed, some hens attempt a second nest. Hens that have to re-nest lay fewer eggs.
They have been breeding since february here.
Setterman
Well-Known Member
Thank you for saying this, I am just dumbfounded by the stuff I see posted this year.
?Howa
Well-Known Member
I believe the guy saw poults before I'd believe that weather plays no role in breeding......that is ridiculous to me. So every bug, plant, tree, weed, flower, etc is a month ahead of schedule but turkeys are not affected in any way because some book you read says so?
Setterman
Well-Known Member
Howa said:
This isn't coming from any books, it is coming from spending the better part of 10 years in the field studying turkey behavior for various research projects. This also isn't coming from a book, the fact that I had had numerous conversations with some of the nations leading turkey bilogists over the years and not a single one believes nor has seen your theory pan out in there combined 260 years of field research.
What you feel or believe does not make one difference to me, or to what is actually happening or not happening right now in the woods. So in reality I could care less about a few unfounded claims say about the state of turkey breeding behavior. I just want to make sure the record is straight regarding turkey breeding behavior.
If you alls theories were true there would be years turkeys bred in January, and years (like last year) where breeding took place in late April and May. That would put poults hatching anywhere from Mid February some years, to late June early July other years. Wild "critters" cannot sustain a population based on every weather pattern, warm/cold spell, etc etc. Breeding happens during a certain period every year to allow for maximum survival of young "critters".
If you all's theories were true deer would rut during September if the weather got cold early, or wait until Dec/Jan on years when the temps stayed warm late. Go post that in the deer forum, and be prepared for BSK to run you out of there.
I have read a good bit of research (abstracts, papers, etc) about the eastern wild turkey and their breeding behavior(s); all of it states general conclusions about photoperiod or latitude and the inception of breeding, with a minor influence of warmer weather and March ground temps. What I have not found is a hard data set, or sets, that would show me explicit dates of breeding and the range of days/weeks/months it occurred over. I would LOVE to see this data and interpret it for myself. I would even venture to think the dynamics of the local turkey population may have a localized effect on breeding, kind of like one size does not fit all if you will. As has been stated, BSK will tell you MOST breeding in a balanced herd occurs during a 4-6 week window, however, he will also tell you breeding falls under a Bell curve with a FEW examples falling outside of the norm on the extreme edges (the exceptions, not the rule). A sound biological data set similar to fetal conception backdating with numerous examples over several years would satisfy my curiosity. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like this, please post up a link, abstract, paper title, researchers name, professors name, etc. Thanks in advance.
Howa
Well-Known Member
I suppose the fruit trees in my yard are not blooming
either because the tag from Lowes says they don't generally bloom until late April. Therefore I'm lying if I say I see them blooming right now.
either because the tag from Lowes says they don't generally bloom until late April. Therefore I'm lying if I say I see them blooming right now.
Setterman
Well-Known Member
Andy S. said:
I have never seen anything with a firm date range, because it varies inside most states. For instance in Miss, we would see turkey poults from mid-may through mid june which were freshly hatched, and as with anything in nature we saw a random group in early may or late june. This varied from the upper part of the state where the poults arrived later then they did in the lower state along the coast.
Same can be said for here in TN, the elevations here in East TN would see poults show up slightly behind the poults in the areas in western TN.
Certainly weather has some very very minor effect, and the effect is probably more related to nest survival, and poult survival. It has never shown to change the dates when peak breeding occurs.
Every year breeding and hatching of poults is going to occur within a window of time, peak breeding usually occurs in about a 10 day window each year, and peak poult hatching would follow the same 10 day window roughly 30 days later then peak breeding.
If poults are showing up now, it would mean hens were setting on enests during snow evens in Mid February here, and that eggs survived temperatures which dipped down into the teens before the hens were actively sitting and incubating. That is not possible, therefore seeing poults right now would be freakish beyond imagination.
I guess I just stopped in the middle of the road and IMAGINED I saw a hen and poults cross the road in front of my truck. No way it could have actually happened because some so-called "experts" say it couldn't happen. I'm just telling what I saw. If you don't believe me, I don't really care.
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:blush: 
Howa
Well-Known Member
I've got a book here published by the NWTF that says unincubated eggs which the hen is not yet nesting on can survive below freezing temperatures and even a light snowfall and still hatch. It also says day length is the main factor in determining breeding BUT local weather conditions can bring on or delay the normal nesting times...........hmmmmmmm.
Seems to me the right answer would be that it would be unusual or not an ordinary year if someone was seeing poults already. I would agree with this statement. But to say it is not even possible, the weather has no affect at all, and if somebody claims to have seen a poult with their own eyes it is BS, I cannot agree with that.
That's it, I'm out, I will not argue this point further.
Seems to me the right answer would be that it would be unusual or not an ordinary year if someone was seeing poults already. I would agree with this statement. But to say it is not even possible, the weather has no affect at all, and if somebody claims to have seen a poult with their own eyes it is BS, I cannot agree with that.
That's it, I'm out, I will not argue this point further.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Billboy said:
Kinda like seeing Bigfoot, nobody ever believes you
its no different then deer and the "rut"...weather plays a roll no doubt but lenght of day is much bigger. dont matter if its 100degrees or 10 degrees deer still rut at the same time each year to have the highest fawn survival rates.
again weather does play a role sure and i have no idea what you saw but if you say you saw poults then you saw poults, i mean we are not talking about black panthers lol.
again weather does play a role sure and i have no idea what you saw but if you say you saw poults then you saw poults, i mean we are not talking about black panthers lol.
ClubHead
Well-Known Member
Havent heard any poult reports but have heard of a hen sittin on a nest and eggs found.This was in Carroll County.
