Still at it.......

[Andy S.]

SW TN, Loosahatchie River bottoms, June 18, 2019. Hard to see, unless you know what to look for, but it is an old bird strutting with 10 hens.

 

[fairchaser]

Cool pic!

 

[TheLBLman]

:tu: EAGLE BAIT! :tu:
That old Tom hasn't a chance if there's a hungry eagle perched nearby.

Many eagles in that area?

 

[megalomaniac]

Good to see them trying to make up for lost nests due to flooding. That corn looks pretty short... how late was it planted compared to normal planting time?

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[Andy S.]

That corn looks pretty short... how late was it planted compared to normal planting time?

Several weeks. Corn around here is from calf high up to about five foot or so.

They are cutting wheat this week and drilling beans in the wheat, as well as planting beans in other bare fields.

 

[woodsman04]

Rarity but they will still do it. I have no idea when it's too late for a hen to ovulate and lay eggs. I think they go through their molt in late July and are usually full plumaged again my the first of the year.
So I guess whenever the summer solstice is far enough behind that they see day length decreasing is when they start their molt and no longer ovulate.
Gobblers being fertile would be the same way, when the day length begins to decrease testes size shrinks and they are no longer fertile. Not being fertile again until probably February when they start putting on body fat and breast meat.

Mega or Andy or any other thoughts on this?


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[megalomaniac]

Woodsman, you are exactly right.... although I suspect the gobblers continue producing adequate and viable sperm until fall solstice. That's when testes significantly atrophy in poultry.

For the hens, they quit ovulating much earlier. And molt will certainly completely stop ovulation, as all protein goes to forming and growing new feathers.

I'm sure the majority of breeding going on now are the jennies ovulating for their first season. Not many adult hens will have been ovulating and producing eggs for 10 weeks straight. That's just too much of a pull on their body to sustain without supplemental feeding.

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[megalomaniac]

Oops I meant fall equinox, not solstice

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[VAarrowslinger]

Woodsman, you are exactly right.... although I suspect the gobblers continue producing adequate and viable sperm until fall solstice. That's when testes significantly atrophy in poultry.

For the hens, they quit ovulating much earlier. And molt will certainly completely stop ovulation, as all protein goes to forming and growing new feathers.

I'm sure the majority of breeding going on now are the jennies ovulating for their first season. Not many adult hens will have been ovulating and producing eggs for 10 weeks straight. That's just too much of a pull on their body to sustain without supplemental feeding.

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This i did not know

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[Roost 1]

Saw these around the 12th.....
1 Strutter 2 hens 2 jakes

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