Turkey Nest
- Thread starter DoubleRidge
- Start date
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
Cool. It's that time. I don't drive thru nesty looking areas or mow til after Memorial Day...May is a crucial month in terms of nest and poult survival.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Thankfully I was on foot spot spraying with hand held tank....patch of thistle....glad I wasn't on tractor spraying....the food plot is hers now....I'm not touching anything till I know she's done.
Have you named them?
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Ahhh....no?....but I guess I'll go with Lucky-1 thru Lucky-12.....hoping they are lucky and make it!!.... Mama's name is Mrs "heart attack".... because I about jumped outta my boots when she flushed
Carlos
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- Joined
- Dec 5, 2014
- Messages
- 5,208
Let's hope they all hatch and make it Airborne at least. There's a scientific term for that, I can't remember what it is.
Stumpsitter
Well-Known Member
Found one that had been robbed and the eggs drug out and eaten. Probably a stinking possum or coon all the more reason to blast everyone you see.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Good move! She is likely in the first two weeks of incubation. Consider mowing a couple of 6ft strips through the plot away from her if the plot is thick with your fall planting. Won't flush her, and will provide travel corridors for the poults to bug and move with close access to cover. No reason for them to ever leave as long as there is a water source nearby.
If your plot is thin, you don't need to do anything further except leave her alone to do her job (except for setting nesting predator traps... but keep that on the downlow, as trapping season is out).
I hope you get to watch her and her babies grow throughout the summer!
Hens need all the help we can give them this time of the year!
If your plot is thin, you don't need to do anything further except leave her alone to do her job (except for setting nesting predator traps... but keep that on the downlow, as trapping season is out).
I hope you get to watch her and her babies grow throughout the summer!
Hens need all the help we can give them this time of the year!
RobDooley
Well-Known Member
that is way cool. thanks for sharing.
Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors
Well-Known Member
It would great if you would do trail cam surveillance on the nest. It's likely to get robbed and if so we would know what little vermin to target. I would really enjoy the weekly update. Name the thread, " Henrietta and the dirty dozen". I'll stay tuned for the next episode!
I know folks are about to start cutting hay if they haven't already but I cringe thinking about the turkey nests and fawns that don't make it.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
If I had a wireless cell cam I would do this.... interesting idea.... But I'd hate to enter her area that often to change cards and risk flushing her again or drawing any attention to the area....after several weeks I will try to observe to determine if she was successful.....nest I found last year appeared to have made it when I returned. Pictures attached are before and after of last year's nest.
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Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors
Well-Known Member
Wish her luck for me and I'll waiting to hear how she done.
What's the ratio on male female poults?
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Close to 1 to 1. Very slightly skewed toward males... like 51% to 49%
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
It has been my experience that if you spook her off once, she will return. If you spook her off twice, shes gone.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Returned to the field where the nest in original post was...... unfortunately it looked robbed to me.....pieces of shell scattered with one shell ten foot away.... completely different than the nest I followed up on last year which had all shells close together in the nest and they clearly appeared to have hatched.....but we have several hens around... So hopefully a few of the others were successful.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Awww... hate to hear it. But that's what happens to 8 out of 10 nests in today's world. Start running traps! (Or better yet, trap before hens nest).
Time for TWRA to take the gloves off predators and allow trapping year round.
