My apologies to the Turkey Mothers
We have had three lots of baby turkeys, they are called poults, hatch in the last two months.
The first hen had twelve eggs and they all hatched. Unfortunately only four survived. Two white ones and two Grey. I put this down to careless mothering. The next lot hatched eleven and still has eleven. The most recent lot have hatched ten and still has all of them.
These are the most recent turkeys they are about six days old and doing very well considering the heat.
I have had to revise my opinion of the turkey mothers. The second hen not only looks after all of her own chicks but has taken over the original four as well. We thought that they were big enough to manage on their own at about six weeks and put their mum back with the flock. They and the turkey hen had other ideas so she now has fifteen to look after. They look very funny as they are all different sizes. They are ranging far and wide on our place and sometimes venturing into next doors paddock as well. We have to go and hunt for them every evening to lock them up.
These are some of the mixed group. You can see the different sizes. All the white turkeys and hens are a sort of greyish brown colour at the moment due to the amount of dust around.
The first hen had twelve eggs and they all hatched. Unfortunately only four survived. Two white ones and two Grey. I put this down to careless mothering. The next lot hatched eleven and still has eleven. The most recent lot have hatched ten and still has all of them.
These are the most recent turkeys they are about six days old and doing very well considering the heat.
I have had to revise my opinion of the turkey mothers. The second hen not only looks after all of her own chicks but has taken over the original four as well. We thought that they were big enough to manage on their own at about six weeks and put their mum back with the flock. They and the turkey hen had other ideas so she now has fifteen to look after. They look very funny as they are all different sizes. They are ranging far and wide on our place and sometimes venturing into next doors paddock as well. We have to go and hunt for them every evening to lock them up.
These are some of the mixed group. You can see the different sizes. All the white turkeys and hens are a sort of greyish brown colour at the moment due to the amount of dust around.
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