Narragansett Turkey nests

Blue Heron Farm · Post by **Blue Heron Farm** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:13 pm

In the fall I bought 4 Narragansett turkeys. 1 Tom and 3 hens. I have always wanted Narragansett's so was super excited to get them. I have never raised any turkeys before other then the big white ones that get killed in the fall.
They have had free run of the barn all winter and spring and everyday I check around to see if I can find eggs. Well today I found 2 nests, each with 1 egg in it. Woo I'm excited. Anyway my question is: A few months ago I made a bunch of really nice nests here and there around the barn. All with lots of nice straw in them. Well both nests the turkeys made are on the dirt. No straw or anything used. Each egg is just laying on the dirt on the floor. Should I pick up the eggs and make a nest with straw there and put the egg back on the straw or just leave the eggs alone and let the hens do what they will?

Post by **thegawd** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:54 pm

Oh turkeys arnt they fun! we breed Beltsville Small Whites. they are semi free range. they just have to jump the 6' fence, the toms dont.

I'm guna quote my post from the egg eater thread down below... iv never had a turkey lay where I want them to at all! ever! pita LOL. My best solution was to build nest boxes without a bottom and place it over there chosen spot. it works sometimes. or a simple piece of plywood. and just lay it against the wall if there is one. at our old place I must have had 6-8 very large dog houses and 30"×30"×30" open bottom nest boxes all over. and man they never used them ever! when I found the nests they would be in a spot that i couldnt even slip the nest boxes over top such as right up against a willow. so instead i took a 4'×4' sheet of plywood and tacked it up against the tree. done deal. eventually a hen sat down there and hatched 14 poults right under that willow. free range turkey hens with poults dont work out very well... I definitely dont advise it. :-(

yes I would definitely add some straw or hay to there chosen nest and always leave an egg in it. I just take a sharpie and mark one egg with a circle around it and leave it there for a period of time dependant on the weather.... dont hatch it. in summer ill just leave one and take it on the second day leaving the one laid that day... something like that LOL.

I really enjoy our turkeys a lot! I have 19 eggs brewing in the bator!

thegawd wrote:QR_BBPOST I had a turkey hen that kept laying on a ledge in the big red barn. quite honestly the dumbest spot in the world, yup the whole entire world! nothing says nest about it AT ALL. there is like a half inch lip so the egg didnt always fall. 75% of the time it cracked on the wood 60% of the time I only found the empty shell. 25% of the time i actually found the entire egg unharmed. ohhhhhhhh turkeys! so guess where shes laying now? on top of an old dirt/burn pile remains... turkeys... smart ones LOL. there are 4 perfectly suitable turkey sized nest boxes, the geese use one, the other 2 turkeys lay right beside one of the nest boxes in the coop, i grabbed a piece of plywood and leaned it up against the wall and walked away happy. finally a turkey lays in a nest box, well sort of HAHA

where was I going with this? oh yeah the turkey hen that laid on the ledge would eat her egg 60% of the time after it hit the wood and cracked.

ahhh shoot turkeys are awesome!

Post by **Killerbunny** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 6:22 am

I carefully gave our girls nests with shavings and straw which they carefully scrape out because it's unsatisfactory! Ours ended up last year hatching on the wooden bas of the box and a spot under the pines. Oh boy!

Blue Heron Farm · Post by **Blue Heron Farm** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:02 am

Great advice. Thanks. I think ill try to ad a little straw under the eggs then a little more tomorrow and so on. We will see if they notice.

Post by **WLLady** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:26 am

So...i let mine collect eggs wherever they want, they'll pile them and then once they have sat a couple of days all zen like i will set up a nesting box where i WANT them to be, line it all, make it nice with hay or straw etc...and in the dead of night, wearing good thick gloves i'll scoop the girl and the eggs and move them to the new spot, eggs and all. so far it's worked fine-but i've only done it a couple of times. last year both my girls lasted 20 days and then got bored and walked away. but this year i have one that just hatched, and another sitting now-that will be moved tonight or tomorrow night to her final nesting spot.

Blue Heron Farm · Post by **Blue Heron Farm** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:12 am

So I built her a nest of straw under the eggs and it all worked great she is still laying in the nest. There are now 7 eggs. Now I have a new problem. There are 2 turkey hens laying in the nest. I'm thinking that once one of them starts to set I will somehow make it so the other hen cant get to the nest. Might be challenging because the nest is just in the open in the barn. I'm excited about baby turkeys. Hope it all works out.