| Author |
Message |
Mr. Longbeard
| | Posted on Saturday, March 09, 2002 - 2:11 pm: | |
How long after a gobbler mates with a hen does it take for the hen to lay her first egg? |
Mr. Longbeard
| | Posted on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 12:15 pm: | |
Not to many turkey experts hear i take it!!! I guess i'll have to call my turkey biologist... |
GN
| | Posted on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 1:23 pm: | |
Do not despair. Sometime these folks may be shy, or slighlty unsureof the answer to a pure factual question like yours.. Sometimes they know it but just do not post it. I have had some posts go unanswered to, but I would sure never say there are no turkey experts on here, because that would be inaccurate and there are a lot of them hanging around here . Having said all of that I am not a biologist .... But I think I recall that female turkey can hold live sperm for up to a month after mating and that egg laying may occur about two weeks days after mating. I am told they lay an egg a day for about 12-16 days after they begin laying, and ususally sit on the nest pretty much full time after the last egg is layed. I have also been told they can renest, using female-retained sperm from the original mating , if he first nest is destroyed. Maybe a real biologist can clarify, correct, etc. |
Mr .Longbeard
| | Posted on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 7:26 pm: | |
GN not sure if you said 2 weeks and 2 days or you were saying it take about 2 weeks for a hen turkey to lay her first egg after being mated..
Thanks for the reply |
GN
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 8:59 am: | |
You caught on real quick that I was not a biologist, a proofreader, or a speller....probably not an egg expert either. So I talked to Doug Scott the TWRA biologist for turkeys and here is the right answer: Two weeksfrom mating to first layed eggs.Lay an egg a day. Total clutch is usulaly 12-16 eggs. Hen is around the nest as she is laying and sit s parts of some days until last egg is laid, then full time once last egg is laid. He says it is a miracle of nature that they all htach the same day. Hen sits 30-40 days. Egs almost always hatch between 28-32 days. Like some of us, the hens are not always a good parent, and he has seen 30 eggs in one nest where two hens laid in the same nest but only one sat on the nest. Hens can retain sperm in their body for at least a month for renesting , if necessary. Renesting has become more and more critical as varmits become mmore common(skunk, coon, coyote). I guess I had what I put in here stated correctly except for the use of ht word "day". |
Mr .Longbeard
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 11:03 pm: | |
GN thanks for going the extra mile!! I've gead some off your post and you seem like a pretty good turkey hunter!!! |
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