Baby Turkey???

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Plucking my trail cam from the woods the other day about an hr and 1/2 from home, I came upon deep in the woods a flock of turkey crossing the road. I stopped in my tracks and let them cross and watched as a large hen crossed with about 5 pretty well grown young...then another hen crossed with about 5 young that only looked like baby chicks.....is this unusual this late in the year for them to have young that small?...I fugured they would be pretty close to full grown by now as it won't be long before fall turkey season in Pa.and I'm sure they won't be any larger than a cornish game hen.

[multibeard]

Sounds like a persistent hen that re-nested after loosing her nest to predation. I have seen some awful small pouts in late August over the years. They may make it thru the winter if they are lucky.

It is these late hatches that if figure are responcible for the jakes I see every spring with no beards showing at all. That shows that they can make it thru till spring.

[GoodOlBoy]

I know that it is not an unusual phenominon in chickens. I have hens that sometimes decide for no apparent reason to set eggs in december of every dad blamed year. So what happens in february to the chicks? If they are LUCKY the hen is a decent mother (Two are in my pen another one isnt) and manages to keep the warm enough to survive. If not the freeze.

GoodOlBoy

[Nulle]

We have all aged turkeys running around this year for some reason and they do grow fast so most should make it through a normal winter.