Eggsactly How It's Done

From our walk last Sunday there was this...

Wisconsin wild turkeys mate from February thru April and hens lay their eggs during a two week period.

Mama hen will build a ground nest in a place with good cover and close to good brood habitat, which is normally an opening in the forest cover. Once she starts laying eggs, a hen will lay one egg every 24 to 32 hours. 

Continuous incubation begins when the last egg is laid. So if she lays 14 eggs it takes a couple of weeks to lay the entire clutch.  The hen will only leave for a short period to feed and may remain on the nest for several consecutive days and the eggs will be incubated for 26-28 days. 

So even though egg 14 arrived two weeks after egg number one, they will all hatch at the same time, often within an hour of one another; it’s called synchronous hatching.

Predators of turkey eggs and poults include snakes, raccoons, skunk, fox, coyote and possum.  If a nest is destroyed or otherwise depredated a hen will make up to two additional attempts at renesting.