Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Turkey Hunting => Topic started by: bowhunterforever on May 02, 2009, 11:47:46 PM
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Whats the perfect spring conditons for the turkey's to have a good hatch and usually when will chicks start showing up?Just curious what you guys think :dunno:
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Good cover, warm days with lots of bugs, no predators, and a hen that knows how to take care of them. A friend of mine has seen poults as early as April 2nd, but I believe generally you do not start to see them until late April or the beginning of May all the way into summer.
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Incubation time is 28 days, figure a week to ten days to lay a clutch worth of eggs, add in a couple of weeks after gobbling starts and your guess is as good as any... :chuckle:
Genetically, they have evolved to hatch out the poults once a high protien food source is established, ie. grasshoppers and other bugs. Grasshoppers take maybe a month or more to get going after spring green-up and to be big enough to eat.
Also depends on whether the first nest attempt is successful as some will nest a second or even third time if theirs are destroyed. Our hen turkey (broad-breasted bronze) layed 106 eggs last year. So far she has only layed three this year.
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Good cover, warm days with lots of bugs, no predators, and a hen that knows how to take care of them. A friend of mine has seen poults as early as April 2nd, but I believe generally you do not start to see them until late April or the beginning of May all the way into summer.
Spot on regarding conditions. However, I've never ever seen any poults running around E. Washington in April. Mid May is the absolute earliest I've ever seen one. Normally it is June.
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Dryer the better. Wet springs spell disaster for birds. I second that its early yet.
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Depends on condition sex ratios, predators..etc..It takes 28 days to incubate eggs I believe...so End of May is the norm..in most sites. However..the blues, Klickitat maybe earlier...Sometimes it depends on our winters. If we have a mild winter breeding happens earlier...I also believe that most hens will not nest if the cover isn't their.. Most understory habitat I see hens nest in is snowberry and it leaves out at different times in the spring..which provides added security during incubation. Lots of factors..Poults can fly into the roost after about two weeks..this is the most vulnerable time for turkey poults. Mid to Late June is when you will start seeing them in fields, etc..
