It's a little early but the Fed Ex driver saw a hen with 6 chicks in the neighbors driveway last week, 19th or 20th of April.
I've seen them as early as the 1st week of May.
What's the earliest any of you have ever seen new poults?

barry

Just wanted to bring this post back to the front page and see if you guys have had any poult sightings.

barry

Have not seen any yet here in our county. But it shouldn’t be long, my brother ran across a nest that had 18 egg in it over 2 weeks ago. So I figure it is only a matter of time before they hatch. I am curious if anyone has attempted to hatch and raise any wild turkeys? And how sucessful they have been with them. I tried to talk my brother into letting me collect the eggs from this nest early on when he found them because they were very very close to a gas well that was going to be taken out and completly re-done. I was afraid that the new construction would keep the hen ran off the nest for to long and the eggs would not hatch. But he wouldn't let me so I'm going to go back in a week or so and take a look and see if they hatched or not.

well, a friend of mine was cutting his hay, knowing that there was a nest in the field.....the hen never came back, so he tried to raise them himself. None hatched. Maybe he didn't do it right, but he had spoken with a game warden, spoken with several other people. Not sure what went wrong, but that was about 13 turkeys we didn't see the next year.

If you take them, make sure you know what to do with them.

And, make sure it's LEGAL!!

im sure its not legal in virginia, I have not checked but just a guess it isn't. It is just such a shame to know they have no chance and just let them go.

Two years ago I found a nest right beside an ATV trail and someone must have shot the hen when she flew from the nest her feathers were everywhere in the road and she was over the side of the hill the nest had 16 eggs in it. I wasn’t sure how long they had been exposed to the weather but I took them and incubated them. 8 of them hatched but I was unsuccessful at raising them to maturity. I had no clue as to how to go about doing it. We had a hen that hatched ditties at the same time the baby turkeys hatched I just put the turkeys with the hen and her babies but they wouldn’t go and get under her at night and dies from getting to cold, They die very easy from getting a chill they get paralyzed from even dew in the morning. I got one to live for almost 3 weeks and I turned it loose in with the chickens and they killed it.

sure someone shot it? A bobcat or coyote or something could have killed it while on it's nest. Too bad turkeys aren't smart enough to nest in the tree....or are they? Every nest i've ever seen is on the ground. Around here the coyotes are getting into most of the nests. I expect in the next couple of years turkey's are going to be pretty scarce, as will rabbits and other smaller animals. We've killed a few, and seen several others. There's even a bounty on them in Halifax County, it was $50.00, but I think it's gone up to $100.00. And in Danville, they have them in the city. My wife saw one on the way to work.

was down in georgia last few days and i didnt see any my self but some friends of mine have over the last week, but georgia is a few weeks ahead of here, hope none have hatched yet this weather will kill em.

well no teach im not exactly sure someone shot it, But I figured if an animal killed the bird they would have at least eat some of it. Coyotes are getting thicker around here also. Wild dogs are more of a problem than yotes though. People always let there dogs out and no one takes them in they turn wild and run deer kill whatever than can get ahold of. Awful.....

Someone set me straight on this the DNR down in georgia says that the coyotes dont have a significant impact on reproduction, Georgia is pretty much covered up with yotes. However since the middle to late 90's the reproduction rate has dropped for turkeys. Dont get me wrong the turkey hunting in dixie is still good but just not as good as it was 8 years ago. DNR says that its loss of habitat, weather and that the population has reached capacity so that the reproduction in turn has declined. Do yotes kill a significant number of poults? I know that they dont kill em all because i hunt in yote infested woods, and there are still decent numbers of jakes etc. In NC where turkey numbers have been lower in the past some parts of the state have excellent numbers and great reproduction, this might support the higher reproduction to reach capacity hypothesis. But it almost makes me feel that the DNR just dosnt want to admit they made a mistake by allowing the yotes to be reintroduced. Not to mention the increasing scarcity of hearing the wistle of a bobwhite, ga used to be kind of quail now hardly anybody hunts them except for the guys that go to plantations and hunt for the most part pen birds. I know this my grandad used to kill crows, hawks, foxes etc whenever and wherever he could, it wasnt illegal, they even got a bounty, would climb trees and kill the young in nest and turn in there scalps and he talks about the glory days of quail and rabbits. Dont get me wrong im not down on DNR they have restored the deer population, and turkey populations. I just wonder whether or not killing the preditors like hawks, owls etc. and continuing to hunt is tipping the scales. Even the interest in legal preditor hunting has declined so much in species like coons, possums, skunks etc.

I'm with you TW.
An increase in predators HAS to cause a decrease in small game and turkey populations.

barry