# Turkey advice please!!!



## Michiganman1 (Dec 27, 2011)

So here is my situation, Saturday and Sunday the were gobbling like crazy in all directions. I set up appropriately. Monday and Tuesday morning they went silent. I am calling in hens and I have seen some hens fly down. Which was odd I thought they would be sitting on the nest. I have had no gobble backs to my calls. So has anyone experienced this were they just go cold? Even that 9 to 1 run and gun period, nothing, just wondering thanks for your time.


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

Kind of went silent around here too! not sure about this morning! Thunder, lighting, pouring rain and hail. Brother is suppose to come out tomorrow morning and I can only take him out for a few hours. Work the rest of the week. Hens always roost at night. They lay one egg a day until they have a full nest and then are done mating. Then they fly off the roost and head straight to their nest. If the nest is destroyed by predators they may try to mate again and start a new nest. The only time they do not roost is when the new born poults are hatched and she stays on the ground to protect them until they can fly up to roost.


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## Ihuntstateland (Oct 27, 2011)

the poults can fly up to roost at about 4 days. Here is a great documentary that will teach you lots:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

So your saying 4 days out of the egg they can roost?

I think you may have meant to say 4 weeks. 


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk


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## Ihuntstateland (Oct 27, 2011)

I stand corrected, according to the documentary 7 days flying...about 12:00 minute mark of the video...


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

A hen turkey only needs to breed one time in a season to lay a clutch of a dozen or more fertile eggs.

The poults start roosting a 7 to 10 days.


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## TheLionsFan (Dec 20, 2011)

I've had them go silent before too. Ive had it where one morning its kinda crappy out, yet I can still hear them gobble like crazy. But the next morning its nice and calm, thinking ill be able to hear every tom in the county, only to hear nothing. I dont understand it and I dont think any other hunter does either. The thing is they are still out there and you just gotta keep at it. You know how it is, out of no where that gobble that gets your heart racing. 

Good luck!


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## Michiganman1 (Dec 27, 2011)

It's amazing those eggs can survive some of these cold mornings and nights all the way until they hatch.


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

They are just eggs untill the hen starts to incubate them so that may be the reason they can take the cold. After she starts sitting maybe they would not take the cold if she left the nest for too long a time.

Also they may be in a location that is sheltered from the cold.


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## iLiveInTrees (Jun 29, 2010)

multibeard said:


> They are just eggs untill the hen starts to incubate them so that may be the reason they can take the cold. After she starts sitting maybe they would not take the cold if she left the nest for too long a time.
> 
> Also they may be in a location that is sheltered from the cold.


It's the same with chickens, accumlucated time under incubation is what produces a chick. My dad will hatch them, and he will usually collect eggs over the course of 7 days before he starts the brood.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

multibeard said:


> A hen turkey only needs to breed one time in a season to lay a clutch of a dozen or more fertile eggs.
> 
> The poults start roosting a 7 to 10 days.


I've raised turkeys. By roost you must mean 1' off the ground.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

Michiganman1 said:


> So here is my situation, Saturday and Sunday the were gobbling like crazy in all directions. I set up appropriately. Monday and Tuesday morning they went silent. I am calling in hens and I have seen some hens fly down. Which was odd I thought they would be sitting on the nest. I have had no gobble backs to my calls. So has anyone experienced this were they just go cold? Even that 9 to 1 run and gun period, nothing, just wondering thanks for your time.


Its natural to have silent gobbling periods throughout the turkey season.. THey are not completely silent as they follow hens spitting and drumming throughout the day. State wildlife agencies attempt to push openers back until most hens have started to lay, but with the large number of turkeys present today, there will be hens that nest and re nest all throughout the months of season and thus why you still see gobblers courting hens into June.. 

As mentioned a hen only needs to be bred once as she can store sperm for a period of time if she needs to re nest.. But biologists are not 100 percent confident that every hen only breeds once, but it can be assured if they were nymphos we would have a hard time killing them.. 

When a hen begins to lay she spends very little time at the nest an hour or so for eggs 1-5 or 6.. After that in the laying process she begins to spend more time at the nest each day covering the nest with leaves when she leaves.. Once the incubating process begins the hen spends almost the entirety of the day and night on the nest and will only leave for brief periods in which she does NOT cover the nest to eat defecate as she will not defecate around the nest as it could attract predators.. A uncovered nest and extremely large droppings are signs of incubation.. The incubation period too is somewhat a mystery and gets coined at 28 days because of the incubation for tame turkeys, but many agree its somewhere between 26 and 28 days.. 

As for poults flying what I have seen.. States that at the 8-10 day period they can somewhat fly, airborne without alot of control. And begin to roost around the 15 day mark. 

So as to your original concern, its a gobbling lull.. They have no reason to gobble.. You may be in the initial egg laying stage whereas the hens leave the gobbler for an hour or so to lay an egg.. But if a gobbler is courting 4-5-6 hens they may not all recess at the same time, some may not be laying yet etc So you have a gobbler that seemingly has hens and no need to gobble for most of the day.. People always coin it as "somethings wrong with the turkeys" "They have become call shy" "They have moved on" etc.. But in reality its just turkeys being turkeys doing what turkeys do. 

If your in a high turkey population area this period will be longer and the skewing of the population to more hens than gobblers will only magnify the problem.. But if you have a large population with a large number of gobblers, there is always some lonely lovesick gobbler on some ridge somewhere looking for love.


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## flockshot (Feb 23, 2007)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Its natural to have silent gobbling periods throughout the turkey season.. THey are not completely silent as they follow hens spitting and drumming throughout the day. State wildlife agencies attempt to push openers back until most hens have started to lay, but with the large number of turkeys present today, there will be hens that nest and re nest all throughout the months of season and thus why you still see gobblers courting hens into June..
> 
> As mentioned a hen only needs to be bred once as she can store sperm for a period of time if she needs to re nest.. But biologists are not 100 percent confident that every hen only breeds once, but it can be assured if they were nymphos we would have a hard time killing them..
> 
> ...


 i was just about to type the exact same thing. . . lmao!


All kidding aside...this is the best info you will get on the subject of gobbling.


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## Michiganman1 (Dec 27, 2011)

Wow, thank you very much for clearing that up for me. Things picked up a little today,called one in hung up at 60 yds. i did tone down my yelps when he got close. My third year and I am still learning the best ways to set up in a run and gun situation, no pop up blind. A few gobble backs, the hens were yelping a lot all around. I love this stuff!


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

"So as to your original concern, its a gobbling lull.. They have no reason to gobble.. You may be in the initial egg laying stage whereas the hens leave the gobbler for an hour or so to lay an egg.. But if a gobbler is courting 4-5-6 hens they may not all recess at the same time, some may not be laying yet etc So you have a gobbler that seemingly has hens and no need to gobble for most of the day.. People always coin it as "somethings wrong with the turkeys" "They have become call shy" "They have moved on" etc.. But in reality its just turkeys being turkeys doing what turkeys do."

Yup...

I also often think it might have something to do with the barometric pressure, have often thought it might be interesting to track it, but never have...


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## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

Try quiting the yelps. Go to quiet clucks and purrs to see if he will come looking for a contented hen.

I finish most of my birds with soft purrs.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

Linda G. said:


> I also often think it might have something to do with the barometric pressure, have often thought it might be interesting to track it, but never have...


I totally agree with this and have had friends from all corners of the country believe so too.. 

I think of someone looked at it in comparison to the day to day gobbling in all stages of the breeding cycle it would help to shed some light..


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

DEDGOOSE said:


> I totally agree with this and have had friends from all corners of the country believe so too..
> 
> I think of someone looked at it in comparison to the day to day gobbling in all stages of the breeding cycle it would help to shed some light..



Funny you should mention that...


http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/turkey/springseason09.html


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