Possible Turkey Nest
04-15-2010 | 04:45 AM
#8
Fork Horn
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 381
Likes: 0
From: Jackson, Michigan
Yes, it is a dusting bowl. Here are a couple of pictures of a hen nesting. You will have to look closely. She is sitting in the middle of the picture. Her tail is to the left and her head (which you can't see) is to the right. I just about stepped on her while carrying debris from my garden. She would let me approach within 10 feet and not move. Rarely she would leave the nest for food, but when she did, that's when I got pictures of the eggs. So if you're looking for a nesting hen, as you see, you have to be pretty lucky to find one. On second thought, I should have bought a lottery ticket that day... :>)
04-15-2010 | 05:21 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,050
Likes: 0
From: North Louisiana
Turkeys are going to nest in the thickest areas possible to avoid predatation. Unfortunately, 80% of them don't succeed. Every predator in the woods loves to eat turkey eggs and poults, including those dreaded fire ants. It's amazing any poults survive. I can promise you, no turkey is going to nest in the wide open. Like a few have already said, it's a dusting bowl. Those are some neat pictures of the turkey and her eggs. Unfortunately, if you found them, a predator will probably also find them. Why don't you stand guard until they hatch and the poults can fly, lol.
04-15-2010 | 05:50 AM
#10
Fork Horn
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 201
Likes: 0
From: Stitzer, Wisconsin
Turkeys are going to nest in the thickest areas possible to avoid predatation. Unfortunately, 80% of them don't succeed. Every predator in the woods loves to eat turkey eggs and poults, including those dreaded fire ants. It's amazing any poults survive. I can promise you, no turkey is going to nest in the wide open. Like a few have already said, it's a dusting bowl. Those are some neat pictures of the turkey and her eggs. Unfortunately, if you found them, a predator will probably also find them. Why don't you stand guard until they hatch and the poults can fly, lol.
I have to disagree with you somewhat, turkeys don't always pick great nesting spots and are not very good mothers. They have nested in the middle of our alfalfa fields before, you can imagine that isn't a very successful nesting spot, I also was mushroom hunting last year and scared a hen off a nest in an open meadow woodlot. They nest where they can find a suitable area and it feels safe for them. It isn't always the best spot. They also don't return to the nest if they are bumped off more than a few times. At least that is what I have learned from our wildilife biologists here in Wisconsin.