An update on our turkey family… Mama turkey kept laying her eggs in her nest in the woods and we kept moving them to the nest in the turkey house. This went on for a few days until we decided to re-seed our pasture and thus, to keep both turkeys in their house full time to allow the seed to settle undisturbed.

Well, I hoped this would encourage her to take possession of her turkey house nest and accept that as the place to lay her eggs. Instead, a new interesting development occurred. Tom Turkey (aka daddy) decided to sit on the eggs himself. Now, I had not heard of the male bird taking this role except in penguins before. However, we did ask the poultry expert at the local feed store and she said, yes, it does happen. Even roosters will sometimes get broody and sit on the eggs. She also told us if the eggs hatched, he would be very protective of the baby chicks.

So, he is keeping the eggs warm and mama turkey seems a bit confused… it will be interesting to see what comes next…