Turkey Blog~Tatiana’s Epic Love Story~Lost In The Rain

I hadn’t been able to find Tatiana’s eggs in several days. She’s been very clever with her nesting. I have been anxious that soon she would sit and I would never find her. There are plenty of things in the forest that would like to find her. We have plenty of coyotes, raccoons and possum that would love to come upon her nesting. Turkeys roost at night and are safer from predation that way because they can fly. Turkeys nest in dense foliage on the ground. They are large birds but still very vulnerable sleeping on the ground.

I bring all the pasture birds into enclosed areas at night. The turkeys, ducks and chickens all have to come in. It was pouring rain and I could not find Tatiana anywhere when it was time for them to come in. I put everyone else to bed and searched for her in the rain. I checked a few places that I suspected she might be nesting. I finally found her in a dense blackberry and poison oak patch! I had to cut my way in with large clippers to encourage her to go home for the night. She was soaking wet and reluctantly left her nest and went with me back to the pasture. I put her in for the night and I went to collect her eggs from the nest.

I felt like such a betrayer collecting all of her eggs, knowing that tomorrow she would look for them and be distressed that they were gone. The eggs were getting wet and I wanted to save them as hatch eggs. I knew that they were fertile now. Her courtship with Misha has been successful for the last 2 weeks. I carefully dried her eggs and appreciated the wonder of eggs in general, then I put them in my hatch egg box. My hatch egg box is a big plastic tote with a corrugated cardboard tray that holds 30 eggs. I keep it on the porch or in my kitchen depending on the outside temperature. I add or subtract ice packs depending on the temperature inside the box. Ideal temp is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I turn the eggs every 12 hours.