Hens at greatly varied stages of the reproduction season

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jhogue
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Hens at greatly varied stages of the reproduction season

Post by jhogue »

While in Kansas last week, we saw hens in several different stages of their breeding/nesting/mothering season. Some of the hens we saw weren’t nesting at all at this point. I watched 4 throughout the day on two days that were covering a lot of ground feeding and just generally running around. When I first saw them, they were all roosted with a gobbler. That afternoon, I watched them all at various places across a 3/4 mile long field. We also saw several that appeared to be nesting currently. Finally, we found two hens that already had poults that were about 15” tall. Is all of this normal? It seems like these hens were spread almost 6 weeks apart in their spring reproduction season. I wondered if the hens running around with the gobbler and on their own throughout the day might have lost their nests.
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ICDEDTURKES
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Re: Hens at greatly varied stages of the reproduction season

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Honestly been the most weird season I've seen in that aspect ever
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turkeyinstrut
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Re: Hens at greatly varied stages of the reproduction season

Post by turkeyinstrut »

I was on gobbling birds every day of our last week of season, that hasn't happened for a long, long time. Usually the last week you are wasting your time, in WV anyway.
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howl
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Re: Hens at greatly varied stages of the reproduction season

Post by howl »

Over the past few years I have noticed more late born gobblers than I have ever seen. I have been calling up short beards and letting them go because they did not show a full fan or at least gobble while I was looking at them. It stands to reason there would be late born hens, too.

I know sounding like a lost jenny was most productive for me this year. I probably called up four times as many lone hens as usual, while all gobblers pursued in the morning and afternoon were with hens.

So, the nesting season has been spread out with hens of different maturity coming in at different times. I suspect increased predation and nesting season burns are factors.
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