This is the time of year when we gather and clean turkey eggs morning and evening from our brood pen.
The hens (and lucky toms) are guarded by Layla and Rufo. It is important to let them get fur and slobber all over you.
Then, it's down to business. and I do mean down. As in, hands and knees. In case you are unaware, turkeys lay everywhere.
This cave makes a great nest for turkeys, hard to reach for the farmer.
Once we've cleared the log pile, we collect from the actual nesting boxes.
We provide encouragement in the form of fake eggs to the hens.
And they populate around these imposters with eggs of their own. These are a little easier to collect.
Then it's back to the incubator room with our haul. And a nice sendoff from the dogs.
Big take for the evening!
We will be done in a few days with collecting eggs for the Thanksgiving season… And the eggs will be snugly nestled into the incubator to hatch in May.