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Thread: Rain And Poults...

  1. #1
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    Default Rain And Poults...

    With the 5 straight days of rain I'm sure a good number of poults took the brunt of it all.

    Is it still early enough in the breeding season for hens to cycle back and establish new nest? Or is it too late and we're looking at a net loss of those hatchlings?

  2. #2
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    Default Rain And Poults...

    You may have a few hens that will re nest but for the majority it's over.
    Last edited by ccleroy; 05-25-2017 at 08:13 AM.

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  3. #3
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    I saw a hen with 5 poults moving around pretty good on 5/15. I like to think they made it.

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    It's always been my understanding that hens will nest up into June

    I don't have anything to back that up, I just feel like at one point I heard it from a reliable source and it's stuck.
    Member of the Tenth Legion Since 2004

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gut_Pile View Post
    It's always been my understanding that hens will nest up into June

    I don't have anything to back that up, I just feel like at one point I heard it from a reliable source and it's stuck.
    They will, I just feel we had an early hatch this year and some I've seen hatching recently were from late nest/re nesting...........I know we were seeing poults back prior to 5/1.......Some clutches have come within the last 2 weeks, those I feel are renest clutches.

    I wish I could breathe life back in him, if I could I'd hunt him again tomorrow. - Ben Rodgers Lee

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  6. #6
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    I saw a longbeard strutting with three hens a couple days ago. I wondered if this rain had screwed up their nest or drowned the poults they may have already had.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ccleroy View Post
    They will, I just feel we had an early hatch this year and some I've seen hatching recently were from late nest/re nesting...........I know we were seeing poults back prior to 5/1.......Some clutches have come within the last 2 weeks, those I feel are renest clutches.
    So that begs another question regarding the early hatchlings/nesters; what's the go/no go age and size for a poult to make it through all this rain?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    So that begs another question regarding the early hatchlings/nesters; what's the go/no go age and size for a poult to make it through all this rain?
    I think once they make it to the 4-5 week mark their changes are very good to make it.

    I wish I could breathe life back in him, if I could I'd hunt him again tomorrow. - Ben Rodgers Lee

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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by ersepton View Post
    I saw a hen with 5 poults moving around pretty good on 5/15. I like to think they made it.
    That was before this last big rain event this week. They could be dead.

    Saw two hens Monday. One had 10 poults and the other 7 poults. About quail size. This was before the heavy rains Tuesday and Tuesday night.

    I'm afraid they are probably lost but I'm staying optimistic until I hear otherwise. My buddy lives on the property and keeps an eye out for me. I'll talk to him later today to get a new report.

    Last year we had three hens with poults on this property. After the tropical storm there were no survivors.

    This is 4-5 years in a row. SC turkey hunting will be a thing of the past in a few years if this continues.

    Someone needs to design a turkey storm shelter...

  10. #10
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    I think once they are able to fly their survival rate really increases. Then it increases again once they reach about the size of a chicken
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  11. #11
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    There was some research that, strangely, concluded that younger poults were more likely to survive those types of rain events than older ones because the older were too large to shelter under the hen. I don't have it in front of me, but I think that was observed in several places.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gut_Pile View Post
    It's always been my understanding that hens will nest up into June

    I don't have anything to back that up, I just feel like at one point I heard it from a reliable source and it's stuck.
    A farmer brought me some eggs from a nest in June last year. Put them in the incubator and they hatched 4 days later.

  13. #13
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    Droughts are good for breeding success
    Last edited by Catdaddy; 05-25-2017 at 06:21 PM.

  14. #14
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    Depends on how good of a mother they have

  15. #15
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    The rain wasn't the best thing for survival nor was the high wind that accompanied the rain. Poults on the ground in high areas with mothers likely do better than poults in low spots or ponding areas with mothers, most of it is common sense.. Tuffy find that paper, I would love to read it.

    Poults that are getting juvy feathers also should be more likely to survive than in downy stage ( unless mom kept them covered and were on high ground or limb). Ever tried to dry out a wet down sleeping bag?

    I was definitely a little peeved with the amount of rain and wind especially since we had the first big nasty in late April, early May , can''t recall the date but we recieved about 6 inches of rain in 24-48 hours.
    Genesis 9;2

  16. #16
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    Some of that was in Dickson's "The Wild Turkey", but I have no idea where I saw the specific research last week. Couldn't find it quickly this morning. All about the size ability of very young poults to shelter, though, and the research highlighted that result as unexpected. I've tried in several different ways to correlate precipitation to Summer poult measures, but it's just never been there in some sense. Some of that is because I was always looking at monthly averages and not individual downpours, probably the most damaging to poults. Clearly, there HAVE been years that the two appear to be related, though.
    Last edited by Tuffy; 05-25-2017 at 09:28 AM.

  17. #17
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    A lot of places have received record rainfall the past month. SC and north ward there have been some timely rain events that I feel probable did some serious damage to the poults unfortunately. Hell, we've had 6 inches just this week since Monday morning. I've heard reports of folks finding eggs in road beds up north where the waters coming down the hill have destroyed the nests. I hope for the best but it seems every year we have several heavy rain events at the worse time.

  18. #18
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    Damned if it rainsndamned if it doesn't.

  19. #19
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    I personally think the natural changing climes known as Global warming by the bugger eaters might very well be used against them in some of their erroneous management techniques..

    In other words records have shown that the Spring nesting season has also become noted for massive downpours over the last several years. Downpours are a destructive to nest,egg and poult alike, therefore further measures of caution should be applied as to the management of ground nesting birds during their nesting period. How ya like that GW strategy for a positive spin.

    At any rate you all know by now that I am all about figuring out how to re value and re prioritize the importance of our Turkey, Deer, Quail and Waterfowl populations and their management on public lands.. Seems Ma Nature done kicked me in the shin yet again..
    Last edited by Strick9; 05-25-2017 at 02:38 PM.
    Genesis 9;2

  20. #20
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    It hurts, but I'm staying positive until I start getting reports of hens without poults or seeing them myself without poults. June will tell.

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