Never had one of these pay a visit before!
I love sharing news, it’s simply in my DNA. So I can’t resist. This morning, as I’m doing client work, a wild turkey trots across my property. Since moving out to the far NW suburbs of Chicago, I’ve seen possum, raccoon, moles, chipmunks, hawks, cranes, coyotes, fox, vultures, field mice, snakes, frogs, turtles and box elders (weird insects that small like pineapple when you squeeze them). But I’ve never seen a wild turkey.
I’m wondering if she’s a momma looking for food for her chicks. Here’s an interesting fact, courtesy of Answers.com: The average turkey will lay 110 to 115 eggs in a 28/30 week period.
The gobbler’s sperm is stored in the hen’s oviduct, so that fertilized eggs may be laid up to four weeks after mating. One mating is usually sufficient to fertilize an entire clutch. A hen lays an egg nearly every day until her nest contains 8-15 (average, 12; smaller clutches by younger birds), but won’t begin incubating constantly until after all eggs are laid.
A hen turkey doesn’t begin incubating until she lays the entire clutch of eggs, and incubates it for 28 days so that hatching is synchronized.
Now, if I could only spot an owl.
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