Ol Tom is here again for breakfast

[lorenzo]

Momma is on a nest in my north tree line.  I keep ground corn out for them 24/7 

[TroyDairy]

He is gonna be delicious feeding him like that! 

[junkandcattle]

I almost ran over a desired nest of a much smaller bug eater.  Our population is way down.  I just checked yesterday and she is nesting, so egg laying is over. She had 13 when I almost mowed over the nest. I believe she started sitting on 15 4 days ago. 

[vtfireman85]

1 hour ago, junkandcattle said:

I almost ran over a desired nest of a much smaller bug eater.  Our population is way down.  I just checked yesterday and she is nesting, so egg laying is over. She had 13 when I almost mowed over the nest. I believe she started sitting on 15 4 days ago. 

That’s quite a clutch, partridge? 

[junkandcattle]

Quail.  Our population seems way down and has for a few years now. Probably 15 years ago people were complaining about the lack of birds .we still had plenty then but something changed. 

Looks like she is committed to keeping them covered 

[jeeper61]

We had 5 juvenile Toms hanging out picking from the bird feeder area 

Then this month they went away I saw them crossing the road about a mile away.

Then 3 hens show up and are hanging around in their absence seems to be some miss communication going on 

[hobbyfarm]

Neat.  Turkeys few and far between at our farm.   See them once or twice a year.  

[stronger800]

I see them about every day, pretty common in NY 

[Chester5732]

2 hours ago, hobbyfarm said:

Neat.  Turkeys few and far between at our farm.   See them once or twice a year.  

You can have ours. We had none, then the DNR in their infinite wisdom(they know more than Mother Nature and The Good Lord above) decided we needed turkeys.  Now they are as thick as them effing deer. 

[iowaboy1965]

13 hours ago, Chester5732 said:

You can have ours. We had none, then the DNR in their infinite wisdom(they know more than Mother Nature and The Good Lord above) decided we needed turkeys.  Now they are as thick as them effing deer. 

Similar story around here. Not quite as bad maybe but there have been large groups of them around off and on. 

[sandhiller]

Someone mention turkeys?

I like em

I've seen em line up and go back and forth through the hay meadow vacuuming up grasshoppers

They will always be welcome here!

[806Jordy]

Well I figured it had to be either a turkey or a cat...😁

[acem]

We used to have alot of Turkeys but they are gone from the river valley. Still some up in the mountains.

Poultry diseases and predators are hard on them.

[MT Matt]

No turkeys around here when I was growing up. They were introduced in the early 90s and they did quite well. There was a hen with about a dozen poults at the field I was working at the last few days. 

[sandhiller]

When Chance was just starting to mow for me, 9 maybe 10 years old

I saw him get off the tractor and run down and catch a turkey chick...........then the hen showed up

She chased him around the tractor about 2 times, he threw the chick at her and went around 2 more times before he got far enough ahead to get up on the old M and take off. 

You don't mess with momma Turkey😄

I was laughing so hard, if I would not have been so hot and dehydrated sure Ida peed myself. 🤣

[cumminstinkerer]

On 7/6/2026 at 11:52 AM, iowaboy1965 said:

Similar story around here. Not quite as bad maybe but there have been large groups of them around off and on. 

They are part of the reason we don't have many quail or pheasants, darn turkeys will go around and peck their eggs. I am at least hearing some quail around here the last couple weeks, first time in several years.

[junkandcattle]

Curiosity got the best of me yesterday evening. Didn't intend to flush the momma but I did. They are hatching. The little mouse sized critters running and chirping. 

[Lazy WP]

11 minutes ago, junkandcattle said:

Curiosity got the best of me yesterday evening. Didn't intend to flush the momma but I did. They are hatching. The little mouse sized critters running and chirping. 

I chased a pair of quail around a patch that I was mowing for hay. Never saw a nest, nor the turkey nest that I was sure was in that patch. Didn’t jump the hen, so maybe the coyotes got the turkey nest. 

[junkandcattle]

2 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

I chased a pair of quail around a patch that I was mowing for hay. Never saw a nest, nor the turkey nest that I was sure was in that patch. Didn’t jump the hen, so maybe the coyotes got the turkey nest. 

When I was balling Thursday evening there was 3 pair still running around the raked windows. I was sad to see that my rake had completely destroyed one nest of eggs. The one nest picture is from a field edge against the gravel road by my house. It survived the rotary mower just fine because of the cutting height. I found and mowed around a turkey nest in the same field a few years back but I must have exposed it too much cause the critters got the eggs.  We have butt loads of turkey not so many quail.