Nest full of eggs w/pic

[barry]

I sent this to Lovett but wanted you guys input as well
A friend found this nest with 20 eggs.
Is this a high number? I was thinking 12-14 on average.

[barry]

thats awesome, looks like you will have a good upcoming turkey population if all those make it. Where was this?

Central VA

[redarrow]

WOW ! Bet shes sore. Found one with 14 a few years ago.

[ccleroy]

Man that's a huge clutch.

[redarrow]

From what I understand they lay an egg a day. So she started laying ( breeding) at least 3 weeks ago.

[heathwesley]

Hello Everyone
             I can actually put my biology degree to use here.  Some bird species (wild turkeys included) display what I believe is called brood parasitism.  The average clutch size for one hen is approx. eleven.  The typical answer for turkey nests with a high number of eggs is brood parasitism.  In lamest terms its when a hen lays her eggs in the nest of another hen.  Here is a more scientific def:Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same (intraspecific brood-parasitism) or different species (interspecific brood-parasitism) to raise the young of the brood-parasite. This relieves the parasitic parent from the investment of rearing young or building nests, enabling them to spend more time foraging, producing offspring etc. Additionally, the risk of egg loss to raiders such as raccoons is mitigated, by having distributed the eggs amongst a number of different nests.[1] As this behaviour is damaging to the host, it will often result in an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host.[2][3]

[timbrhuntr]

Hmmmm! Here is one I found last week. It has one less than yours.

[tomstopper]

That would make me excited for next season.

[triune]

I sent a similar picture to Lovett a few years back except the one I had the picture of included a golf ball.  This nest was just off the fairway on a golf course.    A nest with 20+ eggs is more than likely from multiple hens.  My buddy followed up on the golf course nest and all but three eggs hatched out.

Really cool pic. thanks for sharing.

[intherut]

Thats really neat! Thanks for sharing.

[FANMAN]

This is the only nest I've ever found...17

[Spring_Woods]

That would make me excited for next season.

Imagine how good it will be in two years. Dang...can I make my reservations now?

[ceejay]

That's great to see.  My buddy and I had a hen flush off her nest this year and we counted 15 eggs.  The cool thing was is that I saw her on the ground before she flushed ........ she was about 5-10ft from us and it scared the bejesus out of my friend. lol.  I wish I would have had a camera, but oh well.  This was the 1st time either of us have found a nest full of eggs, so for us it was really neat. 

[turkey slayer]

Great pic!

[Henshaw]

Great pics, out here in So Cal I came across a hen with 8-9 poults a couple weeks ago. Wish I had the time to take some pics of that.