Still No Poults

[airedale]

Five hens scratching around for food this morning and not a single poult in tow.

Al

[turkeyfeathers]

not good !

[mowin]

That sucks. 

I've got a few local flocks. Some started with 8+ and are not down to 2 or less, others that have a full brood and are about half the size of mom.  

[Nytracker]

Last week I had 3 hens crossing the gasoline.  There was probably 12 to 15 poults with them . I was surprised as to where they were located for so early in the morning.  There is no good roost trees near by . Poults were about as big as a chucker. Feathered out pretty good .

[Cabin Fever]

I see a group of 4 hens frequently behind the house that have no poults. Last year there was a group of 6 hens all summer in my yard, but no poults. I don't know what the problem is. I put a spankin' on the coon, opossum, and fox population last season hoping that would help, but it certainly doesn't look like it... I'm stumped.

[turkeyfeathers]

10 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

I see a group of 4 hens frequently behind the house that have no poults. Last year there was a group of 6 hens all summer in my yard, but no poults. I don't know what the problem is. I put a spankin' on the coon, opossum, and fox population last season hoping that would help, but it certainly doesn't look like it... I'm stumped.

how's the fisher population there ? 

[Swamp_bucks]

I just started seeing poults there’s a couple hens down the road that had 10 poults and another group has at least 6 little ones. 

[Cabin Fever]

how's the fisher population there ? 

None.


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[JJJWNY]

I had a hen with a few poults, that could not have been more than a week old, walk across my yard this past weekend. Really strange to see this late, but better than not seeing at all. First ones I have seen all summer.

[LET EM GROW]

On 7/31/2022 at 1:11 PM, Cabin Fever said:

I see a group of 4 hens frequently behind the house that have no poults. Last year there was a group of 6 hens all summer in my yard, but no poults. I don't know what the problem is. I put a spankin' on the coon, opossum, and fox population last season hoping that would help, but it certainly doesn't look like it... I'm stumped.

Studies show if a hen cant produce a successful clutch in her first year or two, odds are likely she never will produce a successful nest for the remainder of her life. Mike Chamberlain speaks about this. They need to learn the best habitat and best location to nest and make it work or they just never will in most cases. Which makes a lot of sense why we always see groups  of adult hens with zero poults.  

I have two hens at my camp that have about 8 poults, the young are quite small so I'm guessing it was the 2nd nest attempt of the season and all hatched by one hen, but luckily had a second hen join the group to be mother.   

I think statistics show(due to lack of quality habitat and high predator populations) only 10-20% of hens will successfully get eggs to hatch.. and after that the next 3 weeks are the hardest of them all.. 

I also have several groups of hens with zero poults. 

[G-Man]

Nesting habitat is crucial. Tall grass fields.. unfortunately the farmers now mow in june for silage.. kills a lot of active nests and makes it impossible to nest again.. the shift from square bales to silage  is a huge  if not biggest factor  imo. Its nationwide as your taxed on buildings and hay needs to be stored dry.. silage wrap the bales and no taxes.. one way taxes are killing the wildlife. .

Turkey and deer fawning cover..

[Lucky118]

3 different  flocks I've  observed in my area and zero poults. 

[Hock3y24]

Almost ran over a hen with 3 poults driving through the field to my stand