found a hatched egg shell

[Big Indian]

Was out this weekend and saw some great things, however still have not filled my tag. Saw a boss gobbler at 7:30 pm Friday night w/ 3 hens who would not for obvious reasons answer me on Sat morning.

Also jumped a few hens who were already sitting on eggs.

My most unique find was a hatched turkey shell, I was pretty psyched to find this due to the size and fragility of it. I know a lot of folks on here shed hunt, but has anyone ever come across a hatched shell ? Just wondering.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Pretty cool find I've seen hatched shells in the nest, but just tiny pieces. Do u thing maybe a predator carried it there?

Edited May 21, 2012 by landtracdeerhunter

[Big Indian]

not sure, only because farmer next door to property said he saw some poults already.

[landtracdeerhunter]

The only reason that I asked was because, predators will take the unhatched eggs and clean out the insides. That egg does look like it hatched because the inner membrane looks rolled up inside I believe the hatched poult will feed on the egg shell, until it is strong enough to leave with the mother.

Edited May 21, 2012 by landtracdeerhunter

[Big Indian]

Interesting info. Thanks for the lesson, learned something new today !

[Cabin Fever]

When I first saw the pic and where the shell was, predators were the first thing that came to mind. It looks like one carried it away from the nest and ate the contents.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Cabin Fever

[Big Indian]

took pic in my back yard. I found it in the woods

[Cabin Fever]

took pic in my back yard. I found it in the woods

Oh, OK. Was this the only one you found?

[Big Indian]

yeah, which I also thought was odd, but that's mother nature

[Cabin Fever]

This post reminded me of a little experiment that I tried a few years ago. I wanted to see what nest raiders in my area would take advantage of a nest first. I made a mock nest with a few chicken eggs and hung a cam to watch it. After a week or so, I checked the cam. A crow broke the eggs, but I later got an interesting video of a hen turkey that came in and ate every last nugget of the shells! I didn't expect to see that!

[growalot]

Birds crave calcium...that's why we supplement the chickens with oyster shell...it replenishes the calcium they loss in egg production ...makes eggs less fragile and helps reduce chickens eating there own eggs before we get them.....