Victoria has been a model broody mum and today has been rewarded by a plethora of hatching. We could see at least two to three fluffy faces when we gently lifted up a wing this morning. By late afternoon we counted a total of nine poults with three eggs still intact. We don’t think they contain chicks but will check later. Victoria started with 14 eggs, having nine poults from that number is a good result as turkeys don’t usually have quite such good hatch rates as chickens. There is also a fabulous range of colours. We had thought these were all Victoria’s eggs but if that was the case, all these should be pure bronze (as the old Napoleon was the dad). But we have yellows, browns and greys so some eggs must be Napoleona’s (black and white) and possibly even Katherine's too (Bourbon Red). It is going to be very exciting to see them all develop.
We hope Victoria will spend a bit of time inside the stables still and not go outside so that her youngsters can get stronger and bond with her. We may need to contain her to facilitate this but we will see how things go!
Still no news from Thyme but today she spent a lot more time in the field shelter lying down so maybe a sign that things are getting more imminent.