Non-mated turkey reproduction

[4onaside]

We commented on another post that turkeys were able to reproduce without benefit of male turkeys fertilizing eggs. The comments were made after the question of killing gobblers before all mating had occured was raised. I obtained this from the Ohio State University 4-H Poultry website, selecting from an article by Karl E. Nestor.
"In summary normal male turkeys can be hatched from unfertilized eggs by parthenogenesis. The incidence of the condition can be greatly increased by selection and can be increased by selection and can be increased by vacinating the birds with live virus vaccines or having the unmated females housed in sight of males".
Apparently all turkeys hatched in this method are males. That would really be a boon to gobbler hunting wouldn't it?
I am not aware if this condition occurs with wild populations, but since a turkey is a turkey it would certainly seem to be feasible.
Will do some more research and see if we can find anything that suggests that it does occur with wild turkeys.

 

[4onaside]

I also read where the eggs of females(of certain bird species) tend to be males when the layers have had food supply shortages. Maybe no correlation, but you wonder if either or both of these conditions have caused unusally high population percentages of jakes in years where they appear to be overly abundant?

 

[deerchaser007]

Thats very interesting man. Thanks for looking it up!!

 

[REN]

very cool. I did alot of research on turkeys back when I was at Auburn but still never knew that!!

 

[Cuttin Caller]

 

[4onaside]

I killed a gobbler this morning with the scraggliest beard that I have ever seen. Although it measured 9", most of the strands were missing. Had 1" spurs, so it was a mature 2 and half, maybe 3 and half year old bird. Maybe it didn't have a daddy! lol