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[Coco146]

Well turkeys claimed a nest box laid eggs, bloody dwarves took them before i sealed the door and now the nest boxes are unclaimed.  So i have 2 questions if i forbid those eggs will they still hatch and why is the nest box no longer claimed?

[Lectorog]

I think birds claim nest boxes when they are ready to lay eggs; after they're finished it's open to others. I'm not sure if forbidding the eggs works wholly, but I'd recommend a sealed room instead either way. The offspring are much more easily managed in a closed room (or cage).

[Tcei]

Egg-layers will only claim a nestbox as long as their eggs are in the box as soon as the egg leave the box the mother no-longer has any reason to sit there and thus unclaim it. In order for them to hatch you must keep them in the box with the mother sitting on them. You can do this thru either forbiding the eggs in the box (press t over the box) or thru locking the door.

[Coco146]

ok thanks but im also assuming turkeys only lay in spring right?

[Lectorog]

Nope, poults are a year-round crop.

[Coco146]

so its random how often they lay then?

[Psieye]

It's something like once a season.

[Coco146]

Thanks allot folks

[Coco146]

Umm,,, having a problem after the initial batch my turkeys and my goose have stopped laying and spring has come and gone twice.  Am I doing something wrong?  I have had them pastured and unpastured at different times but no difference.

[Sphalerite]

Birds will not lay eggs unless they have claimed an empty nest box.  If there are still eggs in their nest box, they won't lay anymore.  Pasture them in a room with nest boxes, and make sure your dwarves remove any eggs they lay and put them in stockpiles as soon as they are laid in order to get the maximum laying rate.

[Coco146]

Thanks Ill try that.

[hitto]

I wanted to build up a nice enough turkey farm, so I embarked with ten hens and two gobblers, and pastured them behind a locked door so I would have an army of egg-laying poultry.

Next spring, I had about four pages worth of poults, and all the time I waited for those to grow up, NOT ONE EGG APPEARED.
I butchered two pages' worth of the damn birds once the new generation matured and now eggs trickle in, veeeeeeery slowly. Of course, no wiki ever tells you if or when you reach a magical "too many animals" limit, so I am very disappointed, because more is actually not better in this case

What's the sweet spot for you?

[Tcei]

My understanding  is the animal cap is (or at least was) 50 per species. A turkey hen lays 10-14 eggs, so assuming that all the eggs hatched you blew past that limit. I would imagine you wouldnt need much more than say 20 hens to have a good egg production farm going. Just be sure that every few years you let a batch hatch to replace the ones that die of old age.

[Naryar]

Ten turkey hens is probably more than enough for your egg laying needs. Ten hens means 100-140 eggs per season, that's probably more than enough to feed your dwarves (along with the other food sources) or even sell *turkey hen egg roast x47* to the caravan.

Though if you want moar and are training cooks (or something), go on.

Next spring, I had about four pages worth of poults, and all the time I waited for those to grow up, NOT ONE EGG APPEARED.

Hahaha poultsplosion. You might want to try a cave crocsplosion, it's even funnier.

You might want to open your door when your poults hatch, then the next harvested eggs will be picked up by dwarves if you have an egg-accepting stockpile.