04/03/2026
🎉🎉🎉
The 1st Narragansett Turkey Egg of 2026!
At least it’s the first one we found.
In 2025, our first Narragansett Turkey egg was found on February 21st. That puts us well over a month behind schedule! 🫣
So what happened? A lot of things did not align, this year.
We did a complete overhaul of our Turkey Chateau, our mobile turkey coop, that we built over 15 years ago. This project still is not complete.
Not having the Turkey Chateau available meant we did not have lights on our Narragansett Turkey breeding flock. This is some thing we start in January/February of each year to ensure we have fertile eggs in time for our spring hatch. With short winter days and no supplemental light, it took a little longer for nature to take its course.
Without the Turkey Chateau on pasture, we also do not have a secure place to keep our hens while they lay. This means wildlife, or even our livestock guardian dog, may be scavenging eggs before we can find them.
Will we still hatch turkey poults this year?
If we do, it will be a later hatch and we will not have Pasture-raised heritage turkeys by Thanksgiving. A late hatch could produce some pasture-raised heritage turkeys by Christmas (if we get a lot of eggs very quickly). More likely, we could raise a few Narragansett Turkey Starter Flocks for other small farms. If that is something that interests you, be sure to get on our email list.
We may also have some turkey eggs available for sale at our local farmers markets. Join our email list for product updates, to find out when and where.
And of course there is always the possibility of a well hidden nest or two not being found and our Narragansett hens hatching out some of their own poults. If they do, we’ll post about it here.
Though slower and quieter than years past, I am thoroughly enjoying this spring on the farm. 🌱
