Range conditions after the hatch and throughout summer are as important as the hatch itself. Average spring rains should maintain good range conditions and good nesting habitat. Moisture not only greens up the habitat for hen nutrition and nesting cover, it assures a good crop of insects for young birds. If summer rains follow, young birds will remain healthy enough to survive the year. Lush brush also translates to good hunting this year because better conditions mean more hens will nest.
Hens generally produce eggs by the dozen over a two-week period.
Only after all 12 eggs are hatched does incubation begin. A hen can continue mating during this period. But once on her nest, she's temporarily out of the mating game. As more and more hens tend to their nests, a gobbler's search for mates grows increasingly difficult. By mid-season when hens are really scarce, gobblers will answer to even the most inept slat scratcher.