Dog Finds Mystery Egg In Woods And Won't Leave Until It Hatches
"She watched intently all night long."
Erica Laurenzi was watching her dog, Stella, run around on their 250 acres of property in Maine with their other dog when she suddenly noticed her playing with something that didn’t look like a toy. She quickly went to investigate and was shocked to discover that Stella had found an egg.
At first glance, Laurenzi wasn’t sure exactly what kind of egg Stella had found. It was a mystery, but she and her boyfriend tried searching for the egg’s family, anyway, hoping to get it back to wherever it came from.
“Amazed that they didn’t manage to break it, we went searching for a nest,” Laurenzi told The Dodo. “After an hour, there was no luck. I am the biggest believer in returning it to the mother if the opportunity is there.”
Since she couldn’t locate a nest, Laurenzi took the egg home with her instead. She’s rehabbed birds before, so she had at least a little knowledge on the matter and quickly got to researching how to best care for the mystery egg.
“I have raised many sparrows and robins but have never cared for and hatched an egg,” Laurenzi said. “The Googling started immediately … I knew it was an egg but was not sure what kind. We had assumed it was a turkey because we have seen them foraging on the land a couple times. Then later confirmed by a Google search the egg looked like a true match. I put the egg in my sports bra and drove to Tractor Supply to find the Rolls Royce of incubators. Nothing but the best to give this egg the best fighting chance.”
Laurenzi got the egg all settled into the incubator, and there it sat for 25 days. She did extensive research and cared for it as best she could, and on the morning of her birthday, it finally started to hatch. As the little turkey prepared to hatch, Stella watched and waited. She was so proud of the egg she had found and wanted to help her mom welcome the baby turkey into the world.
“The morning it began to hatch, you could tell she knew something was happening,” Laurenzi said. “We had the incubator up high on our kitchen counter out of the reach of any potential threats. By the end of the day, her and I sat side by side on our counter stools as it picked away at its egg shell. She watched intently all night long as it dried off and got its bearings.”
Stella was absolutely mesmerized when the tiny turkey finally entered the world, and so was Laurenzi. Even though they’d been expecting it, it was still so amazing when the turkey finally hatched after everything he’d been through before he’d even been born.
“We were pretty sure after all of our egg research that it was a turkey, but still as stunned and amazed that all that little bird needed was inside an egg we stared at for almost a month,” Laurenzi said.
The baby turkey is now around a week old and doing incredibly well. He defied all the odds, and now his rescue family is committed to making sure he has the best life possible.
“We are planning on keeping it (at our land in Maine) and making it the mascot of Lost Mile Organic, our off-grid cabin rental project that we are planning to launch next spring,” Laurenzi said. “Since the egg was found on that land, we plan to slowly reintroduce it to its natural habitat once it is strong and self-sufficient enough but provide it with a very lush enclosure that it can come to and from as it pleases during the day and be protected in at night.”
While Stella loves her little turkey friend, the pair have mostly been observing each other from afar. Since they’re planning on reintroducing the turkey to the wild, they don’t want him to think all dogs or furry wild animals are his friends, potentially putting his safety at risk. Still, Stella loved helping bring the turkey into the world and loves watching him grow up even more.
“Stella does go in and peek over the side of the brooder to check on her little friend, exchanging glances and little chirps,” Laurenzi said.
Laurenzi had no idea what to expect when Stella found a mystery egg, and everyone is so glad it worked out the way it did. Now they’ll give the turkey all the space he needs to grow and can’t wait to introduce him back into the wild where he belongs.
