not a fruit but i figured id post it anyway. ive complained about my hybrid American hazels being one 10 yrs old and 3 five year old bushes that only gave me a handful of nuts and alot of blank husks with out a nut in it. ive gotten so few over the years that i dont check for them anymore. well walking by tonight i notice one branch with a dozen husks growing. upon inspection all 4 bushes are loaded. all the husks i squeezed on had a nutlet starting in it. if they all produce ill have many hundreds of hazels to pick in mid aug. even my older 10yr bush has nuts though not nearly as big as the younger bushes. i had given up on it as it has never set even 1 nut in 10yrs. the younger bushes must have been just different enough to pollinize the older one. now thinking these 4 bushes didnt have the right pollinator, i bought/ planted 2 eco hazels from oikios and a winkler hazel from z nutty. going to be interesting in 4-5 yrs. when they start to produce.
Congrats! 
It is good to hear about hazel successes; it gives me hope. I hope you have a very flush harvest.
Same thing happened to me. I went for years with blank nuts. I kept planting more trees until with 8 different varieties ( Jefferson, Yamhill, Gamma, Dorris, Wepster, Barcelona, Theta, Dorris) I finally covered all the pollination requirements. I get about 80% filled - so still some blanks. Hazelnuts are the perfect tree for my winter wet/summer dry climate. And once they have a 5" diameter trunk deer don’t seem to bother them.
I even invested in a hand-crank nut cracker Davebilt #43 Nutcracker
Kind of a workout… but gets the job done. Now can share shelled nuts with friends.
Those varieties from z nutty sound intriguing. Unfortunately they don’t ship to west coast.
Growing your own nuts is so Little House on the Prairie!
Keep your varmint rifle or shotgun handy…you’ll probably still have to defend your nuts if you want many. But, good to hear you have a crop.
im lucky as there are very few deer here and i havent seen/ heard a squirrel in my pines in at least a year. cat must be doing a good job. 
i still have the .22 mag ready in case. all my hazels are 20yards in from of my living room window and they have to cross 70 yrds of open space to get to my hazels from the wood line. could happen but between my cat , 3 dogs and rifle, it would take a pretty daring squirrel to try to get them.
Anybody ever feed hazelnuts to pigs? Near me is a farm that raises some rare pig breed.
They put in rows of american hazelnuts. Giant article in my local newspaper about it a few years ago. They pick the nuts and feed them to the pigs a few days before they go to the butcher. Claims the nuts give the meat a unique flavor? I forgot how many pounds per pig but it said they eat them shells and all.
interesting. the old timers here say to feed pigs and cattle alot of apples before butchering for the same reason.
Red wattle pigs. I see the article is online too. The place harvests the hazelnuts and feeds each pig 10 pounds a day for 2 weeks prior to butchering.
I never at a red wattle pig nor any pig that I am aware of that got hazelnuts prior to butchering so I will take their word for it that it is worth all that effort.
@steveb4 - congrats on the hazelnut success.
I have a shagbark hickory out in my field (sort of like yours) long distance from the woods edge…
And I do see the squirrels making the mad dash across the field to get to that tree. This year I am determined to harvest many of those myself… thinking some type of anti-squirrel climb device (slick sheet metal wrapped around the bottom of the tree) ? something they can’t climb.
If they can’t climb the tree… I figure I can get out there early in the morning and get my fair share of the nuts that dropped over night - before they get them.
Pics of Hazelnut trees that I have seen, they are more bush like, especiall when young, so you may not have any luck keeping them out of them.
I have been impressed by the bird flash tape - it has worked wonders on my blueberries and blackberries… the birds are obviously afraid of that… because they leave me plenty, where they were getting a LOT of them before.
Not sure if that would work on squirrels… it does flash a lot with the slightest breeze, and it makes a fluttering noise too (might sound like a hawk to them)… might be worth a try on the bushy tails.
TNHunter
i have it on every bush thats ripening fruit right now. once that bush is done i move it to the next. i have it tied to the tip of 8ft. bamboo with fishing line so the lightest breeze moves it easily. like you it has kept the birds away but they werent a real nusiance anyway. ill definitely be more vigilant as we we get closer to mid aug.
Hazelnut fed pork sounds delicious but when I saw the prices I lost my appetite!
just eat squirrel during nut season.