backyard turkeys?? - Page 5

I let them out into the general population and all went well. the 9 week olds did a little pecking but weren't relentless. The baby turkeys and RIR were glad to have all that room to run and fly.

im looking at ordering a barn yard pack from murray mcmurray this week. has anyone feed there turkeys barley fodder? i'm feeding that to my chickens, and they love it. its cut my feed bill down tons. i have just under an acher of land in kodiak ak.  i have 8 hens in a 8x12 coop and making a larger run for when we are not home.  oh ya im putting a bear fence up this yr. i have not had problems but some neibors had issues with bears.

Aren't they a blast? I get as many laughs from my turkeys as I do the chickens.

i have a flock of couple dozen hens and i raise broad breasted bronze turkeys tried to mix them the other day and the chickens wont let the turkeys eat maybe if they were raised from day olds up they be fine but i raise my turkeys for meat so its a must they eat as much as they can daily so i moved them back in their own pen

The new neighbor's dog had been coming around the place the last couple days and I'd been chasing her off. She came around today, killed all 7 of my turkeys, 3 golden comets, a barred rock chick and some Buckeye chicks. Called the 4H leader and she said possession date for poultry is 5/1, so even if we could replace them, we can't put them in the fair this year, so no turkeys to the fair. 

I gathered up all the dead fowl, put them in a box and took them over to the neighbor. Told her they were hers now and we'll settle up later. Explained Ohio law on marauding dogs harming livestock but that it was more important for me to be a good neighbor at this point and it was their first offense. I'm hoping I have enough chickens for my son to choose some good pullets and heritage broilers. 

Looks like I'll be building some stronger pens over the weekend. 

You really are a good neighbor. God Bless You and shame on me. I would have shot the dog in a fit of rage. I put more work into fussing with those little chicks than anyone could ever repay in me in dollars. I don't sell grown poultry for this reason. Hours spent changing waterers that have been pooped in, scrubbing out coops full of poop, clipping wings, doctoring wounds, feeding them garden veggies, hauling bags of feed around, knowing them, enjoying them… I can't put a price on that. 

…and I have owned dogs all my life. In my opinion folks who let their dogs roam really don't care for them…or they would protect them from harm. I have not had to kill a dog yet. But I have peppered a butt with a 12 gage loaded with target loads - after we ran it off once and then found it in my goat barn that evening.

The dog will be back. It knows where the party is. Be prepared.

I am so sorry for your loss. I would have a hard time dealing with that. It is wise not to upset a neighbor though. We got into it with our last neighbor about his dog kennel, 24 hour a day constant barking and roaming dogs. It ended up a screaming match, calls to the sheriff and eventually we gave up and moved. ….over dogs. 

I'm praying this doesn't get any worse for you. I hope they prepay you not only for your birds but your time involved caring for them.

They are young and new to the country, so they don't have any experience around livestock. They need to get some, though, because the boy two farms down from us and the lady across the street from him both have chickens as well as us. Here's what I sent him today:

So what was the outcome? Did he ever man up?

You are a better person than I am. My neighbor's dog got loose a couple months ago, busted into my pen, and killed several of my turkeys. Luckily, we were home at the time or it would have killed all of them. We shot the dog. The neighbor isn't happy with us, but I don't know what else we could have done at that point. I feel bad for killing his pet, but I was nice enough to not charge him for the turkeys that I lost and the damage done to my coop. My birds depend on me to keep them safe. It the the neighbor's responsibility to keep them off my property. I am an animal lover. I have dogs, all of which are my babies and were rescued from the local shelter. I also foster puppies that go on transport to other states, where overpopulation is not a problem like it is here. I hate the idea of any animal being hurt. That being said, I take keeping my animals safe, happy, and healthy seriously. I think your neighbor got off entirely too easy. I hope the dog doesn't come back!

Thanks to all of you turkey raising people! So much helpful info from all of you! I just bought my first turkey's and I am new to raising poultry altogether. I also just got my first chicks abt. a month ago. I am so excited to learn all I can about raising them all! I have really enjoyed reading every ones posts on raising turkey's!