A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Molpet]

Moved 5 of my poults out to a bigger coop/run today. Once my husband builds their shelter in the goat lot they will be released in there. I will move the other 7 soon. We've caught a possum and a racoon in traps lately because something was killing my layers and I didn't want to chance the whole group until I was certain they would be okay. The coop/run is very secure and has netting on top.

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I have gotten 97 raccoons and about that many opossums in just over 3 years, they keep showing up.
now its mink and weasels
noisy demon spawn mink

 

[Bantambird]

If you catch enough mink you could make a nice coat. Grandma said they had to use hardware cloth on chicken house windows to keep out mink, weasels and ermine.

 

[Molpet]

If you catch enough mink you could make a nice coat. Grandma said they had to use hardware cloth on chicken house windows to keep out mink, weasels and ermine.

that's what my brother said lol
I told him I prayed there's not any more

 

[Bantambird]

that's what my brother said lol
I told him I prayed there's not any more

Those little spawn love chicken blood. My big dogs keep the predators away. Only lost one bird this year, because she nested away from the house along a predator travel corridor. It was my beautiful Pretty Girl, the red bronze. DH thinks it was a raccoon, I'm still sure it was a fox, either way. Zeus was really upset about it. He brought the body to me after to make sure I found her and couldn't look me in the eye all day.

 

[kfelton0002]

I have gotten 97 raccoons and about that many opossums in just over 3 years, they keep showing up.
now its mink and weasels
noisy demon spawn mink

Minks are bad! And we've never been able to trap one. There are coyotes in our area but the Pyrenees keeps them away and they don't come around because of him. We occasionally lose birds to minks and foxes, but it's mostly possums and coons. They are certainly in abundance and the ones we catch are fattened up from eating my free range hens. We have a lot of chickens but they have cut the number back quite a bit. I don't notice until we find evidence of carcuses or until I get to missing specific birds.

The run where I've moved some turkeys to is not in the area where my Pyrenees can get to. We have to keep him fenced in with the goats to keep him home or else he roams. Hopefully the coop and run is secure enough to keep varmints out.

 

[kfelton0002]

Those little spawn love chicken blood. My big dogs keep the predators away. Only lost one bird this year, because she nested away from the house along a predator travel corridor. It was my beautiful Pretty Girl, the red bronze. DH thinks it was a raccoon, I'm still sure it was a fox, either way. Zeus was really upset about it. He brought the body to me after to make sure I found her and couldn't look me in the eye all day.

Minks don't even eat the whole chicken. They bite their necks and drink their blood, wasting the chicken.

Will possums and raccoons kill a full grown hen or tom turkey? I was hoping once they matured I wouldn't have to worry so much anymore. Hopefully they stick to chickens and leave my turkeys alone. We are going to set some "dummy" roosters up around the area so if a varmint takes a bird it can take one of them. I have plenty of roosters that aren't really worth butchering because they are crossed with legbar and are leaner birds. We will also keep the trap set and baited.

 

[R2elk]

Will possums and raccoons kill a full grown hen or tom turkey?

Raccoons are capable of killing adult turkeys. They are more likely to go for hens on hidden nests.

Both are more likely to take eggs from nests. I have had skunks stick their heads under turkey hens to get their eggs.

 

[R2elk]

I have plenty of roosters that aren't really worth butchering because they are crossed with legbar and are leaner birds.

I eat Legbars and Legbar crosses regularly. They most certainly are worth processing.

 

[Molpet]

Minks don't even eat the whole chicken. They bite their necks and drink their blood, wasting the chicken.

Will possums and raccoons kill a full grown hen or tom turkey? I was hoping once they matured I wouldn't have to worry so much anymore. Hopefully they stick to chickens and leave my turkeys alone. We are going to set some "dummy" roosters up around the area so if a varmint takes a bird it can take one of them. I have plenty of roosters that aren't really worth butchering because they are crossed with legbar and are leaner birds. We will also keep the trap set and baited.

This mink was trying to pull a fresh kill 8 wk pullet through the fence. He was about 15ft from the corner. At the corner was some wing feathers. The wings were just bones, some of the breast was missing. Thighs ripped open some missing off one.
I heard the birds saying they didn't like something, but not like I would think... they make more noise over a deer at the fence.
I seen the fence wiggling and some weeds on the outside. I crept up not sure if a bird was stuck or trying to get back in. I seen the demon pulling and pulling about then it seen me and took off.

 

[SarahGfa]

My blue slate hen brought home a clutch of gray poults and black poults (as expected), but also a bronze poult. I have been experimenting with Porters turkey calculator to figure out who the father could be, but there is no color combo that could make bronze. Is wild-type a random mutation that can show up sometimes?