Colorado

[samsr]

Do you eat the wild ones? I love keeping domestic turkeys around the place but I eat them. 

I harvested one wild turkey a couple springs ago. The breast meat was very good but the legs and thies wer tough as nails. Crock pot or pressure cooker pieces for sure. Now i just throw out some corn for the chickens and watch the turkeys. They are quite interesting to watch. They have their own pecking order just like chickens. It is nice to see them. Domestic turkey is much better meat wise.

 

[oshun55555]

Quote: those wild birds or old yard birds can be made tender, if you cook them in roasting pan with a tightly fitting lid with a cup or so of water or broth, roast at 190 degrees for about 6-8 hrs, then turn up the heat and brown off, meat will be tender as a baby's breath.

 

[cluckylady812]

megshenhut, suncatcher, klbcos, and anyone else interested of course

Here is a sample order from Mcmurray. I copied and pasted the information and went thru to "checkout" to get the shipping costs. Please let me know if you are interested. I created the order with 18 bids, we can of course order more, but I will need look at shipping for a larger amount. They have a 15 bird minimum.
Ship date would be April 25. I can defer payment when ordering until 2 weeks before delivery, so that could give us time to coordinate payment and pick up plans. I did not include vaccines, Qwik Chick etc.
This is 4 each slate and Red, 10 Bronze

BLTS Blue Slate Turkey $11.88

$47.52 remove
BOTS BOURBON RED Turkey $11.88

$47.52 remove
SBTS Standard Bronze Turkeys $11.88

$118.80 remove
Subtotal (Does not include shipping costs)

Order Summary
Items Subtotal $213.84
Shipping & Handling $16.22
Order Total $230.06
Amount Due $230.06

$213.84

 

[KLBCOS]

megshenhut, suncatcher, klbcos, and anyone else interested of course




Amount Due $230.06

So approximately $20 each. Can you raise the turkeys with the chickens but provide them with their own roosts? Or should they have their own coop/run?

 

[uzisuzuki]

I have all pea comb birds for eggs and meat (Buff and Dark Cornish). But I used to raise Dorkings with huge combs, those big combs froze every year, both my cock birds lost all their points after that they never froze again.  

He had quite the turn around today. The tips that had been discoloured had started turning red again. 1 tip looks like it will probably fall off, but he looked better (to my inexperienced eyes).

Here's something funny for the week: I bought a chicken harness. I thought it would be a nice giggle to get a harness for Sparta since she's always following me around. And because the pictures on the internet make me laugh. Sparta is my smallest, so I had to look around for a decent price & the smallest size I could find.

It showed up last night while I was cramming to finish my finals. Didn't get to try it out then. Today, I tried it out on her.

She's too small! Basically, she flopped onto her side & proceeded to wiggle & kick her way through the neck hole. She wasn't too thrilled with my great idea. I'm totally going to try it out on Odysseus later this week because someone will fit it & provide me with giggles & photo ops.

 

[coop410silkies]

He had quite the turn around today. The tips that had been discoloured had started turning red again. 1 tip looks like it will probably fall off, but he looked better (to my inexperienced eyes).

Here's something funny for the week: I bought a chicken harness. I thought it would be a nice giggle to get a harness for Sparta since she's always following me around. And because the pictures on the internet make me laugh. Sparta is my smallest, so I had to look around for a decent price & the smallest size I could find.

It showed up last night while I was cramming to finish my finals. Didn't get to try it out then. Today, I tried it out on her.

She's too small! Basically, she flopped onto her side & proceeded to wiggle & kick her way through the neck hole. She wasn't too thrilled with my great idea. I'm totally going to try it out on Odysseus later this week because someone will fit it & provide me with giggles & photo ops.

The picture of Sparta is adorable. Memnoch's comb does not look that bad to me, especially given its size. I love roosters, and I just can't seem to get rid of mine. So I have a number of them and should be an expert on combs freezing, because so many have suffered frost bite and have lost points. Your little Roo shows the affect of good care, I know that much. But I am no expert. I did not put Vaseline or bag balm on any combs and have read that it can be harmful to do so. The only cocks that consistently retain all their points are the ones I keep cooped up; the cocks not confined 24/7 show varying degrees of frostbite. The Light Sussex seem more susceptible than the Speckled. In the two years I've had them, none have become infected or sick, but it's a good thing I am not raising them for show. I think the worst thing for them is that they may suffer from loss of sex appeal (gasp!). My roosters seem to have no concern for their well-being, and I worry about them constantly. Once they've lost their points, though, I quit worrying about them, (and it becomes much easier for them to use their bucket feeders). I am encouraged to learn that your little roo is seeming to recover. And happy for you. GOOD NEWS. Good luck with your finals. What are you studying for your Degree?

I currently have two Silkie Roo's camped out on my bed with me. One is a 25-day-non-hatcher who narrowly escaped the landfill when I shut down his incubator, and the other is a mature cockerel that he raised and rescued from sure death in infancy. Pip, the first bird, seems to be blind in one eye and is uh developmentally disabled. He couldn't stand up to eat or drink for weeks and I thought each day was his last; he failed to thrive when I eventually put him out with his sibs, and I had to remove him when I found him unconscious in a mud puddle. He recovered in my lap and went on to nurse and raise a sick baby chick that was rejected by the Silkie hens - all by himself, with no help from me. He made me cry, he was such a devoted and successful mother. Today, he is still spastic and unbalanced, and his little protege is bullying him and taking over. When the sun goes down, they make a beeline from their basement to my room and fight for the spot closest to me. Pip never wins, just falls over and goes around in circles. Well, he is a sweetie, and he seems to be doing OK; he will never survive outdoors with the others, though, and I am resigned to having him as a house chicken. I guess I am blessed. The little brat he raised is going out with the others to learn some manners when it gets warm enough. Would probably make a nice pet for someone. Another reason for spring happening ASAP.

The little things that make life a joy! Need to go put them up now and make room for the Saint dog, the real owner of this bed.

 

[uzisuzuki]

@coop410silkies My first winter with chickens last year, my Sebright rooster lost a couple tips on his comb. Unfortunately for him, I hadn't figured out the whole humidity thing. I hadn't planned on keeping Memnoch if he started really fighting with Odysseus, but he was my first hatched chicken & I quickly realised I was going to keep him. So, Memnoch was the victim of my stupidity on humidity again since at night he's in makeshift coop inside the main coop. When I saw his comb, I realised what I had done wrong with his sleeping coop & felt kinda dumb for not thinking of that sooner. Kind of a repeating theme with my brain injury.

I hope I can keep him from losing too many tips because he & I have matching swoops & swirls when I put my hair up.

Thank you for the good luck! I'm trying to finish my degree in art history so I can stop driving myself bonkers by being an accountant for a state government agency. I was worried I would finish this 1st semester due to my brain injury, but I did it. It was rough but I made it from start to finish. Might become a historian yet.

There needs to be people who will take care of things that can't take care of themselves, whether it's people or animals. I guess I'm of the mind that if I can help, I should help. However, I'm pretty sure that's what ended me up with 11 chickens & 3 peafowl in 8 months! LOL

 

[COChix]

@uzisuzuki Your roo's comb doesn't look too bad, don't feel bad. Our BO roo lost all of his really long tips last year. He definitely took a beating with frostbite but seems fine as of now. I didn't treat the combs until the discoloration was gone, then I used a salve with Calendula, Cannabis, Coconut oil and Lavender in his comb.

Can't wait for the photos of the chicken on a leash.

 

[Double Kindness]

I actually have 2 indoor runner ducks that hatched under a broody thst ended up not being a good mama. One duckling I didn't get to in time to be rescued had been scalped so I'vebeen looking into duck diapers and hharnesses because I feel bad keeping them in a box on my fireplace all day except when they need to eat and bath time.

Ziggy is the white with grey spots and Phoebe is the chocolate runner duck. They have imprinted onto me and now I'm their mama.

 

[oshun55555]

I don't think you will lose any points, if they were black black, then maybe