I would remove the tom so that he does not have access to the hens. In my past experience they will continue to try and breed crushing eggs and/or injuring the hens.
They could be thinking you are the alpha male and letting you breed them. Scratch their back with both hands a little - if they ruffle all their feathers and shake then walk off - that would be a confirmation. Most turkeys don't start laying until the season after they are born though.
Today I bring better news.
The snares worked PERFECTLY I caught a nasty old big male coyote who came in last night. He has since been dealt with. No birds injured.
I will reset the snare this evening - probably going to keep them up 24/7/365. Also the babies are doing well.
4 replacements hatched on Friday, here they are with Abe and Gary coming to investigate. Also picked up 3 americauna pullets to join them in the brooder and teach them :-)
Not letting my guard down but no sign of the dog returning. The first batch of replacements is due to hatch on Thursday - only got 5-6 out of those. Put another batch in a week ago - those eggs are more fresh so should see hopefully more than a dozen.
This fall it will unfortunately be time...
Alrighty after doing some google searches and youtube viewing I built 3 cable snares (legal where I live yay!) - hopefully this will catch the bugger! Will be awesome since I didn't spend but 3 cents to make them. (Modified pennies make the lock pieces)
Probable gate access point:
Setup for...
Yes they are in the OMG MUST INVESTIGATE EVERYTHING phase. Once they mature they will most likely become more standoff - mine will approach but stay a few feet back. Don't reward the lap behavior unless you want a 30+ lb tom trying to sit on you.
This time it did not enter the property. There is a ~2 foot space between the rear of the pen fencing and my neighbors privacy fence. So at least I already have a nicely constrained area for a trap / snare.
4 am attack - gone as soon as I stepped out the front door. One hopefully minor injury and evidence of it trying to dig into the pen. I am calling animal control today and seeing if they have a trap big enough - if not I'll call another company. I don't think there is any other way I will get...
Baby monitor works - now I just have to get to responding faster. No birds harmed, definitely disturbed from their sleep but no damage. Missed the dog by maybe 3 minutes according to the camera. I think I have the difference between normal nighttime movement of the ducks and alarm...
Don't worry I plan on keeping the baby monitor active. I have it in a ziplock bag tied to the pen fencing, even the slightest bump of the fence causes the parent unit to vibrate, beep and light up!
Purchased a baby monitor and so far - nada! (Well - unless you count Coors my reverse barred rock mix crowing at a train at 330 in the morning! ) Nothing on camera either. I can't decide if this is good or not - it seems like the dog has moved on since moving the turkeys out of reach; but I...
Just an update for you guys. The roost has been moved to the center of the pen. I stayed up late (and paid for it) on tuesday night - no show. My dog failed to wake me last night but the attacking dog also failed to get any turkeys as they were safely out of reach.
So no success yet, but I...
I am pretty sure it is a stray or feral dog - definitely does not have a collar. I live next to 512 acres of woodlands and it appears to be on the lower end of the weight scale in the closer pictures. I only uploaded the best 2 out of the 129 picture the camera took. Hopefully I have time to...