A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[feistychick]

Well our birds had a bit of an exciting day yesterday. Since it's been so dry this summer, our birds have never really seen rain before. What was predicted to be a rain storm, ended up with spurts of rain and sudden very high winds. They do NOT like having their feathers blown the wrong way so that they look like a piece of clothing turned inside out. Some new life-lessons for me - rounding up freaked-out birds is a lot like herding cats, and the turkey babies won't go into buildings when the lights are off....sigh. Now that we have power and water again, I'll let everyone outside and they can watch the fascinating business of storm clean up lol. Since I know how much they enjoy the lawn mower, I'm sure they'll love the chain saws

 

[feistychick]

Big bird and a CX friend..

Ralph - he looks so happy cuddled up in there. Maybe he should stay with them

 

[feistychick]

I have a question about when to introduce the babies to the "big birds" - any ideas on when that should happen? The babies are still less than a month old, so it's probably too soon yet - but I'm hoping that some of you have ideas about what a good age/size to this would be. It gets harder to keep them apart as they get more adventurous and the bigger birds are out ranging in the yard. Any suggestions appreciated

 

[mountain mom]

I do believe Banshee is looking for the perfect woman. He was in seventh heaven today when roaming out with Tomahawk while Dinner was distracted. They were chirping and dancing and hunting bugs.
Then Tomahawk noticed Dinner was missing and started calling him and trying to find him. Banshee was so mad and red in the face!

He took off on a walk about. He came back an hour later, looking defeated, but happy to see Cricket, the chicken who believes she is a turkey.

Oh well. I suppose in a couple of months the floozy Tomahawk will have new eyes for Banshee when Dinner goes missing.

Stay tuned for scenes from next week on "As the Turkey Turns".


About introducing younger birds... Some would say to wait until they no longer make baby chirps. I however, don't have time to keep everyone separate that long.
If everyone is feathered out and not needing supplemental heat any longer, I put them in the big coop. I do it at night well after the big girls go to bed. I just sneak them in. I have never had a problem.
Of course there is a little pecking and bossing around in the morning, but everyone figures out their place and there has never been any blood.
That is what I do.

 

[duluthralphie]

I move my birds from an indoor brooder to a tractor/brooder outdoors after a week or two in the brooder, I simply open the door and they go out to join the flock. Works for me.

 

[feistychick]

Thanks MM and Ralph.....I'll give them another week in the "outside baby coop" and then see how they do (supervised) with the big birds. They still want their light at night and the big birds don't get night lights lol

 

[Kiwi342]

I love my friend so much. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, he wants to be a part of it, or at least watching the action. He's such a fun guy.

 

[feistychick]

I love my friend so much. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, he wants to be a part of it, or at least watching the action. He's such a fun guy.

He's cute! What kind of turkey is he? I love how curious they are about what you are doing.....must see everything

 

[OneMountainAcres]

My babies' temporary house until their coop and run are done

 

[feistychick]

That looks like it works pretty darn well Aurora!