A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[DwayneNLiz]

thank you for sharing @Auroradream26 , very pretty pictures and beautiful family!!!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Thank you all! We had an amazing trip

The birds were all happy to see me when we got home but none more than the geese actualy. They have a weird way of showing it but they're back to following me everywhere I go outside. The turkeys were mostly like, oh hey, you're back, where's our food? But Eve and Cuddles did come over for a big hug

 

[rjohns39]

thank you for sharing @Auroradream26 , very pretty pictures and beautiful family!!!

X2

 

[rjohns39]

folks, got another predator question. Is a coyote strong enough to grab a full grown RP hen and then jump a 4' fence with her in his mouth? There's a tuff of feathers at the crime scene, no blood, no remnants, no carcass. a few days ago, I ran off the neighbors dogs, among them was a fairly large pit-bull. If I'm right, the attack happened about 7:30 this morning... So what am I hunting?

 

[Bantambird]

Cougar around here could do that....
Aren't coyotes no bigger than a heeler dog? I bet they could clear the fence in if they wanted, but I don't see them carrying them over the fence out, definitely under tho. A bigger dog could do it though, and neighbor dogs are certainly my biggest predators.

 

[Finnie]

Coyote evidence around here usually includes a big old pile of feathers at the site of the initial attack, then a couple of other smaller feather piles spaced out along the coyote escape route, ending in a final pile of feathers, blood, and the odd piece of cartilage. We figure the turkey struggled enough to prevent the coyote from just dashing off with it like it did when I witnessed it taking a chicken. Hence a couple of extra struggles to get a better grip, and then consuming it as soon as it got far enough down the path to be out of sight from the house/yard. Now, both of these times were broody turkey hens, so maybe they put up more of a fight than a regular turkey would. If the turkey in question were light enough and didn't put up much fight, I'm sure a coyote could jump a fence and disappear with it. I don't see a domestic dog doing that. They are said to kill for fun, not to eat. So they would leave the body as evidence. Dogs run around killing every bird in sight. They don't snatch and run without a clue.

 

[rjohns39]

Coyote evidence around here usually includes a big old pile of feathers at the site of the initial attack, then a couple of other smaller feather piles spaced out along the coyote escape route, ending in a final pile of feathers, blood, and the odd piece of cartilage. We figure the turkey struggled enough to prevent the coyote from just dashing off with it like it did when I witnessed it taking a chicken. Hence a couple of extra struggles to get a better grip, and then consuming it as soon as it got far enough down the path to be out of sight from the house/yard. Now, both of these times were broody turkey hens, so maybe they put up more of a fight than a regular turkey would. If the turkey in question were light enough and didn't put up much fight, I'm sure a coyote could jump a fence and disappear with it. I don't see a domestic dog doing that. They are said to kill for fun, not to eat. So they would leave the body as evidence. Dogs run around killing every bird in sight. They don't snatch and run without a clue.

I've walked the entire pasture, the perimeter in concentric circles out to about 25 feet beyond the fence. No feathers anywhere, except at the crime scene--that's what's got me puzzled. The turkeys live in a covered perch with open sides--but they're out and about by 6:30 doing turkey stuff. The other birds are in hardened shelters and don't come out until about 9:00. I heard a lot of noise at about 7:30 this morning (including dogs barking)--but by the time I got out there, everything looked normal turkey's were inside the fence. When I went out at 9, all the turkeys were outside the fence, except my RP who is MIA. I'm surrounded by mountains so sound has a funny way of traveling, so the dogs may well have been at my neighbor's house.

 

[duluthralphie]

folks, got another predator question. Is a coyote strong enough to grab a full grown RP hen and then jump a 4' fence with her in his mouth? There's a tuff of feathers at the crime scene, no blood, no remnants, no carcass. a few days ago, I ran off the neighbors dogs, among them was a fairly large pit-bull. If I'm right, the attack happened about 7:30 this morning... So what am I hunting?

Yes, an adult coyote would clear the 4 feet with 2 feet to spare....

It could be either or both. Predators are relentless this year!

 

[Finnie]

I took some poult photos today for Craigslist, so I thought I would post some of them here. The poults from Cinnamon are 4 1/2 months old and getting very big. Then the smaller ones are from Elderberry. Swan is the mother of both groups, except for the lone baby bronze one, which is Muffin's. I have two pips in the incubator now. (Muffin's eggs.)

This is the tree Dingleberry, on the right. She has the light colored wings, same as Blackberry.

These are the two jakes, Blackberry in front, and Huckleberry.

Blackberry again. @R2elk do you still think it's the b' gene? I need to take some shots of him strutting, so we can see his whole wings.

This is one of the two twin Dingleberries that are just blue red bronze without the weird white wing thing going on.

Here is the younger group. I finally moved them today out of the garage brooder into the hoop coop.

 

[memphis]

Aww...love all the little berrys!!