A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[memphis]

Geez Ralph...poor bird. It's a debate. How smart are turkeys? I think they get themselves into odd predictiments due to their curiosity. Annie had a habit of hopping up on a trash can (it has a lid) to watch me while I'm working on something on a table adjacent to the can. She's nosey, but would just stand on the can & watch. All good, until she hopped up there one day & I had the lid off. You can only imagine what it took to get her out of the can. She was wedged in there. Point being, she doesn't jump up there anymore. Long story here for a weak point about turkey intelligence, but I have found they have the capability to learn. I can still get Daisy to run through the dogs agility course. They will also consciously refuse to do something... example....we usually take a stroll out front before bed. If the weathers bad or I don't have the time, they do not want to go into their palatial coop and will run to the gate & fuss at me. Habit or conscience disobedience....I don't know. I do know I can teach them stuff, they will come when I call their names and an agility course isn't an activity a turkey would do naturally. (Daisy will now go through the tunnel & go to the next obstacle I point too) Can't do that with the chickens.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I think intelligence can't be judged in turkeys as a whole but has to be judged individually. Either that, or only the hens are smart lol. I've noticed that my toms tend to be mindless brutes. They show off their size and pretty feathers and argue whenever they feel someone has overstepped their bounds. Romeo seems to be slightly smarter though as he recognizes love and attention and refuses to allow other toms the pleasure of it. My hens though, seem to be very smart. They recognize hand signals. Eve knows when I tap my leg, she's allowed to jump up and be held and that unless I do that, she shouldn't try. Cuddles knows that spread arms means come in for a hug and it's meant just for her. Misty openly plots and schemes. She watches and waits for me to turn my back and get distracted. She follows me or pretends to go to roost but waits for that opportunity, where I turn my back or stop paying attention to jump on my back and climb up to my shoulder. She knows if she can get up there when I'm not paying attention, she'll get to stay there for a minute since it'll be too late to keep any poop or mud off me lol

 

[rjohns39]

I find it hilarious when they end up on the wrong side of the fence. Probably important to note that up till a couple weeks ago, they were small enough to go through the bigger holes in the fence, but not anymore. Yesterday I had four out when I went up to feed them. I opened the gate and three ran in, the fourth wasn't having anything to do with the gate. She must have circled the fence 3 times trying to get through one of the bigger holes. I finally picked her up and tossed her in...

 

[memphis]

Aurora....I find that true across species. The females need to be more savy. (No offense to the guys here!) Is it because they raise the young? For instance, if I'm starting a young dog to really campaign....its always a female. They are more intense & serious. My boys get distracted. It's interesting how your girls read your body language. Dogs pick up on that quicker than most people realize. Interesting points. By the way, Daisy hops up when I pat my lap too. LOL...gotta love a lapper!

 

[Flashpoint]

I find it hilarious when they end up on the wrong side of the fence. Probably important to note that up till a couple weeks ago, they were small enough to go through the bigger holes in the fence, but not anymore. Yesterday I had four out when I went up to feed them. I opened the gate and three ran in, the fourth wasn't having anything to do with the gate. She must have circled the fence 3 times trying to get through one of the bigger holes. I finally picked her up and tossed her in...

Mine fly up in my yard trees and hop branch to branch to the very top - some that are at least 50-70 feet high. And come down to to the point where they can fly off. All of them will from time to time, use the walk up ladder I made out of a loading ramp - and walk back down. The two hens in particular will get on top of my coop shed. And get off on their own. They fly on top of the house roof. And get off on their own. They fly over my four foot fence to get out of the big run - then fly back in.

But let - again especially the hens - fly over the 3 foot chain link fence at the bottom of the property and they (for lack of a better description) have a "sh*t hemorrhage". They will pace the fence, bang against the fence. Call out for help to their mates/buddies and are totally unable to figure out how they got them. They have ignored ramps and an opened gate.

I end up having to go on the other side, corner them between a tree and the fence -just to toss them back over.

Do I think they are intelligent? - absolutely. Do they have stupid moments? ABSOLUTELY!

 

[duluthralphie]

Aurora....I find that true across species. The females need to be more savy. (No offense to the guys here!) Is it because they raise the young? For instance, if I'm starting a young dog to really campaign....its always a female. They are more intense & serious. My boys get distracted. It's interesting how your girls read your body language. Dogs pick up on that quicker than most people realize. Interesting points. By the way, Daisy hops up when I pat my lap too. LOL...gotta love a lapper!

I find this in error. In some species it might be true but once we hit the Hominids, it seems to reverse itself..

This is based on a lifetime of experience living amongst Hominids of both sexes....BTW I have seen some pretty stupid Hominids of both sexes too....The real dumb ones are rewarded for their stupidity with the "Darwin Awards".

 

[duluthralphie]

My wife and I were discussing this last night. We have the three "teens" that give us bedtime grief. Last night, with everything happening here, the bird show, the turkey electro shock therapy and recent predator attacks, we forgot to lock the coop.

At about 9:30 well after dark and turkey bedtime we remembered and went out to throw the "teens" off the fence and into the coop. Then lock the door.

They were not on the fence, they had put themselves to bed. I have no idea what time they did this. I know if we are just a little late, like a half an hour or so, and it is pitch black, we have to put them to bed.

When we are really late they seem to put themselves to bed. We have been really late 3 times in the last week...I know we are bad turkey owners! They have been in bed each time.

I think they like the attention of being kicked off the fence or roof and forced to bed. They do not fight goingto bed when we put them to bed, they just give us dirty looks and walk like a disobedient 3 year old who has given up the fight into the coop...Flipping us off on the last two steps, of course.

Also on an off topic, my Turkeys are now officially "pets". My last quarterly test results showed they had mycoplasma in them. This is not a big deal in 35 states. In Minnesota it is.

If you have turkeys and chickens together long enough you will get MS or MG in the turkeys. I went through this fight last spring when they wanted my Turkeys and Chickens to never see or touch each other. That will not work here as I free range and want an old time farm like when I grew up.

I managed to win the battle of the day. The State Vet wanted to know what I would do if they get MS or MG. I asked her the options and said we would cross that bridge when we get to it...

We got to it.... She asked me what I wanted to do, I said I would like to drop NPIP and would just not sell chicks across state lines or at public sales anymore...

We had a long talk, she was not really in favor of that idea. She asked my plans with my turkeys, I told her they are basically a herd of pet dogs that I occasionally eat a member of....

She then suggested I drop the MS/MG testing on the turkeys as all chickens are assumed to have MS/MG and are a carrier for the turkeys. (BTW 3 of the 13 had MS/MG).

She said just make them Pets and test them for PT yearly and AI quarterly. I will not be able to sell them at public sale n Minnesota, but can sell them from the farm and on CL.

I told her I understood Minnesota was one of the 15 states that checked and cared about MS/MG. She was not aware it was only 15. She said she has been thinking of a rule change because it is not the problem it was thought to be...

She said rule changes take time...I understand,,Then she said you can still sell your birds in Wisconsin and I think she said the Dakotas because you meet their rules....So I am semi-confused, my turkeys maybe 70% NPIP .....

It is not a big deal to me, as I am cutting way back on chick and poult sales. I should be in a heated election race for the state legislature come spring. (God willing and I don't die of this darn cold).. So hatching is not going to be intense here this year. I have even sold 2 incubators to MnChickMom, and she has most of my lines to sell.

Anyways, I thought would tell you about my latest testing failure......

I think the rule came about when we had thousands of pastured turkey ranches in the state. If you have 10,000 turkeys and they get MS/MG they will basically not gain weight for 6 weeks...If a turkey gains a pound a week that is 60,000 pounds of turkey you lose out on while feeding the turkeys still. At even 50 cents a pound that is a lose of $30,000 if my math is right. With indoor growing I don't think the problem exists with bio-security and all.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

@duluthralphie that still stinks
i am still going to try to get eggs/babies from you in the spring

 

[Molpet]

wow Ralphie, hope you keep sell toads though...
What are you running for? or from LOL

 

[memphis]

Politics....wow. Good luck!

The turkey thing...well...just breed a beautiful calico flock of dogs with feathers!! Turkeys are just too much fun not to have some around!