A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Dragon Lady]

Finally got the turks moved into there permanent coop yesterday. T-Bone (the tom hiding behind the ladder) was surprisingly heavy.

I love this coop, do they actually use that ladder? How cold does it get during your winters?

 

[Dragon Lady]

Your right Chaos. Poor wild turkeys roost in all types of weather. From what I read here a lot of folks turkeys prefer to roost in the open in all weather. Ventilation is the key, from what I understand. It's the built up humidity that causes the problems. Of course I live in the south and if it gets in the 20 ' s we think we are dying. Our gloves are purely decorative. It's the heat that kills down here.

Goronson...i think the most important part of any kind of training or behavior modification is consistency. That may be hard to achieve with a turkey.

Turkey behavior is so interesting. I've only had the girls since July and I'm facinated. I've competitively trained dogs for 30 years so I may be over analysing my turkeys behavior. However, from what I've read & observed with my girls is that they are rather trainable.

Memphis I think turkeys are trainable. I teach young poults to be herded either with a grass rake or my open arms.The method depends on how many poults and how fast they are running lol. Learn to think like a turkey and you are the head turkey.
They learn that my white bucket has treats in it and will follow me all over the yard until I give them something lol

It takes much longer for them to learn to put themselves away in the coop at bedtime, but I would go out just before the light changes and put them in, I even carried my tom into the coop when it was pitch black one night and I got home late.

Did I mention how much I love my turkeys

 

[charmedbaker]

Thanks Thomas, Rachel and Queenie are my true pets around here.

I love it when Thomas goes all skinny and puts his snood away when there are treats around, and he makes a sound "Dooo-do. Dooo-do". He is very sweet.

I think I missed your turkey setup Charmed, is Cha Cha with other hen turkeys? I'm putting my thinking cap on about Charlies behaviour

Dragon Lady,
I only have one turkey, Charlie. I have 6 chickens. 3 are over 3 yrs old; 3 are 6 months old that I got when I got Charlie. They were all one day old. Now Charlie and his harem stay together and the old ones stay together.
Charlie seems to be picking on ChaCha, my little rescued bantam. He ripped the fluffy feathers from her head.

 

[Chaos18]

I love this coop, do they actually use that ladder? How cold does it get during your winters?

Honestly I have no clue if they use the ladder or not. I have a similar one built for the chickens to get in and out of there coop and they use it all the time. Our average winter here is probably lows in low teens and highs in the low 30's. Although last winter was brutal with a lot of days of below zero.

 

[memphis]

Oh geez....Poor Chacha!

 

[mountain mom]

Poor ChaCha!
My guess is that Charlie is going through a hormonal phase. Dinner did something similar. He was put in a pen by himself. Tomahawk would fly in and hang out with him. He was nice to her, but he was really aggressive with the chickens. He was never too aggressive with me, but man did he do some serious strutting and thumping.
He would stop when I would pet him.

I agree that turkeys can be trained. Banshee knows all sorts of things. He knows his name, gentle, get down, and do you want a treat.

But in your case with Charlie, not being able to be there and correct his behavior, it may not get better. One thing you should do is show him you are the boss and when he puffs up and thumps at you, push his head down. Do it every single time he puffs up at you.


I am pretty curious about Ralph. I hope he is just busy with preparing for his 9 month winter!

 

[charmedbaker]

When I try to pet him he dodges away. I don't let him think he is in charge. I shoo him out of the way when he gets like that.
I do work from home, but I do actually work; I'm not outside so I will have to train him like I did with my son and my dogs. Treats and my "Mom's Cranky Voice". The kid turned out pretty good and the dogs behave.

So, where is Ralph? Last I saw he had a cold. He was making a concoction of schnapps and something else...

 

[memphis]

Ok...that's it. I'm venturing north of the Mason Dixon to the Minnesota thread to I quirk about Ralphie. I report back.

 

[feistychick]

Charmed - poor ChaCha! I hope you are able to figure out something workable for Charlie.

Turkules is starting to think of my chickens as females that he's interested in, so I'm going to be separating everyone as quickly as possible. The second run area is almost done, so the chickens will have a turkey-free run soon! He hasn't hurt anyone but I'm starting to see that it could happen. He was on top of my Cochin hen yesterday - she didn't seem to mind but yikes!

it seems weird not to see anything from Ralphie for a few days.

 

[memphis]

I just posted on the Minnesota thread asking them what they did with Ralphie. Just hoping those guineas didn't do him in.