A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[sfgwife]

Sfgwife....did you guys get some of this rain over there? It's been a mess here! Currently the sun is out & I need sunglasses!!

Funny thing....Annie NEVER flys or hops up on the 6 foot fence. I swear she doesnt realize she can. Daisy does whatever she wants. But then....she does practice flying a lot. Show off...

We been wet for weeeeeeks! We only grow mud here right now. Jus mud. Stinky nasty mud. We own a mud farm. Hahahahha! We actually made the highest record for most rain in a year before christmas here. I think it was sixty six inches... and we still had a week left in the year.

Two of my yearling hens jump and fly. Two yar old Road Runner will occasionally. But her fav place is atop the barn in a tree above it. I jus dont even try get her down anymore when she finds sheselfs a notion to go up for the night. The younglings even when we clipped one wing didnt care and were over the fence. They like to visit my front stoop and lazily follow chickens about til they realize they are indeedy not their people..... then they think they might die and run like mad hollarin their fool noggins off to get back to their kind and the goats. Lately they have been eyeballin my roof!

 

[sfgwife]

Well that sounds like a good way, then... just sit by the brooder, watch the little poopers and then slap a baby leg band on if I’m that quick. Does it even work on babies, or do they have to be older? On chickens/chicks? Goslings?



I’d be happy with the “for the most part” scenario. I want the netting for keeping out baddies and keeping in my own as well, but I don’t need perfect control of the birds... As long as all the others don’t follow the naughty ones, I just won’t breed the wanderers. I don’t want to lose anyone, but we all have some responsibility for our own safety, etc... even turkeys.

I hadn’t thought about fighting. Maybe by the time they start fighting they could be big enough for the freezer... at least those you don’t want for breeding? Or do they start earlier than that? I do have covered pens that pugnacious toms could go to if they’re mean to the girls (or to me, or to one another) where they can feast and squabble and put on some weight. Thanks for bringing that up.

What kind of turkeys do you have— heritage or BB? Have you lost any to tangling up in the e-net?



Good to know. Thanks! Are you/were you running heritage breads or broad breasted?

I have one bb hen that waddles round. Her feet def are not comin off cept to step. The other five are heritages.

 

[sfgwife]

Bunnies are delicious. I have eaten a lot of squirrels fixed a number of different ways. Raccoon can be good if cooked properly. I just couldn't bring myself to eat possum but from what I have heard it can be greasy. Ground hog (Woodchuick) and Rock Chucks are good also. All fish can be good if cooked properly for the kind of fish it is.

If it is a fish that comes out of the Mississippi River, it may be full of mercury.

Paul trapped a nuisance beaver this spring. I cooked him in the crockpot and yummm! It was like beef but more fat.

 

[CindyinSD]

Paul trapped a nuisance beaver this spring. I cooked him in the crockpot and yummm! It was like beef but more fat.

Funny... I’ve never thought of a beaver as food, though why not? I’ve eaten weirder things than beavers for sure.

 

[Crazydoglady99]

How many birds do you guys have? (To buy feed in that sort of quantity!)

 

[aliciaplus3]

Too many.... obviously. I only have 30 turkeys..... 15ish dux.... and more than 100 chickens..... I think

 

[Crazydoglady99]

wow!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

How many birds do you guys have? (To buy feed in that sort of quantity!)

50 ish chickens, 2 ducks, 2 geese, and 13 turkeys. I go through about 250-300 lbs of feed every 2 weeks (I ferment)

 

[sfgwife]

Funny... I’ve never thought of a beaver as food, though why not? I’ve eaten weirder things than beavers for sure.

Me either... but we thought we would try it once.

 

[R2elk]

Oh yes, you’re right— that’s continuous power that has the fire issues. I’m not sure that’s even a thing any more for agricultural use...

The issue with barbed wire is more to do with getting livestock or wildlife tangled up, panicking, unable to escape... not a nice picture. This typically happens because someone has energized their actual barbed wire, though. It’s the same thing you can get with poultry netting if a bird gets tangled up in it. I’m thinking as long as it’s only one wire on top, not connected to the barbed wire, it’s probably not a problem, but then I’ve never done it, so...

A single strand of electric wire above a barbed wire fence is fine. I and others have used this method although I don't have any electric fence anymore. The last that I used was a single wire around the base of a 5' chainlink fence to keep my beagles from digging or climbing out.