A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[WalnutHill]

Awesome looking run! I wish I had room for runs like that.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Guinea Gulag is complete, sort of. I need to dump dirt around the bottom to hold the wire down and help keep predators from tunneling in. I have wire that comes down the sides then makes a 90 and goes out about 18-24 inches. I put dirt over that to lock the birds in and the fur bearing critters out. Here are some pictures and the first residents. I am afraid I might have ruined my broody moving these three. She got upset and left her nest during the confusion of moving the three slates. They did not go willingly. The one below is the broody splash before I upset her. The new prisoners below:

Are these the turkeys you wanted the colors of? Closer pix would help, but it looks like the broody is a blue & the 3 in the other pic are lavenders (all colors of a blue slate). If you can get closer pix I can tell you for sure.

 

[duluthralphie]

Are these the turkeys you wanted the colors of? Closer pix would help, but it looks like the broody is a blue & the 3 in the other pic are lavenders (all colors of a blue slate). If you can get closer pix I can tell you for sure.

Nope, those I know I have a splash on the nest/broody and your are right the other three are all self blues/lavenders. I kept a lavender tom so I would not have any blacks with the hens. I had another splash but she was killed by an Eagle last fall.

Ethel and JJ are red slates, both have a small amount of splashing but not much. I had one tom that had a lot of splashing and looked great, but he was the south end of a north bound horse in the personality department. He went to live with a nice Hmong family for a few hours.

 

[duluthralphie]

looks good! what netting did you use? looks pretty small. in the process of building a coop for my few birds as well but i got the heavy knotted netting. i was afraid the thinner stuff would break if they tried to fly into it..but idk

It is 2 inch square netting. It is game bird netting I bought off Amazon. I think it is heavy enough to keep the birds in and eagles out. I think it is large enough for snow, unless we get a wet freezing rain type snow. Which we do not get that often.

My biggest complaint is the size of the net. I bought a 50x50 net I made the pen 46x24, thinking I could cover the pen and have enough netting left to make a small 12x40 run. I do not have hardy any left. The netting is never cut square. I had to splice a small corner to get it to cover. I have no idea why they cannot cut it square I would not think it is that hard to cut a square piece in a factory.

I bought a 25x25 and had a 20x20 pen it barely covered it and I had to splice a third of it.

I use wire ties to splice so it goes fast and easy, it is just the idea it is not what I expect.

This is my third covered run. I have a large one I want to cover 65x45 I am thinking I will need to order a 200x200 to cover it! ( actually I hope a 100x100 will do it.

I have found putting them up is like making a blanket out of a beaver skin, you need to start at the end and work around always pulling opposite your last pull..

You do know how to make a beaver blanket right?

 

[ladycat]

You do know how to make a beaver blanket right?

Who doesn't?

 

[duluthralphie]

Silkie, here is the one I asked about..









And this one, believe it or not is a red slate, I know the egg it came from,, JJ and Ethel's oldest living child (below):

 

[duluthralphie]

Who doesn't?

That's what I thought too, Time to have a Mike's on that!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Are these the turkeys you wanted the colors of? Closer pix would help, but it looks like the broody is a blue

Nope, those I know I have a splash on the nest/broody and your are right the other three are all self blues/lavenders. I kept a lavender tom so I would not have any blacks with the hens. I had another splash but she was killed by an Eagle last fall. Ethel and JJ are red slates, both have a small amount of splashing but not much. I had one tom that had a lot of splashing and looked great, but he was the south end of a north bound horse in the personality department. He went to live with a nice Hmong family for a few hours.

In turkeys, there's no splash. The same markings we call splash in chickens is blue in turkeys...so she carries 1 blue gene & 1 black. It takes 2 blue genes to make a lavender (splash in chickens) turkey. Same gene combination, different pattern for different breeds.

Silkie, here is the one I asked about.. And this one, believe it or not is a red slate, I know the egg it came from,, JJ and Ethel's oldest living child (below):

The top baby looks to be a blue slate (the spotty pattern of your broody above). A lavender poult would be the very light silvery blue color I noted on the other poult (I forget who's without looking back). What are the genetics (color of parents) on Ethel & JJ? I'm not sure what color the 2nd poult will be. Looks like my royal palm poults from last year or midget white pix I've seen.

 

[duluthralphie]

I was told when I bought Ethel and JJ they were slate blues, they were in such rough shape and had been so badly treated they barely had feathers, when they got healthy and grew out feathers they were red slates, so I assume they are slates with a bourbon in there somewhere.

Here is JJ:



I did not know there was no splash in turkeys, that makes sense! I assumed JJ was a splash because of the dark blue splotches on him.

Below is Ethel, I cannot believe I have not taken her picture since she had babies last fall, She looks rough here because she was on her nest for a month.




She looks like a female JJ normally, some blue splotches but not as many as JJ with a red tinge.




The one you called a blue must be a result of my "blue slate" hen and my self blue tom. I have denied JJ access to the blues/self blue.

 

[mountain mom]

I am loving the color conversation! I had no idea there was no splash in turkeys either.

On a completely attached and loving my turkey poults topic... Last night, Banshee was screaming. I went to the brooder to be sure all was okay. No issues, she quieted. I leave, she is screaming. This went on and on. I slept a good hour near the brooder to "shush" her so she knew I was there. I finally went to bed... she screamed for a couple of hours.
Today, I put them in the meatball run since it is small chick proof and I wanted them to run around a bit. They loved it!
Until they heard me outside. Guess who found a way out... and then found their way over to me. Followed me around all day.

Silkie- I only "know" how to vent sex from a youtube video that I watched a billion times. I will post some feet and snod pics tomorrow!

Ralph- The gulag is awesome! And I second the annoyance to factories not being able to cut something square. It is infuriating.

Well, I am off to enjoy a frosty beverage.