A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[OneMountainAcres]

I'm just curious what you guys think and if my suspicions are coerect here. I'm starting to suspect that my Eve may be an Adam lol. I always thought she was a she because she's very sweet, stifles and cuddled the little ones and seems to mother them but lately, I've been noticing wings held low, tail feathers fanned, and when she's/he's outside with me and sees one of the chickens, he/she seems to get into a fighting/challenge stance andstarts to follow after them like a challenge. He/she is 9 weeks old now and is still my little cuddle buddy and safe from the table

Group shot!

 

[duluthralphie]

If he is 9 weeks old you would see more than just wings held low, he would be doing the full on display. I have one about 6-8 weeks old and he displays a couple times a week and has been for 3-4 weeks. My others have not started yet, Maybe I have 30 hens and no toms........

 

[feedman77]

I'm just curious what you guys think and if my suspicions are coerect here. I'm starting to suspect that my Eve may be an Adam lol. I always thought she was a she because she's very sweet, stifles and cuddled the little ones and seems to mother them but lately, I've been noticing wings held low, tail feathers fanned, and when she's/he's outside with me and sees one of the chickens, he/she seems to get into a fighting/challenge stance andstarts to follow after them like a challenge. He/she is 9 weeks old now and is still my little cuddle buddy and safe from the table

Group shot!

Soundd to me like he's being protective of you.

Telling the chickens to back off your his/hers. Lol.

 

[duluthralphie]

Soundd to me like he's being protective of you.

Telling the chickens to back off your his/hers. Lol.

It is amazing how toms do that isn't it?


JJ lives in harmony with the chickens 23 1/2 hours a day, but the half hour we have chicken TV time he has to try and run off every chicken that gets close to us. ( this does not count roosters, he is always chasing roosters away. I think the roosters and turkey Toms have a separate pecking order from the hens and turkey hens.

 

[feedman77]

Took 18 of my poults to sale swap today.

Kept 10 in the brooder. 4 palms and 6 chocolate looking ones.

 

[duluthralphie]

Took 18 of my poults to sale swap today.

Kept 10 in the brooder. 4 palms and 6 chocolate looking ones.

Did you sell any?


We are not allowed to have any swaps/sales this year, The state banned them because of Avian flu.

 

[feedman77]

Yes I sold them all.

Other than some early spring sales that were cancelled by individuals. Mo hasn't banned any as of yet.

So I still have 25 poults I have kept.

Also have 3 hens that went broody again. So I have the outlook for a few more babies.

 

[chickadoodles]

Congrats on your sales feedman!

 

[mountain mom]

Dinner, who is now 2 1/2 months or so, always chases off chickens and the dog. He thinks humans belong to him. Dinner is certainly a male.
He also "mother henned" the other two turkeys. Still does to some degree.

I am not an expert, but I would think you may have a tom. Look at the inside of his/her legs, you should be able to see a bump starting for his spurs by now if it is a tom.

So we have taken to the hose to help keep the turkeys from roosting on the deck. Guess who is not the least bit afraid of being sprayed by the hose. Dinner. He sat there for a good minute before he was inconvenienced enough to leave.
I think the 2 heritage birds are big enough now to not be picked off by an owl, so I am not as worried about them sleeping out of the run and coop. I just can't handle all the poop on the deck in the morning. I have been putting them on a low branch in the tree to encourage them to hang out there. It is close to the house still, so maybe they will still feel special. We will see. It hasn't caught on yet.

 

[duluthralphie]

ROFLM (You know what) O.


I am picturing MM giving Dinner a shower with the garden hose. Ours hate the hose, if we do not have the hose out we just throw a pitcher of water at them and they leave..


Ethel lost a baby over the weekend. There is a self blue sitting on eggs in her pen. The Self Blue is certifiable. I had to move the BA and her babies out of the pen because she would have killed them. Ethel keeps her away from her ( Ethel's) babies real well. but this weekend one of the babies must have wandered into her nest. We found it dead under the Nutso hen.

I am not sure how long the nutso hen has been sitting on eggs. When I got back from Florida on the 13th of June she was sitting on them. None have hatched. But the eggs were sat on prior to that by the blue. When I left the Blue was sitting on that nest when I got back the self blue was. I know the nutso one was crawling on top of the blue and dropping her eggs, which would then roll underneath the blue.

Sometime during that month I was gone the two turkeys swapped positions and the nutso one started setting. I left her for a month because I though one of her eggs might hatch. I was wrong. Yesterday, we took all the old eggs out from under her. I held her while the DW picked the dead rotten eggs out of the nest. We then put in some rotten chicken eggs for her to sit on. They may not be rotten or they might. We found a nest in one of the runs under some cardboard with a dozen eggs in it. We added 4 fresh eggs and put them back in the nest. I have no idea if she will sit another 3 weeks or not. But I am only out 4 eggs if she doesn't. They will be barnyard mixes, some are creamette eggs, some are EE and some are Bert's widows eggs.


The hen turkey could die before the eggs hatch she is skin and bones. I keep a good game bird mash in the run with her and Ethel, but she is all feathers and bones right now.