A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[memphis]

I agree MM! Ralph is being very insensitive to Ethel 's feelings considering she has lost all her babies.

Yep...my girls heard my van, they know I'm home, they are peering into the back door. Going out to spend some time with them before coop time.

 

[feistychick]

So today we had lots of struts going on - 3 out of 4 little ones like to puff up. They are awfully cute when they run around showing off their "big turkey" feathers . They're about 9 weeks old now and ,wow, they are little hooligans that get into everything. Thankfully they travel in a pack, don't like to be separated and still come when I call them....whew!

 

[feistychick]

MM - sounds like a great plan, I have more posts to put in and Ralph's bobcat sounds wayyyy better than digging these stupid holes by hand

Aurora - I love the fabric, and can't wait to see the first vest!

 

[memphis]

Feisty those little guys strutting are so darn cute!

 

[charmedbaker]

It sounds like everyone has approximately the same issue hearing the chickens and turkeys. Charlie and his harem hang together so I can drive them fairly well. My lab Aussie mix is picking up on the idea of hearding not eating so maybe it'll get easier soon!

they discovered the can scratch away the bark in the planters and find bugs. My yard looks like little tornadoes blew through.

So yesterday Charlie tried to mount one of the young hens. My old Rhode island red hen had injury to her comb; She and ChaCha are keeping their distance from Charlie. Maybe Charlie was trying to get with them and hurt them in the process.
Charlie is going to be moving soon. Wouldnt mind trading for a female., but will probably donate him to local FFA or 4h.

 

[memphis]

Sounds like ChaCha is doing well. You might be right about Charlie being the one to hurt her. I have to keep them out of "my" garden until everything is done for the season. I blow all my leaves into the gardens & the chickens roto-till & fertilize all winter. Works for me! I have let the gang in a few times already under supervision & found the turkeys aren't as nearly destructive as the chickens. The chickens will demolish a hosta in nothing flat! The only thing I saw the turkeys eating were the impatients.

 

[memphis]

Annie exploring my garden.

 

[duluthralphie]

Who needs Impatients?


I thought Ethel's last baby was retarded because he got lost all the time. He could be 10 ft from the others and he was lost. He wandered all over by himself. He refused to stay with the flock. I moved him in with the rest of the turkeys and he ran away to be with the to be with the chickens. He would run past the door to the covered run and then cry because he was not in the run with the rest of them.


I know a retarded turkey when I see them.

I had some friends down, yesterday. hey brought sunflower seeds for the birds. They did not understand the molt and why I was holding off on sunflower seeds. BUT I let them feed the anyways. I doubt one day will make a difference. We were on the deck when Ethel came up, raising my DW's blood pressure, while entertaining our friends. Ethel will find a person, cock her head sideways, stare at the person with one eye and begin to tell them what she thinks. Ethel quacks and quacks and quacks at them. The friend laughed and laughed at Ethel, she said "that turkey seems to think she is talking to me telling me her problems." Then she said, "She sounds like a duck".

They had never seen turkeys up close and personal. They were amazed how friendly they were and the way they followed us. It is so enjoyable when a non-livestock city person finds the joy of farm animal.

 

[memphis]

Ethel! She's a social gadfly! That one eye head cock is hard to resist! Your so right about how folks never exposed to farm animals are facinated with them. I let my chickens follow me around the front of the house occasionally. Can't count how many times someone strolling by with little kids stop to point out the birds. I'll pick up a hen & let the kids pet them. Usually the parent ends up petting them too. I just assume most adults have done that sometime in their lives & usually they haven't. Daisy jumped the fence & I found her two doors down. While carrying her home I had two neighbors jump out of their cars to come check her out.

So...Ralphie. ..is there a reason NOT to feed the turkeys sunflower seeds during molt??

 

[duluthralphie]

I want them to have higher protein during the molt. I have always heard the molt is hard on them and they need higher protein then. I am also avoiding worthless carbs because of the ascites the one Meth Boy has. I figure if one has noticeably has ascites others might have it without me noticing it. I am trying to feed them higher protein. However, that is hard to do when they are grazing on seeds and grass all day long.


My CXs have 6 days before they go to camp so I am really pushing the corn on them now. The turkeys and the meth boys particularly are not respecting the CX's feed troughs and seem to be eating there a lot. It has been 30 years since I last had BB turkeys. I forgot how they wanted to devour food all day long. They are the CX's of the turkey world.


I want to keep the meth boys alive for another 6 weeks if possible, and I think sunflowers and corn are not the way to do it. on the bright side, after draining the "lump" under the meth boy's chest he seems to be doing better. The lump has shrunken and is hard to see now. We will drain it a couple more times if we have too.


If you get one on your turkeys and want to drain it use a turkey injector. It worked great. We put the needle in and left it in. First just letting the fluid drain onto the ground then my DW hooked the syringe up and sucked the stuff out with the syringe. Dumped the gunk on the ground and hooked it up again. I held the meth boy still while she did this. She is better at the medical stuff than me. She is a nurse so she gets lots of practice.