A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[feistychick]

I bought a powerball, and will definitely be picking one up for the next draw! Retirement, here I come.....

So it was a sad morning here. My eggs were abandoned on day 20 by my darn broody Orpington. They were stone cold when I found them, so I brought them in and put them under a heating pad with damp paper towels. I wasn't holding out hope, but kept them warm all day. When I went to bed last night, I checked on them and one was peeping at me (just about dropped it). I have no stupid bator, so improvised to keep them warm overnight. Got up really early this morning to check, my peeper had pipped in the night and then didn't make it out. So sad Not doing this again for a long while! DH offered to get me an incubator when he heard, but I think I'll put it off for a bit.

Ralph - turkeys are weird....yours won't use their nice turkey house and mine still look at the dust bath I built them like it's the devil incarnate.... it's an 8" deep square of full of dirt

 

[memphis]

Ralph, I'm ahead of you on turkey talk. There is the "Locator Call", which you have identified. There is the "I'm A Happy turkey" trill/purr. The "Danger" whine, sort of higher pitched & steady. And the "Excited Chirp". They use this when one finds a treat or is in the spa. Sort of a one syllable/note chirp. Its a happy sound. They also have an "Oh Crap" chirp which gets louder & quicker the closer whatever they are upset with gets. It sounds like a Geiger counter. Then there is the "Seal Bark", which may be what Ethel is doing. They obviously are trying to communicate something. But they've used this in several different situations and I'm still trying to figure it out.

I'm finding turkey vocalization varied and complicated!

Feisty. ..sorry about the chicks. What a bummer!

 

[holm25]

So sorry Feisty!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Feisty I was rude and forgot to give you my condolences. 20 days and have that happen vacuums, in a big way.

I think you need an incubator just to protect yourself from these kind of emergencies.


I have a filled incubator today, all Creamette eggs! 41 of them. 28 on hatch on the 23rd, and 13 on the 28th.



I have started to collect toad eggs too. I have a grand total of 1 right now. I hope to but them in next weekend.


Ethel and one other turkey hen are in the coop. the rest are outside being stupid bellybuttons!

 

[feistychick]

Well, I couldn't bear to throw out the eggs yet (except for the one that pipped and didn't make it), so the rest are in a shoe box under a heating pad. Oddly, I think I may have a couple possibly live ones in there - so I'm leaving them for now (there was tapping). I have to fly out of town in the morning, so they'd better darn well get on with it if they're gonna think about hatching. I refuse to get any hopes up this time! If anyone ever asks if hatching without an incubator is a good idea - the answer is a resounding NO!

My turkeys are noise factories today - must be the sunshine - we're having a big gobblefest outside today No distinct chatter, just a hundred gobbles an hour

 

[feistychick]

Feisty I was rude and forgot to give you my condolences. 20 days and have that happen vacuums, in a big way.

I think you need an incubator just to protect yourself from these kind of emergencies. 


I have a filled incubator today, all Creamette eggs!  41 of them. 28 on hatch on the 23rd, and 13 on the 28th.



I have started to collect toad eggs too. I have a grand total of 1 right now. I hope to but them in next weekend.


Ethel and one other turkey hen are in the coop. the rest are outside being stupid bellybuttons!

DH offered me an incubator and I think I'll probably remind him of that offer in a month or so when things quiet down around here

Congrats on getting eggs started!

 

[feistychick]

Ralph, I'm ahead of you on turkey talk. There is the "Locator Call", which you have identified. There is the "I'm A Happy turkey" trill/purr. The "Danger" whine, sort of higher pitched & steady. And the "Excited Chirp". They use this when one finds a treat or is in the spa. Sort of a one syllable/note chirp. Its a happy sound. They also have an "Oh Crap" chirp which gets louder & quicker the closer whatever they are upset with gets. It sounds like a Geiger counter. Then there is the "Seal Bark", which may be what Ethel is doing. They obviously are trying to communicate something. But they've used this in several different situations and I'm still trying to figure it out.

I'm finding turkey vocalization varied and complicated!

Feisty. ..sorry about the chicks. What a bummer!

I think you just became our official turkey translator

 

[memphis]

Feisty, I really think my turkeys like this colder weather. Lots of flapping & jumping around. It's 32 here now. Not complaining. But I about froze on our daily turkey tour. They love a walk-about. Chickens too.

There are a ton more noises they make. Annie does a higher pitched chirp followed by two quick chirps. Always the longer chirp with the two shorter chirps. And repeats the three chirps. She does this if I'm walking behind her making her go somewhere she doesn't want to go. Or she'll do it if I'm trying to pick her up and she doesn't want to be picked up. She's obviously not happy when she does this so I call it her "Protest" call. I'm slowly starting to understand them.

Oddly it's one of the things I'm most intrigued with. If I pay attention to their vocalizations I can figure out what they are saying and their mood. I just find it interesting. I'm really trying to understand the meaning of the different calls.

Alas...no gobbles here.

Ralph, you just need to listen to Ethel more.

 

[duluthralphie]

It is hard to listen to Ethel more, She just lectures and lectures me and never cares a bit about what I have to say on the subject.

 

[memphis]

Daisy will bark like Ethel. Can't quite figure it out. She will do it when another per SD on is with me. Is it an alarm bark, or a alert kind of thing? Don't know. Maybe she just wants my attention. I'm still working on turkey talk.