A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

I just saw one swoop low through the yard, the girls will stay locked up for awhile today.

You could always lobby them to put in a wind farm next to you. There used to be eagles here in the winter but not since the (expletive deleted) wind farm was put in. I still have an occasional hawk come through and even an annual visit from an Osprey. The only poultry that I have lost to birds of prey are to Great Horned Owls and only during the night. They often roost in my trees during the daytime but have not bothered the poultry during the day.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Sorry to hear that Ralph I thought I lost one of my bearded silkies to a hawk the other day when I couldn't find her for a day. Turns out that she managed to get into the turkey pen and got stuck under their coop. My silkie cockerel "told" me where she was. Good thing or I'd have never found her.

 

[JRNash]

Day three of torrential rain.....

 

[feistychick]

Ralph - I hope your predators let up soon....I'm sure that the birds will be wanting to be out but it bites to lose them to critters. Frustrating for you, I'm sure

JR - hope you aren't drowning, good grief it sounds like you've had a lot of water there!

After work today I discovered that Big Bird hates bunny rabbits. Who knew?? We've had a fairly large number of cotton tails running around our property this year - so they are not unfamiliar. But holy cow - a brave bunny approached within 10 ft of her while she was out this evening - and she fanned what is left of her tail, set off the alarm calls and put the run on that poor bunny. I mean, she sometimes chases the cat for fun - but I have no idea what the rabbit did to offend her Coco watched the drama and kept eating grass, apparently not at all concerned about the presence of a one pound rabbit. Big Bird gave that rabbit the stink-eye until I put her in for the night and put on a great, flapping, squawking drama every time it got too close. I think it hung around for the entertainment value. Birds - they never fail to surprise you with something new

 

[OneMountainAcres]

My turkeys have now discovered that they can get in the trees :/ At first they were just content with hopping the fence and exploring the yard without permission but now, they figured out that they can jump up the other way and get on their coop roof and in to the trees. I guess that's fine if they want to explore but I had one decide to try to roost there last night. It's really neat seeing a big turkey weighing down a tree branch, I have to admit. Good thing she wasn't too high up and I was able to get her to jump down using a plastic rake. Brats!

Adam is also getting dangerously closer to trading places with Dinner for thanksgiving. He threatened and attacked me again last night. He didn't manage to hurt me but he learned that I know some secret wrestling moves! He made a lunge at me and I grabbed him by the neck and pinned him down. I held him there for a few minutes, to the point where I got up, turned off the lights and closed the coop and he still didn't move.

 

[memphis]

Fiesty....wonder what was going through Big Birds mind! I guess with turkeys its impossible. Thus the beauty of a turkey mind!

Aurora...your the turkey wrassling champ! Had to laugh when you said he didn't move.

 

[duluthralphie]

Tree turkeys are real PITA's.

You must have used a full Nelson choke hold on Adam to stay down that long. I am thinking that gets you 17 points towards a Turkey Wrassling belt.





I found my 9th turkey's nest today, and what is left of her. I am clearing my woods near the yard back a couple hundred feet to make it harder for critters to sneak up on my birds. It will also give me a longer clear shat at them. In the SE corner of what I am clearing, (about 150-200 yards from the house, I saw a beat down area and the remains of the turkey. By remains I mean feathers and lots of them. It appears there was quite a fight so she did not give up easy. I am thinking coyote pups as an adult would have finished her faster without so much fighting, Whatever it is it will die sooner than it thinks.

I have not decided what kind of trap to put there and what bait. I think I will start with a live trap that never give up a living critter first.

 

[memphis]

Sure hate to hear that Ralph. Good luck trapping the culprit. Poor girl....

Oh, I'll be in Minneapolis tomorrow changing planes. Heading to Grand Forks ND for a project. And back through again Thursday. Quick trip. Will also be going to Fargo on a project. Never been to ND.

 

[desertmarcy]

In this sea of 75 approx. 2 month olds, I saw a poult that didn't belong.


I don't know if you can pick her out or not, she's half way back along the fence line:


Narragansett hen. Shouldn't have been any in this group. Wing band showed she came from this Red Slate tom:


He is a beauty, but he had a possibility of carrying the narragansett gene,
'n'. Which I just proved he has, since I got a Narri hen out of him bred to a pure Red Slate hen. 6.25% chance of getting a Narri hen out of that breeding if he is bbDdNn. So he has to go. Fortunately I have about 55 Red Slates that didn't come from him that are pure that I can choose from for next year!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Ralph-I'm so sorry to hear that you lost her I hope you get what got her quickly.

Adam tried to threaten me again today. I noticed that he gets that way when I'm giving the other toms a lot of attention and they're soaking it all up. The weird thing is that he doesn't like touched, approached, handled, ect... I just chased him with the plastic rake for a minute tonight. I didn't feel like wrestling with him in their muddy run.