A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[feedman77]

Demo. On the house has been put on hold. I'm doing a 2 week stint at work. I'm on day 13 today.

I have to finish my outdoor boiler hook up to the house I'm staying in. Winter will be here quick. Takes precedence.

Had a gentleman that I sold a few turkeys too call me and want some more. Coons got his. So I'm probably gonna sell most of what I have left of my flock off next weekend. Probably just keep bourbons.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks for all the good thoughts and well wished on Ethel. I am so hoping I can report her alive and well, but I doubt it will happen.

When she is setting, she will sneak up here once and a while for feed and water. I have not seen 9 turkeys for a while now. I still cannot believe I did not notice it was Ethel sneaking away and not the one I thought it was.

For a hen turkey to set on eggs during molt is unusual isn't it?

 

[Bantambird]

I acquired Ladybird from a friend. He had bought a batch of 25 burbon, and Esther wanted some Burbon red for her little group, as we had 4 palms. 3 of them were Toms. So, Esther made arrangements ( reading, I made arrangements) and we traded 2 Toms for a burbon red Tom and hen pair, those became Big Red Tom and Annabelle. Rosabelle is the only palm we have left. After we made the trade, all the turkeys were finishing growing, as they were juvies at that point, but my friend did not upsize his turkey pen appropriately, and they all killed each other in a battle royal, with only one survivor. That was Ladybird. She became very depressed and lonely, and she was solo for almost 6 months.
Seeing her alone at his house, she wasn't really vocalizing or anything like that at all. I offered to take her since she was so skinny and pale, when I picked her up she weighed no more than a chicken half her size. It took the guy a day or two, as he had named her and actually really liked her, but she needed other birds, and a flock, to be happy. She was alone most of the day and was going to starve to death of loneliness.

 

[Molpet]

prayers for Ethel Ralphie

I am about to wring all my jakes necks...

they go after the Jerk BR, the broody BJG layer, the cx I held back and today they went after the good BR cockerel that sleeps cuddled up with them. Not sure he is going to make it. The BBB jake was standing on him, blood all over his snood and face..the nari were all gathered around, feathers everywhere and the back of his comb all bloody.. he doesn't seem to be able to stand, I think he got squashed ... I am running out of coops to isolate the chickens, and the turkeys use the hoop coops to get from one pen to another. They don't jump the fence , but jump up the side of the hoop coop.. I am going to have to change some fencing or start up the freezer camp shuttle

 

[feistychick]

Sorry to hear about your cockerel Molpet - I hope he makes it. Turkeys can do damage once they get started . In my limited experience it has just been the boys - my turkey hens are fine with the chickens.

My observation of the day is that my birds are weird! I clean the barn every few days, I have always cleaned the barn every few days, this has been the way things worked since they were babies.... The turkeys run around like the world is ending every time I shovel out the barn - the chickens try to ride on the shovel while I'm doing it When I'm done, the turkeys take a dignified stroll through the barn inspecting their accommodations, like nothing happened and they weren't running like fools 10 minutes ago. Sigh....I wish I understood how turkey brains worked

 

[holm25]

Molpet I think it's time for an early Thanksgiving. They can be sick little birds! Especially a group of jakes! A single jake is a good jake but a group is terrible!

 

[duluthralphie]

I separated my guineas from my turkey poults today. I only had 5 left from my own flock. So I have 21 young turkeys this year. 16 Porter and 5 of mine. I know this will not make sense to many of you, but I raise so many chicks, poults and keets and sell 95% of them. The ones that do not sell or get older I simply put into pens and if they do not sell I keep combining the birds in pens until the pen looks full enough.

I had 5 poults mixed with a few dozen keets and chicks. I picked my breeding guineas for next year and put them in one covered run. I moved the rest of the keets into another run until the 27th of Sept, when they will go to sale. I put the chicks into runs with their own breeds or, the waiting room for the freezer camp bus, depending on looks and sex. (It vacuums to be a make chick).

I have one reddish one, I have a nice blue, one is a black something most likely rusty black, and one I think will be a rusty slate, I am hoping it is a hen to replace Ethel. They are all JJ babies so they could be one of about 27 things depending on the hen. I marked them and am going to keep them separate for a while. I have to decide what to do with the Blues.

I know it makes sense to keep Porters Blues for the genetic diversity, but, my blues look better than his. ( how is that for guts, claiming my turkey is better than porters!) I will make the decision in a few months.

I have decided the blacks I got from Porter are inbred. They are the dumbest 2 birds I have ever seen! One got lost and then stuck behind some boxes in the she yesterday. Today it went the opposite direction of all the other turkeys when I rounded them up for bed. I grabbed it and carried it during the round up. The other black one got "stuck" on top of the pen. It could not figure out how to get inside the run with the other turkeys. It ran back and forth on top of the run looking down at the others crying cause it was stuck up there... I am guessing they have a Turkey IQ of around 54.

 

[Turkeytruff]

Originally Posted by duluthralphie

I am saddened to report Ethel is most likely no more.

We are holding out a slim hope she is on a stolen nest somewhere, the odds of this are near zero.

We will miss her.

My wife wants us to pick out a couple poults to train into lappers, she is pretty broken up over Ethel's demise.















So sorry to hear about Ethel Ralph. I enjoyed reading about her & hope she is indeed holed up somewhere and coming back to you

.

I am about to wring all my jakes necks...

they go after the Jerk BR, the broody BJG layer, the cx I held back and today they went after the good BR cockerel that sleeps cuddled up with them. Not sure he is going to make it. The BBB jake was standing on him, blood all over his snood and face..the nari were all gathered around, feathers everywhere and the back of his comb all bloody.. he doesn't seem to be able to stand, I think he got squashed ... I am running out of coops to isolate the chickens, and the turkeys use the hoop coops to get from one pen to another. They don't jump the fence , but jump up the side of the hoop coop.. I am going to have to change some fencing or start up the freezer camp shuttle

Yikes that poor BR cockerel. I feel your pain. About 2 years ago one of my turkey hens pecked almost into a pullet's brain. I had her in a box and then a dog crate in the house for 2 months and after 10 days of hand feeding and watering she turned the corner & laid her first egg in our house. They can sure go after chickens.

We are having some turkey hen wars. I only have 2 adult toms at the moment, but the girls are circling and provoking fights and chasing the roosters. Then they get into what I can only call b&%$h sl%p fights with each other, usually when it's roosting time and who wants the choicest spot on the fence (which spot is the best seems to change nightly

. And the 1/2 grown girls have all decided they want to join the big girls up on the highest fence. Only 6 weeks ago we had what we believe was a great horned owl kill one of our t hens who had a wild secret nest somewhere. So that's a no go.
Sigh.........I have a lot of freezer camp candidates we need to get on with doing.

 

[JRNash]

I feel your pain Ralph. For progress to be made sacrifices must be made.

 

[memphis]

I thought I had escaped the dreaded "Broody Turkey " issue. I'll be dang if my Bourbon, Annie, isn't broody. Shes sitting on one lousy non-fertilized egg in 100 degree weather.