A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

All turkeys are weird..

I had two "proofs" of this today.

I lifted the RP hen off her nest to check for eggs under her. She is so broody now I can lift her right up and she refuses to move. When I lifted her I found a CLB completely under her. The stoooopid turkey was trying to hatch a hen.....Of course the CLB was not all that bright either.


Second, there has been a Wild Turkey Hen hanging out here all day long. She has been trying to woo the boys into visiting her near the Appletinnis pen. Tonight she succeeded to get 5 of the boys down there near her. The 5 boys refused to go to bed. They would break free and run back to her, scream and yell at us as we pushed them towards the coop. I have never seen 5 hornier toms in my life. They did not seem to care she was a wild one and not good for them.

I assume tomorrow I could lose a TOM to the wild hen. Does she not have one of her own kind to mate with?

She is so small compared to my birds even. I wonder if I could have pushed her into the coop? She really did not seem to care much about my being there. It was like if my Toms accept me she would too....

I had a wild hen show up for seven years in a row. She would fly into the turkey pen and even go in the coop where the feed is. She would let the toms have their way with her and then build a nest down in my field. As soon as she would go broody, she would stop coming into the pen.

One year after she hatched her clutch she even tried to bring them into the fenced area but could not figure how to get on the other side of the fence while staying at their level.

You realize she is a serious violation of your NPIP status.

 

[duluthralphie]

I realize she is a problem. It is a discussion I recently had with the state vet. Regarding MG in turkeys and chickens. If I remove her, (like BANG BANG you're dead)...The game warden would get me..if she stays around the USDA vet is not happy. Either way she does not seem to care what I think.


I was 40-50 feet from her and she could care less I was there. She was like a deer in rut and not paying attention to anything but her "needs".......Sort of like women at bar closing time (

)




(I do test every 90 days for MG, my worry is her bringing it in though)

 

[rjohns39]

Ralphie, one of my narri hens joined the wilds, and one of my narri toms was with them for more than two weeks, one day he was back in the pasture. Yesterday, one of the wild hens was sitting in my front yard cooing at me. She can't get to my boys yet.

 

[memphis]

Hey Ralphie....the wild hens sounds like she may have lapper potential.....

Took my girls for an early morning stroll. Lots of happy purrs as they foraged through the grasses. They took full advantage of the moths with dew ladden wings. They've been laying early evening. So in the mornings they are pretty zen. When I get home from work they are spooling up to lay. I'm liking the morning walks, fewer neighbors out!

 

[duluthralphie]

Hey Ralphie....the wild hens sounds like she may have lapper potential.....

Took my girls for an early morning stroll. Lots of happy purrs as they foraged through the grasses. They took full advantage of the moths with dew ladden wings. They've been laying early evening. So in the mornings they are pretty zen. When I get home from work they are spooling up to lay. I'm liking the morning walks, fewer neighbors out!

I doubt she would like all the testing I would require for her to live here "officially". The first time I try to draw blood from her I think she would be gone.

However, as R2elk eluded to this does show a hole in the current testing program at least here in Mn. The NPIP requirements by the USDA are for the states to certify the flocks as MG free.

Many states do not test for MG at all, some like Minnesota only test turkeys. Which is where my dispute with the Vet came about a couple weeks ago. They do not want turkeys and chickens together because turkeys are more susceptible to MG than chickens( from how I understand it).


Now, many people with NPIP flocks free range, as I do. However, if those people do not have turkeys their flocks are not tested for MG.

This is where I "won" my right to keep my turkeys and chickens together. There are so many wild turkeys in the state and most chicken flocks come in contact or overlap range (if they are free range) with these wild turkeys.

Beings my turkeys and chickens run together my Turkeys would most likely get MG first and they are tested quarterly. Therefore my turkeys are a 'measure" of the health of my chickens in regards to MG.

Whereas, if you have no turkeys there is currently no test on your flock for MG..




Whew...Did that make sense?

 

[JRNash]

Crystal

 

[Finnie]

Makes sense to me! They should encourage everyone to have turkeys! Then they would catch all the MG before it spreads to the chickens.

Here is a weird turkey for you all:

I'm going to ask the guy who bought Cinnamon if I can borrow him back for a few days. I must say though, at least Swan has stopped sitting under the burn pile.

 

[R2elk]

Sweetgrass hen

Sweetgrass tom

 

[feedman77]

Sweetgrass hen Sweetgrass tom

Nice looking birds. You getting any eggs from them yet.

 

[R2elk]

Nice looking birds.

You getting any eggs from them yet.

I thought she had laid her first egg several weeks ago but now I believe the egg was from the Blue Slate hen that is with them. I was only finding one egg every other day so it appears that although she likes to spend a lot of time on the nest that she isn't actually laying any eggs.

The broody bug is strong here with 3 chicken hens and 3 turkey hens under the influence. The other 3 turkey hens are close to catching the bug also.