A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[duluthralphie]

While JJ use to go for walks with us the current batch does not, However, I am outside a lot during the day, both winter and summer, they follow me and inspect everything I do.

Today I was working in my shop (tuning up my sawmill) when I had 9 turkeys standing around looking at me. I cannot really hold any of these yet, JJ jr dropped out of lapper training, but will be going in again soon. Snitch was not there as she is rearing her baby. When she is done rearing her baby, they will both be back in lapper training...

I can pick up a couple of the RP hens and carry them around, but they are not fond of it. They are just too small to fight back effectively...




Speaking of Lappers, My SS hen with the chicks is driving me nuts.... If I leave her in the cage she bites me whenever I walk by. Why???

Because she knows this will get my attention and open the door, then she can be held...

Yesterday, I decided her babies did not need her anymore. So I picked her up carried her around and set her on the ground. She loved this, except for Cuddles trying to have his way with her every 3 minutes....

She looked for a place to lay an egg, I am sure she hid one somewhere.. Later she came back and wanted in the cage again. I put her in.... Which was fine for 10 minutes, when she bit me again....

I picked up, and set her on the ground, I did not hold her...She spent 3 hours following me and whining...Do you know how old a hens whining gets?

She wanted to sleep with her babies, I carried her out and put her in the SS coop. I could here the whining 50 yards away. The WWD was laughing at the whining.

This morning when I let them out, she wanted to see her babies. I had to put her in the cage, 20 minutes later I got bit..

She is now out of the cage has been all day, but whenever I get close to her the whining starts and she follows me. I have picked her up a couple times, but I do not have all day to hold a spoiled hen.

 

[memphis]

Boy can I relate to spoiled SS hens wanting attention. She loves ya Ralphie!

 

[JRNash]

Extremely normal. Toms spend 90% of their time in snood pulling contests. the snoods get bloody and the waddles are scab filled most the time too. They will survive.

I thought my toms had caught something. All the scabs. Then I noticed none of the hens looked like that. Ralph I'm so glad you got a clean bill of health!!

 

[JRNash]

His hens have the red gene. Ethel Jr is blue/red bronze.. and I think the other was a rusty someting if not slate. I know I got rid of them because I did not want the red gene here....NOW I wish I had kept them. I miss Ethel Jr..

Her and JJ Jr would have had pretty babies. I was going go all SOP turkeys. I have decided not to do that. Showing turkeys is not for me. I want a colorful back yard flock, and people that buy poults don't care what they are.

Once Holm gets his NPIP done, I might just have to buy some poults back from him. I am keeping the red tinted ones I get this year,

Turkeys are not for showing, they are for making pets out of and eating! Not in that order.

So I CAN keep a BB!!!

 

[R2elk]

Deep Purple at Johnny Seeds. They are awesome and really good.

Deep Purple Carrot

 

[JRNash]

Does it taste the same as the Orange ones

 

[OneMountainAcres]

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Ok here is Tiny T. That's just what's i have been calling it until I figure out its gender lol. I know it looks bluefish in the pics but it isn't.

Cute!

Nope, no more Porters for me. I will be very selective on what I bring in. I have a closed flock and bringing in a bird is a major decision.

Also Porters refused to get an import permit into MN. They are in IN and the state does not require one. I managed to plead stupidity to avoid the penalties once, I doubt stupidity would work twice. I pleaded with Kevin to apply for and get the import permit and he refused. Did not make me happy....

I can't believe porter's won't get an import permit! What is required for that? You could've gotten a rainbow of poults from them right now! I'm glad to hear that you're going back to a rainbow flock. It was always awesome to see the colors you would hatch

We had to butcher 2 of our CX last Thursday that were with the older group. They were just too big and cumbersome to have any chance of breeding. They dressed out at almost 10 and almost 12 lbs. We ate the 12 pounder today in a Thanksgiving style feast.




We still have 2 pullets and a cockerel that are promising. Cap'n (Captain America) is a good sized and sturdy looking boy. His legs are placed neatly under him, not off to the side so he has great stability. As long as he doesn't crush any hens with his size, he should be able to successfully breed. The two ladies are pretty squat and wide but are still getting around just fine. I'm hoping they make it long enough to breed. So far, they're doing fine with this heat and humidity.

 

[karenerwin]

I was nervous about letting my 2 young turkeys out to free range. I had taken them out of the brooder 1 at a time for some grass time, but when I finally got brave enough to let them both out at the same time, they did fine! I sat out there with them for a couple of hours reading a book and talking to them. When it was time to go back in I called them and they followed me back in. They were following me around yesterday while I worked on pulling up poison ivy. So far, I am really liking turkeys!

What color eggs do your CX lay? I was expecting white, but I believe she is laying a light tan egg. I have a rooster from my newest batch of CX. The plan is to butcher them before July 4th, but now I'm toying with the idea of hanging on to the rooster. In the past when we tried to save a pair the roo ended up braking the hen's leg because he was just too heavy.

 

[R2elk]

Does it taste the same as the Orange ones

No, it tastes like a carrot but slightly different. If you cook it in something like a stew, the stew will turn purple.

 

[memphis]

Aurora, yum! Nice birds. Sparking of birds....what poults did you keep this year?

R2elk, you weren't kidding about a dark purple carrot. Is that an old variety?

Karenerwin...your doing the right thing. Just hanging out with your turkeys is the best was to develop lappers. They can be so much fun. Had the hose out watering yesterday....boy they love that!