A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[memphis]

Looks liked a hen. But need to know how old to be sure. Poor thing! Yes, they do get lonely. She/he will need friends. There is a link to Turkey's 101 at the top of the Turkey Forum. Worth reading. By the way...they make GREAT pets!!

 

[LucyElle]

Looks liked a hen. But need to know how old to be sure. Poor thing! Yes, they do get lonely. She/he will need friends. There is a link to Turkey's 101 at the top of the Turkey Forum. Worth reading. By the way...they make GREAT pets!!

Thanks for the feedback! We have long considered getting a few chicken hens. Is it remotely possible to consider going the chicken route this way we have fresh eggs WHILE giving our Turkey friend some companionship? I read that chickens and turkeys can be together but I don't necessarily know the rules surrounding mixing the two... age/gender wise? If this turkey turns out to be a male, will there be aggression with any other pen mate (turkey or chicken)?

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I bought a bag of Purina Turkey food from the Feed store locally when they showed up the first time. Then the neighbor sent down a bucket of feed that looks like a mix of of seeds/corn/grain.

i would go with the turkey food

Any chance that we can tell if its a boy or girl? Any guess on the age or type?

i am with memphis on gender but i am new to turkeys so

my turkeys and chickens get along fine

 

[Flashpoint]

I love it you made a funny!!



Since I am in Western Maryland, we "usually" have pretty intense winter weather.



Some of us thin your winter weather is a nice summer day~!

• 

BTW most of my Toms stay outside all winter long..... Very seldom they are all inside the coop, they sleep in the run.

Hahahaha - I am so glad you liked the funny. Yes, I do know the difference between our weather and the arctic west - like MN and MT.


My grandson is currently in Montana with his other grandparents and, as far as I know, he has NO plans on being snowed in with walls of the stuff all around. I hate winter but in comparison, I do appreciate mine more than yours.


Ralphie, that's what I had read before and figured this might be the best way for them to spend the winter. On good days, they will be allowed to free range since many days there is no snow on the ground - and as long as I am out with them. I don't trust predators in general, but would be especially concerned when many prey are holed up. Besides, my ducks kept the pond open all winter, so water was available albeit a bit cold.

Still laughing cause you are. lol

 

[Flashpoint]

Sun will warm the water as well as soil and it will help on those really freezing days.

Well, then the only place I could place barrels for any sun to get close to, MIGHT be the front of the run. The northside of the building borders my woods and the trees overhang much of the shed. Great in the summer time since I typically have shade there until noon.


What part of TN are you in, anyway? I guess I should go and look at the map for Smith Co. My mind is getting old and stagnant just thinking about winter.

One would think I'd remember since I did some genealogy work that included your county.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi everyone,

As much as I like waterfowl, I don't want to but a waterfowl calendar, so please do submit two of your best turkey, peafowl, guinea, quail, etc. pictures here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/other-poultry-2018-calendar-pics-pre-orders.1192347/

I cannot do this!

I dare not risk my Turkeys showing up on the same calendar as a web footed creature. My turkeys would never forgive me.

Now if you can guarantee me there will be no webbed feet on the calendar, I would gladly submit a ton of pictures.

Turkey have standards, and they must be honored.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi there, I am new today to this group. Here is my current pressing situation. A few days ago these 4 Turkeys arrived in my back yard. We found their owner and shooed them home to him. He hatched them from egg with the intent to have them as pets. It is a mom and 3 of her children. Yesterday morning one of them arrived back to my yard. We shooed him home and he came running back to us at which time I realized something was likely wrong. I went down to the neighbors to learn that raccoons attacked the flock at night and killed off all of them except this remaining Turkey. He is alone and very upset and seems to want to be with us. Neighbor said we can/should keep him as the Raccoon has been coming back to his house every night.

Turkey seems very attached to this area under my second floor deck where he and his flock had liked to gather together a few days prior. There are also two big sliding doors there and he sees his reflection and I believe he thinks his family is on the other side of the glass. At dusk last night he panicked and kept flying into the rafters of my deck looking for a place to land. I ran into my woods and got a large branch and propped it on my deck steps and mounted it to the ceiling rafters so he had a nice high place to rest for the night and he seemed happy with that.

So I have NO experience with birds of any kind. Neighbor says he is a Tom. I have attached a photo of he and his family from the few days before. I have so many questions that I don't even know where to begin. He has been eating and drinking just fine.

We bought a ton of chicken wire for him as we were thinking of converting a tall wooden playhouse on our property into a chicken coop anyway for future chickens. Now that we have this issue, we decided that maybe we should do this now so that he has a place to be. I guess my most pressing questions are

1. From the pictures, can anyone tell me what type of Turkey he is? My reading online suggests maybe a Bronze?
2. Can he be alone and will he be happy? Should we consider a friend?
3. Will he become aggressive as he grows older?

Photo of flock attached as well as photo of the remaining turkey. Is it too soon to tell the gender?

Any and I mean ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. I am at a total loss with no experience on this but really want to do right by him.

Thank you, THANK YOU!

Welcome to the group! It seems you've been adopted I agree with the others that your turkey looks to be a bronze hen but like others said, we'd need to know the age to be certain. If you could fine one other turkey to keep him/her company, that would be perfect. If you got another hen, and they both turn out to be hens, I don't see any reason why they couldn't live peacefully along with chickens, especially if they have plenty of room.

 

[R2elk]

Ok, I have a strange (maybe) question. How do you measure the height of a turkey? Foot to top of head? Shoulder? I am still a bit concerned that my big Tommie turkey may have BB relatives as he is so much bigger than the other tom Iron.

I don't believe that I have seen this question previously. If for some unknown reason I felt the need to measure a turkey, I would measure its height from the ground to the top of its back right behind the neck. I would also measure its width at the front part of the wings while the wings are in the closed position.

 

[R2elk]

I'll add to the question... How tall would you make the door for the turkeys to exit their new armor plated house? Is two feet wide good?

The door into my coop is 9 3/4" wide by 18" tall. I have had broad breasted toms as old as 9 months use the door with no problems. Sorry, none of my BB toms ever survived me longer than that. Only the ones that made it to Christmas dinner made it that long.

I cut holes in a welded wire fence that were 8" wide and 10" tall that my heritage hens had no problem using. It worked out really well because the hens would build their nests in the fenced area and the mature toms could not get through the holes to harass the hens.

 

[duluthralphie]

I don't believe that I have seen this question previously. If for some unknown reason I felt the need to measure a turkey, I would measure its height from the ground to the top of its back right behind the neck. I would also measure its width at the front part of the wings while the wings are in the closed position.

I would stand it up against a door frame, Make it stand tall and push its head against the frame.....then take a jack knife and put a hash in the frame with the date and the turkeys name!