A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[duluthralphie]

Best guess is coyotes
Figuring out predators is not my forte

You will be able to recoup the Legbars as soon as you hatch. If the Legbar pullet has the white gene you will get both colors this year. If not you will get both colors the next generation. All your offspring will have the white gene in the next generation. The one after should get you back to pure lines....

Or I could send you a scrambled egg again.

 

[Finnie]

I remember when my turkeys were small and well behaved like that......View attachment 1152868

Tonight I thought I was short a RP TOM.. I could not find him anywhere. Then on an off chance I looked 10 ft up in the rafters...There he was.... Which begs the question "why?".

He has spend the past 2 years outside 3 ft off the ground through blizzards, rain storms, tornadoes and sand storms.....Why did he decide tonight he wanted to sleep in the rafters with the girls?

How did he get his fat donkey up there? He can barely get 4 ft off the ground. He is not svelte!

I have a theory on this. Was this the first night since your other tom got put in jail? Perhaps with that one out of the picture, there has been some jockeying for position, and this one got bullied out of his favorite roosting spot.

Best guess is coyotes
Figuring out predators is not my forte

In my experience, coyotes grab and run and eat almost all of the evidence. They don't kill 20 at a time. And the predators that only eat small parts of multiple birds usually strike at night. A big mass slaughter like this sounds like dogs.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have a theory on this. Was this the first night since your other tom got put in jail? Perhaps with that one out of the picture, there has been some jockeying for position, and this one got bullied out of his favorite roosting spot.

In my experience, coyotes grab and run and eat almost all of the evidence. They don't kill 20 at a time. And the predators that only eat small parts of multiple birds usually strike at night. A big mass slaughter like this sounds like dogs.

There was a lot of jockeying for position. I was trying to restore the one that had recently lost the leadership spot. BUT I guess my vote does not count in who is boss.

The one is the rafter has never been boss, he might have been 2nd or third. When I locked the door the old boss and one other were locked in a snood pulling contest. I just told them they were stupid and locked the door, hopefully they will all be alive this morning.

I hate watching them fight for position, but that is the way they decide. As long as the leader is not a bully like the one in the dog kennel, I can live with whomever wins. If I don't like the next leader, I have room in the freezer for more.

Also I am a bad person. Somehow between all my sickness and the busyness of getting ready for shows and winter, I forgot to do my testing last quarter. SO I have to test next week and then in Dec to keep my NPIP status on AI and other diseases. It does not affect NPIP status as a whole but does affect the states I can export too.

I have the gal from the Poultry board coming by to help me get back in compliance next Wednesday... I have no idea how I got it twisted to the point I thought my quarter started in Sept instead of ending then...

 

[DwayneNLiz]

You will be able to recoup the Legbars as soon as you hatch. If the Legbar pullet has the white gene you will get both colors this year. If not you will get both colors the next generation. All your offspring will have the white gene in the next generation. The one after should get you back to pure lines....

Or I could send you a scrambled egg again.

lol, i am trying to get down to pure birds
i want marans and legbars
but i have a lot of mutts left unfortunately
will have to see when spring gets here
i dont know what genes my CCL hen carries

In my experience, coyotes grab and run and eat almost all of the evidence. They don't kill 20 at a time. And the predators that only eat small parts of multiple birds usually strike at night. A big mass slaughter like this sounds like dogs.

no loose dogs around here and no carcasses
just some feathers scattered around
i thought dogs just killed for fun and left the dead birds behind? i have no idea

 

[duluthralphie]

Liz, I just guess at which predator I had, and am normally wrong. Everything wants to eat our birds.

There is a 3 to 1 chance your hen carries the white gene, maybe. If I knew who was her father I could tell you more, BUT most of the birds from this spring carried it. I should have the Cream not carrying it next year.

Are either or both of the Boys Creole? I have gotten the cream so heavy into my own line, that I now have to start saving the creole so I can develop them. I was too successful in eliminating it...


R2Elk, Do you know if those I sent you went more creole or cream on the boys? ( i know off turkeys, I am really trying figure out next springs matings in all my species right now.)




I found out which turkey is laying eggs yesterday! It is the bronze hen from this spring.....Idiot.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

ummmm my boys are both white
and the cream is not from you
i can ask who she came from though and try to find out

 

[duluthralphie]

Ok, then the chances are she has no white gene. Very few of us had it from GGF.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

lol, i am trying to get down to pure birds
i want marans and legbars
but i have a lot of mutts left unfortunately
will have to see when spring gets here
i dont know what genes my CCL hen carries

no loose dogs around here and no carcasses
just some feathers scattered around
i thought dogs just killed for fun and left the dead birds behind? i have no idea

Are you NPIP? I'm not yet (though I do plan on it), but I should have some nice BMC eggs in the spring. The trio is shaping up pretty good. The cockerel is looking to be excellent type and the pullets are from a different line, supposedly carrying very dark egg gene.

I have CCL too but they're not as good as Ralph's

I feel so terrible that you lost all those birds

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Are you NPIP?

i am not, though all of the birds and eggs i have received this last year+ have been from NPIP sources
i keep thinking about it but it sounds like quite a hassle

thank you for the offer i think come spring i will have a better idea of where to go

 

[Finnie]

The one is the rafter has never been boss, he might have been 2nd or third.

2nd or third, huh? Maybe that's why he was up hiding with the hens! A non-contender.

no loose dogs around here and no carcasses
just some feathers scattered around
i thought dogs just killed for fun and left the dead birds behind? i have no idea

ohhh. Feathers scattered around does sound like coyotes. Or Hawks. But very strange to have them take so many at once. Maybe a large pack? Or, maybe some got taken and in the frey, several more scattered and ran to hide. They could get lost forever, get eaten where they are hiding, or eventually find their way home. It really does seem like an odd scenario. Just sucks to lose all those birds.