A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[sfgwife]

Anyone have blue slates? I keep drewlin over them cause i love their colors. But how are their temperments? Or do you have a fav variety? And why? Come spring we wil be gettin more turkeys but havent setted on which ones quite yet. I also think rp are beautful too. And sweetgrass... oh hell who am i kiddin here.... i just love these sillies of the turkeys! . Right now we have just a quad of bronzes. We aren’t sure how old our two older hens are so gonna add a few more. Plus hubby prefers their eggs for hs breaky to the chickens... i think it mostly because he only needs two of those vs three or four chickens.

 

[R2elk]

Anyone have blue slates? I keep drewlin over them cause i love their colors. But how are their temperments? Or do you have a fav variety? And why? Come spring we wil be gettin more turkeys but havent setted on which ones quite yet. I also think rp are beautful too. And sweetgrass... oh hell who am i kiddin here.... i just love these sillies of the turkeys! . Right now we have just a quad of bronzes. We aren’t sure how old our two older hens are so gonna add a few more. Plus hubby prefers their eggs for hs breaky to the chickens... i think it mostly because he only needs two of those vs three or four chickens.

I like my Blue Slates. I have had really good luck breeding them. I go out of my way to keep turkey poults from imprinting on me and it makes a difference in any turkey's temperament. @memphis has a Blue Slate hen and a Bourbon Red hen and is happy with both of them.

I do now have a pair of Sweetgrass. The hen seems to be more reserved. I also added a pair of Royal Palms hens because I can create more Sweetgrass hens by breeding them to the Sweetgrass tom. I have had Royal Palms and Bourbon Reds in the past. The Bourbon Reds seemed to be friendlier than the other varieties.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

View attachment 1163847

My goofy RP Turkey flew probably 20' into the tree tonight after we tried to shop her off the coop roof. She will have to stay there tonight, I am praying she will be okay. There's no way I can think to get her down. She is very high up, thankfully.

Lol, what a brat! I swear, it's the Palms that are always causing trouble. Last year, my penciled palm, Queenie was the one who continuously flew up in to the trees at night. She corrupted my other palm and the mottled blacks for a while too. She was sold and all the rebellion ended!

Anyone have blue slates? I keep drewlin over them cause i love their colors. But how are their temperments? Or do you have a fav variety? And why? Come spring we wil be gettin more turkeys but havent setted on which ones quite yet. I also think rp are beautful too. And sweetgrass... oh hell who am i kiddin here.... i just love these sillies of the turkeys! . Right now we have just a quad of bronzes. We aren’t sure how old our two older hens are so gonna add a few more. Plus hubby prefers their eggs for hs breaky to the chickens... i think it mostly because he only needs two of those vs three or four chickens.

I have a blue slate baby now that I'm raising up that's probably almost 3 months old. She's the sweetest little thing, especially for not being hatched by me. I got Azul in a trade at a swap but she really seems to have imprinted. I also have a tri colored blue penciled palm (blue penciled with a red gene). She's (or he) so friendly, she's obnoxious! She needs hugged every night and tries constantly to sneak up behind me to climb up my back! Misty may have had a big influence on Azul in making her friendly since they've been mostly raised together (only a couple weeks different in age). Since they're still young, I realy how they keep their sweet, loving sides in to adulthood. The friendliest breed though in my opinion has to be mottled black. Every mottled black that I've had has been so loving and affectionate. Romeo watches me every night from the roost now for when I'm going to come pet him. He used to require a hug every night but that was before he was top tom. He will very gently peck at my hands but it usualy just means keep petting me. The hens have been extra sweet too. I bet you can't guess how Cuddles got her name? Ok, I'm done rambling lol

 

[memphis]

Aurora, hope your feeling better. Want to see those molt pictures!!
My blue slate, Daisy, is a sweetie! She's my chief lapper. I could go on...she's great!
Anne....can you put your turkeys in their coop before they get the urge to fly into trees? I have a set bedtime routine with mine. They come with me to lock down the chicken coop. Then we take a walk out front where they graze. The grass/weeds are different in my front lawn than my back area. They also get a chance to socialize with neighbors. Daisy lets the kids maul her, while Annie unites their parents shoe laces & tries to steal their jewelry. As it starts getting dark we head to the coop. They hop in & get a few bites of BOSS, and off to roost they go. I find they are creatures of habit. When I head to lock up chickens, they get silly....flapping, twirling...then race me to the gate waiting for their walk. So we have an elaborate turkey tuck-in routine. But the point is that we have a consistant bedtime routine that they are used too.

 

[duluthralphie]

MY favorite have been slates.

Right now "Snitch" is my favorite, she is a blue slate. She does not think she is a turkey. She spends her day with a couple of chicken hens. She lays under the lilacs with them. She only spends maybe an hour a day with the other turkeys. When I go out the deck with a bowl of "treats" known as kitchen scraps to us humans, she is the first to run and wait for them. She does that clicking quack until I dump the treats out.

I find it amazing how my turkeys quack sounding more like a dux than a dux. I think that is from Ethel she was a quacker.

 

[memphis]

Funny how Ethel passed on the quacking gene. My Daisy acts more like a good companion dog than a turkey.

 

[sfgwife]

Yea the imprintin thing... dont want lappers really cause ours must stay in their pen. But we want them to feel comfortable with us and not leery of us but not so much they need be close to us. We both do like them fussin for scratches and eatin from our hand because it just makes it a lil easier for when we need do anything to them cause they dont freak out. It is a thin line i know. The chickens are like this . They dont mind bein held for a min but they dont need constant attention. We got road runner as a young poult and interacted with her but she is of the dont mess with me humans kinda bird. Cletis has come around to us touchin him necause he had no other choice. He doesnt like to be caught but settles down nicely in a few seconds and will gladly take a few scratches when we are done with the tom foolery. The hens some days they want attention others not so much. That all works for us too.

Breeding would be nice so that we arent searchin every year or two for what we want. And then it being hit or miss as to the type and health of the bird. Cause that is a nightmare round here.

 

[duluthralphie]

Holm's was amazed at how Ethel Jr quacked. Even thinks it sounds like a duck.

BTW my RP's are good at bedtime. I have three that cause me grief. The Narry, a Bronze and a slate.

I go out about 15 minutes before dark and kick which ever ones are sitting on the fence off from it. It is a ritual. I just push them, they jump or fall down and give me a dirty look and walk right to the door of the coop and go to bed. I swear they have the look of a toddler stumping away after being told no. The only difference is I know they are flipping me the bird as the enter the coop.

 

[duluthralphie]

Yea the imprintin thing... dont want lappers really cause ours must stay in their pen. But we want them to feel comfortable with us and not leery of us but not so much they need be close to us. We both do like them fussin for scratches and eatin from our hand because it just makes it a lil easier for when we need do anything to them cause they dont freak out. It is a thin line i know. The chickens are like this . They dont mind bein held for a min but they dont need constant attention. We got road runner as a young poult and interacted with her but she is of the dont mess with me humans kinda bird. Cletis has come around to us touchin him necause he had no other choice. He doesnt like to be caught but settles down nicely in a few seconds and will gladly take a few scratches when we are done with the tom foolery. The hens some days they want attention others not so much. That all works for us too.

Breeding would be nice so that we arent searchin every year or two for what we want. And then it being hit or miss as to the type and health of the bird. Cause that is a nightmare round here.

I have no lappers now and none of my turkeys would eat from my hands.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

My RP was just fine this morning, hanging with the crew like nothing happened.

I like my Blue Slates. I have had really good luck breeding them. I go out of my way to keep turkey poults from imprinting on me and it makes a difference in any turkey's temperament. @memphis has a Blue Slate hen and a Bourbon Red hen and is happy with both of them.

I do now have a pair of Sweetgrass. The hen seems to be more reserved. I also added a pair of Royal Palms hens because I can create more Sweetgrass hens by breeding them to the Sweetgrass tom. I have had Royal Palms and Bourbon Reds in the past. The Bourbon Reds seemed to be friendlier than the other varieties.

Why do you go out of your way to keep your turkeys from imprinting on you?

Lol, what a brat! I swear, it's the Palms that are always causing trouble. Last year, my penciled palm, Queenie was the one who continuously flew up in to the trees at night. She corrupted my other palm and the mottled blacks for a while too. She was sold and all the rebellion ended!



I have a blue slate baby now that I'm raising up that's probably almost 3 months old. She's the sweetest little thing, especially for not being hatched by me. I got Azul in a trade at a swap but she really seems to have imprinted. I also have a tri colored blue penciled palm (blue penciled with a red gene). She's (or he) so friendly, she's obnoxious! She needs hugged every night and tries constantly to sneak up behind me to climb up my back! Misty may have had a big influence on Azul in making her friendly since they've been mostly raised together (only a couple weeks different in age). Since they're still young, I realy how they keep their sweet, loving sides in to adulthood. The friendliest breed though in my opinion has to be mottled black. Every mottled black that I've had has been so loving and affectionate. Romeo watches me every night from the roost now for when I'm going to come pet him. He used to require a hug every night but that was before he was top tom. He will very gently peck at my hands but it usualy just means keep petting me. The hens have been extra sweet too. I bet you can't guess how Cuddles got her name? Ok, I'm done rambling lol

That's good to know about the naughty ones. So far my Bourbons seem to always be out front and leading the way. The Royals are a bit younger, so that may change, especially because one is a tom.

I am enjoying you rambling! Being still very new to turkeys, this is how I learn! when you say your turkeys "require a hug" what do they do? Follow you around? My group starts yelping if they see me and can't get to me. In the mornings, I go out and throw out some scratch before I run in the other direction to leave for work.

Aurora, hope your feeling better. Want to see those molt pictures!!
My blue slate, Daisy, is a sweetie! She's my chief lapper. I could go on...she's great!
Anne....can you put your turkeys in their coop before they get the urge to fly into trees? I have a set bedtime routine with mine. They come with me to lock down the chicken coop. Then we take a walk out front where they graze. The grass/weeds are different in my front lawn than my back area. They also get a chance to socialize with neighbors. Daisy lets the kids maul her, while Annie unites their parents shoe laces & tries to steal their jewelry. As it starts getting dark we head to the coop. They hop in & get a few bites of BOSS, and off to roost they go. I find they are creatures of habit. When I head to lock up chickens, they get silly....flapping, twirling...then race me to the gate waiting for their walk. So we have an elaborate turkey tuck-in routine. But the point is that we have a consistant bedtime routine that they are used too.

My turkeys are all trained to go into the coop at night. I had originally made a run attached to my coop, but I haven't yet put a roof on it. Shame on me, I know. In my defense, I work full time and have a 40 minute commute, plus a part time job.

Very soon I realized the run was not going to be big enough for all of my birds, they just keep showing up... So I allowed them to free range during the day, while I tried to construct a large fenced in area on the woods. I have the fenced structure up with just deer netting stapled to a large amount of trees. I have started keeping them in there for that past week or so. I always have some chickens that escape, but it keeps most of them contained. My husband is very happy, there is not poop everywhere.

But of course those young turkeys can fly so easily, so they sneak over the fenced area, and then can't figure how to get back in at night to go into the coop. So they just perch on the "run" walls, or on top of the coop. Last night, my husband and I were out there with a long PVC pipe to "encourage" them off the roof. When my husband tapped the royal palm, she took flight and landed up high in the tree. At that point it was game over, haha. If I am home before dark, I can open the large front doors on the coop, and they find their way in. But it keeps getting dark earlier and earlier...

I started locked all my chickens and turkeys in the fenced in area due to my husbands request, and the neighbor. They kept winding up in his yard across the street. I think the turkeys try to look for me in the morning, and end up in the his yard (or on their house, sorry!). They seem to be lost, because as soon as they see me, they come running home.

Sorry for the long explanation. Summary, they are trained to go into the coop, bt when they escape their fencing, they can't find their way back in.