A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[OneMountainAcres]

Now I know my turkeys have officially lost it. About the coldest day of the year, and I get my first egg of the season.

 

[sfgwife]

Now I know my turkeys have officially lost it. About the coldest day of the year, and I get my first egg of the season.

I thought they dont start layin til feb march april? This is our first year with turkeys... so i really have no clue other than what we have read here there and yonders. Maybe i should start lookin for yummy eggs! Lol. The hubby misses his one egg sammiches and omlets.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I thought they dont start layin til feb march april? This is our first year with turkeys... so i really have no clue other than what we have read here there and yonders. Maybe i should start lookin for yummy eggs! Lol. The hubby misses his one egg sammiches and omlets.

Mine have extra light during the day so they terms to start laying for me at the end of December, beginning of January. It just blows my mind that they'd start in such a cold day lol

 

[Flashpoint]

Been a long Christmas day with the family up in St. Louis today. 2 inches of snow there! Finally back to my house in Ste. Gennevieve. All warm & cozy despite the 20 degree weather! Not used to this weather!!

I'm sitting here tonight with a temp of 5 degrees and a wind chill of -6. Half the pipes are frozen but still have water trickling/dribbling out the rest. I heard a rumor we might see 20 today, but not going to hold my breath. And the worst (so far) is yet to come. I am only grateful there is no snow - yet.

 

[memphis]

Aurora....I guess when ya gotta lay, ya gotta lay....regardless of the temp! Do you know who layed??
Flashpoint....I feel your pain. Been seeing some of these record breaking temps on the national weather. Outch! We may get snow flurries. FLURRIES! And that's our leading story on the news this morning.
R2elk....this Walker pup sure doesn't like this cold! Poor baby! Poor BIG 6 month old baby! I will say, he's pretty funny and rather clever. So far so good with the hound!

 

[memphis]

My favorite time if the day....I let the dogs out to run...its still dark...the turkeys are still on their roosts....I tell them good morning....and I hear these quiet little trills eminating from the depths of their pen. Sweeties....

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Aurora....I guess when ya gotta lay, ya gotta lay....regardless of the temp! Do you know who layed??
Flashpoint....I feel your pain. Been seeing some of these record breaking temps on the national weather. Outch! We may get snow flurries. FLURRIES! And that's our leading story on the news this morning.
R2elk....this Walker pup sure doesn't like this cold! Poor baby! Poor BIG 6 month old baby! I will say, he's pretty funny and rather clever. So far so good with the hound!

I'm not sure who layed but I'm guessing it was Cuddles. She's been squatting for me for the past couple weeks. So has Pirate but this doesn't look like a newbie egg. I guess I'll just have to incubate it and see what I get from it. I'm seriously spring that my red tom has been able to fertilize anyone. Romeo hounds him anytime he gets any ideas in his head or even wants to come see me lol. Mister isn't brave enough (or really mature enough) to even try to make an attempt yet.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Oh do I have a story for you all. Yesterday, sadly we had a bad fox attack. We only lost two hens, and had one more injured, but it was rough. The flock was free ranging, which actually probably helped.

Only my husband was home, and one of the chickens bodies was left, I guess a roo or turkey intervened. My hubby said the young RP turkey walked over to the carcass and started trying to mate it! Then he said the other Tom knocked him off and tried it himself. Haha! Strange birds...

This morning, my turkeys showed me a turkey vulture that was laying on the ground and clearly dying. Thankfully, they didn’t try to mount that one. I covered it with a towel so it could pass in peace.

 

[R2elk]

Only my husband was home, and one of the chickens bodies was left, I guess a roo or turkey intervened. My hubby said the young RP turkey walked over to the carcass and started trying to mate it! Then he said the other Tom knocked him off and tried it himself. Haha! Strange birds...

This is normal tom behavior. If it is laying on the ground and not moving it is fair game. It also demonstrates why you should not keep multiple toms in with your turkey hens. The most frequent time that hens get injured is when a tom knocks another tom off of a hen's back. The next most frequent injury opportunity is when a tom tries to mate with a hen that is setting on eggs.

Once upon a time I had a gander that must have been really stupid because he stuck his head through the garden fence and instead of pulling his head back through the fence, he stuck his head back through a different hole. I did not find him until the next day when he was already dead and the tom was doing his best to try to breed the dead gander.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Good to know!

And thanks everybody for your help. My big clumsy Tom went to his new owner, where he will go to freezer camp in a couple of days. I feel fpvery proud that I gave him a good life and that he will have a swift end.