A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Eric Exley]

a few years back when my flock was at its height in numbers (this was also back when i had my first chickens i have ever kept), i would just sit next to a bale of hay, and my entire flock of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and guineas would just sit around me and sleep (even one of my grandmother's dogs would wander up and take a nap with all of us), it was the most fun when the baby turkeys would try to sit on my shoulders...
I do miss those days, but now of all those animals i had back then i have only 5 of the 30+ from back then (3 of the chickens i had were my original hens, 2 white Ameracauna Hens, and 1 Plymouth rock/American game cross hen), the Ameracaunas were twins that hatched from the same egg, one lived to 8 years of age, and the other lived till she was 10, and the Plymouth rock/Amreican game hen lived to 9 years of age.

currently the 5 i have left from that time is my Golden Narragansett Tom, the trio of pearl grey Guineas, and my Cinammon queen hen (the Cinammon queen hen was a month old chick being raised in a brood of 17 chick by the Plymouth rock/American Game hen), as far as i can tell the trio of guineas i still have are around 20+ years old (my grandmother and Aunt had them until about 5 years ago when they couldn't care for them anymore)

 

[ketojenn]

The youngsters have found a new spot to heckle me from.

 

[CindyinSD]

They are sooooo cute, Jen! Little toddler turkeys!

 

[memphis]

Gosh they are cute! How old are they now?

 

[ketojenn]

Gosh they are cute! How old are they now?

About 7 weeks old now.

 

[Flashpoint]

My current little ones have some growing to do yet. There are 5, but one is still camera shy.

 

[SA Farm]

I decided I liked the idea of lapper training... I think I made a little progress with Missy, here, but mostly I just got covered in turkey poo

 

[memphis]

Keep at it SAFarm! A good lapper is woth it!

 

[Flashpoint]

Morning, everyone. I have a question (surprise!)

My eggs arrived yesterday, very well packaged and 4-5 days from when they were actually laid. I set them aside to let the eggs "settle" from shipping.

My question is - when I candled prior to leaving them sit - I could not see any air cells. Is this normal? Yes, I have looked it up and MOST of what I find is how to work around with air cell issues that you can see (saddle, sideways, bubbles). Very little useful information on air cells otherwise. (even one article about how air cells can determine sex of chick!)

I only found 1 article that stated the absence of a visible air cell is that if the eggs are really fresh, the air cell may be extremely small. I do understand that the contents of the egg "dehydrate" and air then comes through the pores of the shell to create the air cell.

Am I worried over nothing at this point? I can go ahead and place them in the incubator after my 18-24 "settlement wait"?



Edited to add: I am assuming they were Not gathered just prior to shipping as the guy told my sister he had a few eggs just prior to her ordering them.

 

[Flashpoint]

Sorry, I am very "needy" today! lol

Square footage question.

I am revamping my run area by adding approx 7-foot high hardware cloth fencing. Yet to be determined is what I will use for a "roof cover", and I plan on adding electric fencing top and bottom.

The run area will be approximately 50' by 40' and include my "chicken shed" which is approx 20' x 20'.

My current plans are to have approx 30 chickens of various breeds and approx 15 turkeys including hopefully a trio of midget whites.

Plus, they have a fenced area of approximately an acre to free range on.

This should be more than a sufficient amount of room for the flock?

I am trying to get this as right as I can and figure whatever I do will probably outlast me.