A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Molpet]

2 hens that have 12 poults, sometimes a couple younger join in.

 

[KF0002]

My solution is to have way too many. I came out of winter with 21 Jennies /hens 2 toms and I think 8 or 10 jakes. Owl got 3 girls ,coyote took 2 off nests and I sold 5... I got too sad with the deaths and some people were looking for girls.
I sold one jake and coyote took a tom. I ate some. 5 jakes left 3 for the freezer.
I have a tom that his nephews beat up and is lame. He's for the freezer if I can get the right mindset, I like him but he's having troubles breeding.
I think I have 34 poults left, between 8 hens

That is my plan if I can get them raised and to breeding age. I plan on raising more than I need so I can offset any losses. Sorry about your tom! I had the same thing to happen to my favorite Marans cock bird. His son beat him up when he came of age and got to size enough to take on the old man. He had trouble walking and was "hacked up" acting after that, and wouldn't crow or anything. It was a really hard day when I had to decide it was time to put him down. He was a really nice bird and was as friendly as a dog and didn't mind me picking him up and handling him. His son's name is Nemesis and he is currently the reigning yard rooster head honcho.

 

[R2elk]

ok. they will probably need to see it What's the best way to catch a poult? thinking about trapping it with a box propped up on a stick. does that work in real life, or only in cartoons?

Tell them it's their problem to catch it.

The easiest way to catch a days old poult is to just grab it. The best way is to get the hen and all the poults into a pen and then let the hen out while keeping the poults in and use a small net to capture individual poults.

 

[R2elk]

Ccg is semi color, semi gray, correct? Would that be causing the white mottling in the tri colored mottled slate split to BWB?

I don't know. There are cases of Ccg that don't have mottling.

 

[KF0002]

2 hens that have 12 poults, sometimes a couple younger join in.

View attachment 3570498

I love that! Big protective mamas.

I don't know if I will ever be able to let my hen turkeys raise young of their own because of the blackhead we have here. It's a shame because I love seeing a hen with her babies in tow and teaching them things, and them standing around her eager to soak everything in and take any tidbits of food she finds. So precious!

 

[KF0002]

Tell them it's their problem to catch it.

The easiest way to catch a days old poult is to just grab it. The best way is to get the hen and all the poults into a pen and then let the hen out while keeping the poults in and use a small net to capture individual poults.

That sounds like a good answer. You want it? Come get it. lol

 

[R2elk]

You can't dilute white any further than white. Or am I completely missing the mark?

White in turkeys is recessive (c) and requires 2 copies to be exhibited. When there are 2 copies (cc) the bird is white and all other colors whether dominant or recessive are hidden.

 

[KF0002]

White in turkeys is recessive (c) and requires 2 copies to be exhibited. When there are 2 copies (cc) the bird is white and all other colors whether dominant or recessive are hidden.

So in Sweetgrass and Palms that is where the cg/cg comes in? the c and the c on both sides gives you the white you see in those birds?

 

[R2elk]

Usually at night birds settle down and don't tend to scatter like they would in the day. That's been my experience with chickens anyway, so that may not be applicable to turkeys.

If you want to understand turkeys you need to stop thinking of them as chickens. They have completely different instincts and behaviors.

One example is roosting behavior. Chickens will roost right next to each other. Adult turkeys require much more roosting space not only because they are bigger but also because they seriously don't like roosting together.

 

[KF0002]

If you want to understand turkeys you need to stop thinking of them as chickens. They have completely different instincts and behaviors.

One example is roosting behavior. Chickens will roost right next to each other. Adult turkeys require much more roosting space not only because they are bigger but also because they seriously don't like roosting together.

I get that and I'm learning. But a lot of what I know about chickens is helpful to me raising turkeys while I'm figuring them out. I definitely have noticed they like to roost more spread out than chickens. That is why they need more roosting space. I'm soaking it all in, and I am learning. Having owned chickens has helped me to fill in the gaps until I develop more experience.