baby questions

[KatyTheChickenLady]

well turkeys are turning out to be harder than I imagined - go figure

My BSP X BLSLTom turned aggessive with breeding season; I built 3 seperate breeding runs one for each hen and wrestle old Amos back and forth every couple of days. He got better for a bit with all of the action but now has turned even more sour. He attacks anyone through the fence even and has rubbed all of his breast feathers off prostesting the inclosure. Do you think I shuld just butcher him and keep a baby for next year? I can see where that would be the thrifty alternative . . .

Babies - we have had wierd weather here and that seemed to hold off everyones from laying, then my BR kicked in she laid so many but never would sit - still hasn't. My Sweetgrass started laying and then my BSL did (although later) and started sitting with in a day or 2 of each other. They both Hatched all of their eggs SG has 8 chicks and BSL has two doing well, one doing poorly and one egg left.
Ok, these birds are nutso! Nothing like my chickens. They freak out if I come anywhere near the runs - even just to feed & water. The run and fly all around, stepping on the babies. The babies are absolute escape artists which then freaks out the moms even further. Worse yet they keep heading to the pen that has the BR & the Big Tom . . . except he is as sweet as pie to them!!! In fact he is the only one careful not to step on them. IS THIS NORMAL??? Should I take them from the freakazoid moms? Or how long do I leave them with her? Or sould I just let all of them out into the weeds to do their thing??? HELP please

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Hilarious!!! I came here to find out why my turkey moms are such violent klutzes and the babies seem to be deaf and blind, just wandering aimlessly. I now know it's likely normal (I hope).

My 3 slates all went broody at about the same time. The first to hatch abandoned one of hers and stepped on the other repeatedly, now it's laying in the pen dead. Can't imagine how. We are raising the abandoned one.
The second turkey hatched out 3 babies, she's still sitting with them outside the fence while we are raising one of HER babies which we found yesterday all the way across the yard. I tried putting her chick back with her and she tried to get it to go under her but it would just topple through the fence and wander out towards a hen (and we all know chickens LOVE orphan chicks and treat them so warmly) or to the dog (who gets a warm, fuzzy feeling when he's chomping on them).
The third turkey is still sitting on her ONE egg, but she goes for extended dustbathing ventures, so good luck with that egg, missy.

As for Amos, that's not a good name for stew, so you'll have to rename him 'Chicken' or 'Gumbo' or 'Stone'.


..........................****WARNING: UNRELATED STORY ABOUT MITES ON CHICKS, AND HOW I SUCCESSFULLY REMOVED THEM****......................

On a side note, the first turkey baby was covered in mites or whatever it is that are small, move fast, and itch like the devil. He was doing well, aside from itching, and I decided I was going to give him a warm bath in Dawn dish detergent. (Either that or lob him into the canal, since I was getting bit as well.) I ended up using dog flea shampoo, which worked like a charm. There were at least 200 mites! I couldn't get the water to stop being mite-filled. Once I decided to do some more shampoo, the chick seemed stressed, gasping and such, so I rinsed off the shampoo quickly and bundled it up and warmed it. While it was warming, I kept finding mites darting around over it's head, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. I'd track them down and squish them, but I worried that since I did not wash the chicks head, the mites would all converge there and return to their homelands once things settled back to normal. I went to the feed store and the guy sold me a fancy, dancy powder to fluff all over the chickens, or to put in their dustbaths. This cost me about $7. But he also sold me a SPRAY that has cockatiels and the like on it. It is used to treat mites as well. That cost about $5. The directions were simple: spray twice from like a foot away, don't spray into the birds eyes, and don't breathe any of it in (you, not the bird, because pinching the bird's nostrils shut while doing this might backfire). The droplets can't possible go all the way to the feather shaft, but that made me happier about my flea shampoo treatment. By the way, the flea shampoo and the spray both list their active ingredient as pyrethric. The powder lists it's active ingredient as permethrin. So.... 2 sprays I did. Itchy critters are gone. Yay!!!!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Oh, BTW, I wouldn't take them from the moms. Do they have some shrubbery or somewhere to hide while you're near the runs? If they're pretty much exposed, they might feel more endangered. But they are fierce mothers. That is normal. Keep your distance, and watch to make sure all babies make it back to their run. Take them if you have to.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

thanks! makes me feel better

we'll see what tomorrow brings.
BTW - ivermectin for the mites

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Well I have three in with the blue, one of her eggs didn't hatch, but the one that kept flippin on it's back and getting trompled by mama seems to be ok today; and then 8 still in with the SG (calico). That's eleven chicks!!!

wow!
Sooooo . . . how long should I keep the hens and chicks confined? They don't seem to love me and I think they would prefer to head for the hills . . . not sure what to do now?

 

[Blisschick]

I'm not sure why yours seem to be losing their minds when you approach the pen, because even though my girls would like to be out, they pretty much are resigned to the fact they're not getting out until their laying season is done. I haven't let them hatch any of their own because I've always lost every poult I've let the mothers have. Not because they're bad mothers, but because I have too many things around here that like to eat baby turkeys.

My girls were pretty much hand-raised by me last year, and two of them have been lap turkeys -- which is really weird, because most of them don't want to have anything to do with me, normally. One other one will sit for me when I go in the pen, but she won't let me touch her, and the blue slate girl is just completely antisocial. I also have two toms that allow me to pet on them, but everyone else would just prefer me to feed them and leave them alone. I've always been very attached to my turkeys, so I guess giving them extra attention has made them more tolerant of my presence. They're normally pretty skittish when they're young, but by the time they reach adulthood, they're calmed down and consider me one of the flock. I do have one Royal Palm male that seems to think he can bully me, but one of my other toms always seems to run interference for me -- I still haven't figured that one out!