backyard turkeys??

[ButchGood]

I let them out into the general population and all went well. the 9 week olds did a little pecking but weren't relentless. The baby turkeys and RIR were glad to have all that room to run and fly.

 

[jnjmoonsfishing]

im looking at ordering a barn yard pack from murray mcmurray this week. has anyone feed there turkeys barley fodder? i'm feeding that to my chickens, and they love it. its cut my feed bill down tons. i have just under an acher of land in kodiak ak. i have 8 hens in a 8x12 coop and making a larger run for when we are not home. oh ya im putting a bear fence up this yr. i have not had problems but some neibors had issues with bears.

 

[Marengoite]

Aren't they a blast? I get as many laughs from my turkeys as I do the chickens.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i have a flock of couple dozen hens and i raise broad breasted bronze turkeys tried to mix them the other day and the chickens wont let the turkeys eat maybe if they were raised from day olds up they be fine but i raise my turkeys for meat so its a must they eat as much as they can daily so i moved them back in their own pen

 

[Marengoite]

The new neighbor's dog had been coming around the place the last couple days and I'd been chasing her off. She came around today, killed all 7 of my turkeys, 3 golden comets, a barred rock chick and some Buckeye chicks. Called the 4H leader and she said possession date for poultry is 5/1, so even if we could replace them, we can't put them in the fair this year, so no turkeys to the fair.

I gathered up all the dead fowl, put them in a box and took them over to the neighbor. Told her they were hers now and we'll settle up later. Explained Ohio law on marauding dogs harming livestock but that it was more important for me to be a good neighbor at this point and it was their first offense. I'm hoping I have enough chickens for my son to choose some good pullets and heritage broilers.

Looks like I'll be building some stronger pens over the weekend.

 

[FarmTillURdead]

You really are a good neighbor. God Bless You and shame on me. I would have shot the dog in a fit of rage. I put more work into fussing with those little chicks than anyone could ever repay in me in dollars. I don't sell grown poultry for this reason. Hours spent changing waterers that have been pooped in, scrubbing out coops full of poop, clipping wings, doctoring wounds, feeding them garden veggies, hauling bags of feed around, knowing them, enjoying them… I can't put a price on that.
…and I have owned dogs all my life. In my opinion folks who let their dogs roam really don't care for them…or they would protect them from harm. I have not had to kill a dog yet. But I have peppered a butt with a 12 gage loaded with target loads - after we ran it off once and then found it in my goat barn that evening.
The dog will be back. It knows where the party is. Be prepared.

I am so sorry for your loss. I would have a hard time dealing with that. It is wise not to upset a neighbor though. We got into it with our last neighbor about his dog kennel, 24 hour a day constant barking and roaming dogs. It ended up a screaming match, calls to the sheriff and eventually we gave up and moved. ….over dogs.

I'm praying this doesn't get any worse for you. I hope they prepay you not only for your birds but your time involved caring for them.

 

[Marengoite]

They are young and new to the country, so they don't have any experience around livestock. They need to get some, though, because the boy two farms down from us and the lady across the street from him both have chickens as well as us. Here's what I sent him today:


I've been checking around and thought I'd give you a set of figures to let you choose what you think is fair.

Expenses so far:
4 Broad breasted white day-old poults @ $4.50 ea. = $18.00
3 Bourbon red day-old poults @ $6.00 ea. = $18.00
3 Golden comet day old chicks @ $2.69 ea. = $8.07
1 Barred rock day-old chick @ $41.60 ea. = $1.60
3 Buckeye day-old chicks @ $3.00 ea. = $9.00
1 bag SunFresh chick starter @ $16.49 = $16.49
2 bags Kent 27 feed @ $18.30 + $1.24 tax = $39.08
Total expenses less shipping: $110.24

You can confirm prices:
Turkeys and Barred rock chick from Eagle Nest Poultry [FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]

Oceola, Ohio | Phone: 419-562-1993​

Buckeyes from Ann and Bob Wood, South Vienna, OH 45369,
Chick Starter feed from Animal Station Centerburg, (740) 398-0031
Kent feed from Kroger Sunbury, (740) 965-0500

Replacement cost:
4 Broad breasted white day-old poults @ $4.50 ea. = $18.00 (not commercially available at 1 month)
3 Bourbon red day-old poults @ $6.00 ea. = $18.00 (not commercially available at 1 month)
3 Golden comet started pullets @ $7.50 = $22.50

1 Barred rock started pullet @

• From http://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?session.category=Juvenile%20Fowl&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID%20%3d%20%27SBAS%27 @ $7.50,
• From http://www.millriverfarm.com/hens.cfm $8.00
• From http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/barred_rock_started_pullets.html $17.95 (this may actually be a point-of-lay hen as it seems a little high to me)

3 Buckeye started chicks @

• From http://www.pathfindersfarm.com/Buckeyeprices.html $25.00
• From http://www.crainsrunranch.com/buckeye_babychicks.html $10-25

Total Range: $96.00 - $141.50

Market Value:

Tea Hill Farm prices for free range turkey: http://teahillsfarms.com/turkeyorder.aspx
Broad-breasted white @ $3.50/lb x 20 lb. (this is low for us - we've never processed a turkey under 30 lb.) x 4 turkeys = $280.00
Bourbon red @ $5.00/lb. x 10 lb. (also low weight as we would process in the fall at closer to 18-20 lb.) X 3 turkeys = $150.00
Buckeye chicken @ $3.00/lb x 5 lb. x 3 chickens = $45.00 http://www.foxhollowfarmnaturally.com/_sgg/m3m4_1.htm in Fredericktown charges $4.49/lb. but I think that's because they're certified organic and ours aren't.

For the Fair, here are the champion prices at auction: http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/morrow-county-fair-livestock-auction/10224.html The most we've ever gotten at auction was $300 and the least was $125. However, only three of the Broad breasted white turkeys were going in the fair. The Golden comet pullets were going to compete in laying hen class and the Buckeyes in the Heritage broiler class and we didn't expect them to sell at auction for very much. This is our first year for chickens, so we don't know what the fair price would be for them. Typically, a pair of broiler chickens sells for anywhere between $75-200.

I would like to restate that the kids are very upset that the birds they've raised from day old birds that they were counting on taking to the fair cannot be replaced as fair birds this year. All hopes of winning in competition are now gone which is a serious blow to all three of them, and for my oldest daughter, this was her last year for 4H. I will leave it up to you to decide on what you think would be a fair amount to compensate them for their loss. As a parent, I trust that you would treat my kids the same way you would expect your daughter to be treated if she were in the same situation.

And if I upset your wife with the box of dead fowl, I apologize for that. While you might find the results unpleasant, they serve to protect you as proof of damage and that we are not making any extravagant claims. This is typical in livestock damage incidents. The birds are made available for your inspection so you can verify that they were indeed killed, rather than dying of natural causes or disease.

When I stopped in and paid him a visit, I gave him a copy of the Ohio Revised Code on dogs preying on livestock. Hopefully he's grateful that I didn't exercise my legal rights. For a first offense, I'll let him pick how hard a lesson he wants to learn. After that, he's had more than fair warning.[/FONT]

 

[Joe.G]

So what was the outcome? Did he ever man up?

 

[KristinMarie]

You are a better person than I am. My neighbor's dog got loose a couple months ago, busted into my pen, and killed several of my turkeys. Luckily, we were home at the time or it would have killed all of them. We shot the dog. The neighbor isn't happy with us, but I don't know what else we could have done at that point. I feel bad for killing his pet, but I was nice enough to not charge him for the turkeys that I lost and the damage done to my coop. My birds depend on me to keep them safe. It the the neighbor's responsibility to keep them off my property. I am an animal lover. I have dogs, all of which are my babies and were rescued from the local shelter. I also foster puppies that go on transport to other states, where overpopulation is not a problem like it is here. I hate the idea of any animal being hurt. That being said, I take keeping my animals safe, happy, and healthy seriously. I think your neighbor got off entirely too easy. I hope the dog doesn't come back!

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks to all of you turkey raising people! So much helpful info from all of you! I just bought my first turkey's and I am new to raising poultry altogether. I also just got my first chicks abt. a month ago. I am so excited to learn all I can about raising them all! I have really enjoyed reading every ones posts on raising turkey's!