BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[DesertChic]

My father hatched out wild turkey eggs under a Japanese black bantam, pretty funny watching them follow 'mom' around when they got big Lol!

LOL! I can only imagine!

 

[bnjrob]

From what I've read the turkeys would probably be better off for it. I've never raised turkeys myself but I've been told by a few people who do that they're simply not the smartest chicks and could use the extra guidance of a broody hen to teach them to eat and drink properly.

Our turkeys are not any dumber than chicks and as they age, they are much more inquisitive and smarter than the chickens. The guineas however are another matter.

 

[DesertChic]

Our turkeys are not any dumber than chicks and as they age, they are much more inquisitive and smarter than the chickens. The guineas however are another matter.

I've toyed with the idea of raising some turkeys but, honestly, we don't much care for the taste of turkey and I dread the thought of butchering those big birds. Plus, I met a female turkey at our local poultry show and simply fell in love. She was so sweet and friendly...I think I would get too attached to the birds and would wind up making them pets.

 

[bnjrob]

I've toyed with the idea of raising some turkeys but, honestly, we don't much care for the taste of turkey and I dread the thought of butchering those big birds. Plus, I met a female turkey at our local poultry show and simply fell in love. She was so sweet and friendly...I think I would get too attached to the birds and would wind up making them pets.

Yeah, they are more personable than the chickens so you have to work to keep yourself detached more in order to eat them.

Plucking them is easier than doing chickens though. Don't even have to scald and it's like the body feathers almost fall out. Takes a bit of strength to get tail and wing feathers though, but no worse than our cocks' tail/wing feathers.

I need to cull a couple more toms soon. I still have plenty of ground turkey and chicken so am considering trying my hand at making turkey bacon.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I've toyed with the idea of raising some turkeys but, honestly, we don't much care for the taste of turkey and I dread the thought of butchering those big birds. Plus, I met a female turkey at our local poultry show and simply fell in love. She was so sweet and friendly...I think I would get too attached to the birds and would wind up making them pets. 

Ya well mine was on the road today and if my rooster keeps chasing her to try and flog her she might have to go unless I can build her own pen with another turkey but I don't really want to have to worry about them with diseases spreading to the chickens and stuff and plus I am more of a chicken person

 

[gevshiba]

Here's an experiment. Try letting their eggs build up in a nest...a lot. Leave 15-25 eggs in a low, north end, private nest and see if anyone takes the bait. If you even have one hen that has a stray gene in her bod for broodiness, I doubt she'll resist a "clutch" of that magnitude in her presence, especially at this time of year. If it doesn't work this early, try again in late April/early May....that is definite broody time.

I'm definitely planning to try this when we get some birds moved to the new coop. Right now, the turkeys would lose their minds if I loaded a nest box with eggs. Have to wait until I can keep the chickens and turkeys away from each other.

 

[gevshiba]

From what I've read the turkeys would probably be better off for it. I've never raised turkeys myself but I've been told by a few people who do that they're simply not the smartest chicks and could use the extra guidance of a broody hen to teach them to eat and drink properly.

It's not that poults aren't "smart", they learn by imprinting. So they see the behavior and imitate it. Chicks have instinct, so know what to do when they hatch. If poults aren't broody raised, it's best to raise them with a few chicks so they can imitate what the chicks do.

 

[bramblefir]

A couple of pictures of the broody with her chicks. Unfortunately the bantams seem to have had some weakness issue and I'm down to 6 chicks (from 25). The deaths were almost all the OEGB and it made no difference if they were with the broody or in the brooder. I just kept finding 1 or 2 dead every day with no apparent issues. Today's the first day without any deaths.


I love using old cardboard boxes as nest boxes. We just cut the side down on it so the chicks could move in and out freely. Once it's all worn out we peel the tape off and toss it in the compost.



Tomorrow I should be getting another goose egg and it will go under the other broody along with the other 2 eggs I have saved. I have 4 goose eggs in the incubator now and they all appear to be developing based on a brief candling on day 4. The Muscovy eggs are doing well (almost down to 1 week)! And the Ancona duck eggs... well they were all clear. Apparently the drake prefers chickens.

I'll have to get some red lipstick and a little bikini for the duck.

 

[hellbender]

I just dispatched the last 'cull', White Chantecler bird that just missed being a cock-bird by 15 days. He departed due to manually caused "Spinning Cerebral Separation".

Many folks would have been happy to have him to head their flock but I have two others that I like much better, not because they are heavier (they are) but they strike me as slightly better specimens.

The dead bird weighs 10.4 pounds. Some will say he's too heavy but I think not.

I just had too many young cocks/cockerels and this should have been done a couple months ago. I finally got tired of seeing them gang-rape my pullets. The Chantecler hens were holding up fine but the hatchery DCs were beginning to show ugly bald spots on their backs. The retained two cocks are now in their own bachelor pads and life for the hens should be far less stressed.

The Dark Cornish cockerel from Georgia is feeling right at home and is covering his gal-pals that share his pen. I'm very happy with these new birds at this point.



RON

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Dorkings as being good broodies- is it true or is that an urban myth? How would a Dorking compare "good broody- wise" to a Dark hatchery Cornish?