Adavis8328
Songster
- Aug 26, 2020
- 37
- 258
- 106
I'm new to this posting so please bare with me....
To make a short back story, I've had animals my WHOLE life, horses, dogs, goats, peacocks, ducks, chickens, all types of birds like various parrots, you name it, I've probably had it or cared for it at some point in time! My mom has worked at vets my whole life, shes a dog groomer, I've grown up doing what I THOUGHT all kids did, giving shots and worming animals haha! Didnt know that it wasnt normal until I got older of course
but my problem is this, I have a small flock of 8 chickens, 2 Turkeys, my chickens are different breeds of which I have always wanted and finally was able to get. I bought them from tractor supply and I literally didnt have a coop or a place to keep them at that time so I kept them in a big dog kennel in my room and yes my husband was NOT impressed! So he rushed out and bought a coop and set up a kennel asap! But I did loose about 3 of my baby peeps after I bought them and yes I did cry after they died, of course it wasnt anything I did, most likely was done during shipping to the store, but it still broke my heart! My husband said I get too 'emotionally attached' to my animals, but they are not just pets to me, I was raised that they are part of the family and to be treated as such which may make me sound like a complete nut job! I'm sure, especially given that my daddy gave me grief over taking a '3 dollar bird to the vet' because he had a bacterial infection and blew up like a float in the Macy's day parade! So he had to have the areas lanced, have a compression sock that he wore for a week, as well as antibiotics for 2 weeks in order to get better. My problem now is that I realized that I didnt do a lot of research before buying my 2 Turkeys, turk turk and gobbles, they are broad breasted whites. I didnt buy them to be anything but my pets and to help protect my flock, and honestly, it was the only Turkeys that the store was selling so I didnt think that they would be horrible to have. And my turkeys are VERY SWEET! They run around after me, if I dont watch it, I will step on them because they will lay down behind me while I work! I truly enjoy having them so my question is, does anyone have these as pets?! If so, how long do you think I'll have with them? The research I've done said they have all these health problems and due to growing so fast, have trouble standing etc. And my turkeys aren't for food, and it would just break my heart as well as my daughters heart if I only have them for a short while and end up having to put them to sleep due to help problems. I know that I'm writing a lot and i hope someone will read it and help me out with these questions because while i know that no one can say 100 % for sure that this bird will have this problem or not, I understand that, but I wanted to know if anyone happens to also own or has owned them, if they had issues and if so about when did they have them, and about how long did they have their birds for. I just kind of wanted to know so I can know what I'm up against and kind of prepare myself for it, because like I said, I am attached to them as isnt my daughter. Thank you very much in advance!!!!
To make a short back story, I've had animals my WHOLE life, horses, dogs, goats, peacocks, ducks, chickens, all types of birds like various parrots, you name it, I've probably had it or cared for it at some point in time! My mom has worked at vets my whole life, shes a dog groomer, I've grown up doing what I THOUGHT all kids did, giving shots and worming animals haha! Didnt know that it wasnt normal until I got older of course
but my problem is this, I have a small flock of 8 chickens, 2 Turkeys, my chickens are different breeds of which I have always wanted and finally was able to get. I bought them from tractor supply and I literally didnt have a coop or a place to keep them at that time so I kept them in a big dog kennel in my room and yes my husband was NOT impressed! So he rushed out and bought a coop and set up a kennel asap! But I did loose about 3 of my baby peeps after I bought them and yes I did cry after they died, of course it wasnt anything I did, most likely was done during shipping to the store, but it still broke my heart! My husband said I get too 'emotionally attached' to my animals, but they are not just pets to me, I was raised that they are part of the family and to be treated as such which may make me sound like a complete nut job! I'm sure, especially given that my daddy gave me grief over taking a '3 dollar bird to the vet' because he had a bacterial infection and blew up like a float in the Macy's day parade! So he had to have the areas lanced, have a compression sock that he wore for a week, as well as antibiotics for 2 weeks in order to get better. My problem now is that I realized that I didnt do a lot of research before buying my 2 Turkeys, turk turk and gobbles, they are broad breasted whites. I didnt buy them to be anything but my pets and to help protect my flock, and honestly, it was the only Turkeys that the store was selling so I didnt think that they would be horrible to have. And my turkeys are VERY SWEET! They run around after me, if I dont watch it, I will step on them because they will lay down behind me while I work! I truly enjoy having them so my question is, does anyone have these as pets?! If so, how long do you think I'll have with them? The research I've done said they have all these health problems and due to growing so fast, have trouble standing etc. And my turkeys aren't for food, and it would just break my heart as well as my daughters heart if I only have them for a short while and end up having to put them to sleep due to help problems. I know that I'm writing a lot and i hope someone will read it and help me out with these questions because while i know that no one can say 100 % for sure that this bird will have this problem or not, I understand that, but I wanted to know if anyone happens to also own or has owned them, if they had issues and if so about when did they have them, and about how long did they have their birds for. I just kind of wanted to know so I can know what I'm up against and kind of prepare myself for it, because like I said, I am attached to them as isnt my daughter. Thank you very much in advance!!!!
welcome to the BYC community! Being emotionally attached isn't a bad thing 
you just have a big heart for your aminalz! I couldn't think of killing my chickens for food but my DH wants to one day 
