Completely Smitten by my Bourbon Red gal, but totally confused by turkeys!!!

[Fraunie]

When we bought our house, it came with a fwe chickens...and Red, our gorgeous BR hen. I. Love. Her. She has so much personality, talks to me, follows me, complains to me, keeps chickens in line a bit without being too overbearing. I just love her to death.

Here are the things that confuse me
1. She has never laid an egg. I 'think' she is still young, like under 2, but I'm not sure.
2. Not sure I am feeding her appropriately. Right now she gets a little bit of scratch and also Layena crumble. Does she need more protein than the chickens?? I'm feeding them all the same.
3. She LOVES my Boxer dog!!! They have never met without a fence between them, I'm not sure what the dog would do. But every time the dog comes to the fence, Red runs over to her, talks to her then starts to do her funny little turkey dance and song. Every time!!!!
4. What IS this dance and song?? It is so special!! She prances with her feathers out, around and around, shaking them, she sings a melody that rivals a song bird...seriously. I am jealous bc she has only sung it for me once, but my boxer gets the special treatment every time!!!

Anyting else I should know about turkey needs??? I really cant say how much I love this girl. She pecks at my hair when I'm sitting with them. She was in pain for some reason 2 weeks ago, and when I was stroking and coddling her, touching her cute little bald head was just precious!!!!

Thanks in advance!!

fraunie

 

[Scottingitup]

That dance is not love - she is asserting her territory/acting aggressive. If you ever do initiate contact be sure you can control the dog - the dog can easily kill the turkey if it decides to fight back. They can get along it will just take time - I have bourbons and two boxers

If she is not laying try giving her either layer pellets or the crumble feed and free choice on oyster shells- most likely though if she is not laying yet this year she will not this year. Turkeys are seasonal layers and need to be 10-14 months old to start laying. If yours was born late last year she will not have matured enough to lay.

 

[Fraunie]

Ohhhh!!! THank you!!! So I shouldn't be jealous that she doesn't do that special song and dance for me

! But it is so beautiful!!!!

Yes, I have been nervous about the boxer, she is super sweet dog but has never been around anything like this before. I know it would only take a split second for her to do a lot of damage to the birds. I won't try to introduce them at all until there is a lot less interest from both parties. It's good to know that you have both, though!!

I have a suspicion that Red might only be a year old. It seems like before we moved in, when I first saw her she was about half the size she is now....that was in Feb. We moved in April, and she is sooo much bigger. I wasn't sure if she seemed smaller bc she had molted and was regrowing feathers??? The previous owner, who left us the turkey, a few chickens and two sulcata tortoises I have found also gave us a lot of incorrect information. He swore the bantams I have are 8 years old......one might be, but the other is laying 4 eggs a week...so not her!!

Thanks for the info.....