Consolidated Kansas

[mommahen10]

Thanks Sharol. We have some very small wire we can use to cover that area and I'm sure he won't mind too much if I ask him to do it.

Maidenwolf, when you first told me about the turkeys did you say that you saw some feathers by their door too? If so, that means that whatever happened started right there. But it may have been too that the opossum just scared them and they fled and then something else got them? Was it HEChicken who said that she was able to move her turkey while he was asleep? Do they all sleep that soundly? If there were no feathers there, could they themselves just been that anxious to roost in a tree that they pushed the door open? There are so many variables and possibilities. If they took them turkeys from your place I think they will likely be back but if the turkeys were out then maybe the real predator was never there and you don't have to worry about it so much.

Hey, what's plural of turkey? Sometimes turkey seems right, other times turkeys seems right.

 

[mommahen10]

So then it seems that he is happy then. How do I tell the difference between his happy dance and his angry dance?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

The thing is with turkey the procedure is the same whether happy or mad. When he is so red that it blows you away, and you think goodness can he even get any redder then he is mad. It takes alot to anger them really and you will know to back off if he begins the fighting purr which you heard at my house that day. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightining than him wanting to fight you.
I did find a small pile of feathers near the area that was push opened. Once they are on roost they will stay. They cant see well in the dark so wanting to wander off to find a new roost doesnt happen. They dont sleep sound as much as they relax, like with the chickens. Mine are always easy to handle because I raised them to be so I can move them at any time, but I will tell you what, try to move a turkey that doesnt want moved and you may get a bloodied nose or lacerated arm,,, I know it will be back and it blows me away that they took something that big and carried them that far. It really worries me. I cant sleep at night. It will be back, I just hope I stop it before it gets into my coop. I am not sure which is correct but I use both turkey and turkeys

 

[mommahen10]

I hate to say I hope it comes back but I hope it comes back tonight so you don't have to keep doing this. That is scary that something can take a turkey that big.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I agree. It is very scary and I want it gone.

 

[cherwill]

Hey guys! I made it home for Thanksgiving. I had a terrible time getting out of there because of a Doctor taking an attitude about releasing me without an "official" diagnosis. The test results won't be back until next week so he made a big deal and I had to wait until 2:00 for him to finally decide he would let me go. The specialist who did the test was very upbeat and thought I'd had a run in with ischemic (sp?) colitis due to the flu. The hospital doctor made a big fuss about all the horrible things it "could" be and warned me that I did not have anything near a "mild" case, blah, blah, blah. What a buzz kill he was! LOL! Anyway, I think the specialist knows better than Dr. Downer and am not worried about it. Just thankful to be home with my family. Happy, happy Thanksgiving everybody! I can't wait to get all caught up on what's going on with you guys. My eyes are still sensitive to light and it's not real comfortable to read but I'll catch up as my eyes allow.

How nice that you could be home for Thanksgiving -- something we can all be thankful for.

I am being a witch. I worked my rear off all day yesterday. Got to bed at 1:00 AM, ack up at 5:00 AM to put the turkey on and do some more prep and cleaning. It's my own fault for being so far behind I guess.
I sure hope no one upsets me today or I will probably cry my eyes out.

I don't have to imagine what that's like, I've done it a few times myself. I hope you got through the day OK.

Hang in there Danz! Cute picture
Hawkeye enjoy the parade!

Vent Post.. They brought home a deer, what timing... taking a deep breath, smile, continue on, cooking Thanksgiving dinner while butchering a deer, I'm not as young as I use to be...
I'm thankful, I'm thankful reminding myself.... I'm thankful & blessed. My main light went out in the kitchen, the type of fixture takes two people and ladders to change the bulbs, hopefully it's not the ballast... oh the timing... Laugh or cry... laughing so far... time to continue on!

I'm not to butchering a deer on a non-holiday, never mind a holiday! I'll never forget going over to my in-laws' when they were butchering two deer. There were ice chests full of meat and bloody water everywhere, slabs of meat on blood covered counters and blood on the floor. It looked like someone had been murdered in the kitchen!

I just spent two hours looking through adds to see if anyone had anything remarkable for sale, I had wanted to buy this new washer but the pre-Christmas adds said it would be an additional $100 off on Black Friday. That was not the case. Sure glad I didn't get up just with the intent of trying to buy at a bargain. There is no amount of money that would tempt me to go shop in those crowds today!!! I'm very happy to sit at home and semi -relax.

I would rather pay full price for something than go out in those crowds. My SIL goes every year but I guess this year was even more crowded than she's used to. She had a panic attack and completely forgot what she'd gone out for.

Yesterday went well and the weather was much nicer than I expected. My little two year old granddaughter had a great time playing outside but her most excitement was getting a couple peacock feathers of her own which she used to tickle her pesky uncle Cody with.
Her Mom took a huge handful to decorate with. I didn't think she'd take so many but I have plenty. It actually kind of thrills me because she is one of those very picky expensive tastes kind of people and just the idea that she was thrilled to get a product of the farm thrills me.
Sounds like the weather is going to be the pits. I need to get out and get some heated water bowls rigged up. I forgot to shut the windows on the brooder house last night and I was afraid I was going to lose chicks because of it. I lost one buff laced brahma chick. It hadn't been acting real healthy any way. Not sure what was wrong with it. I've had totally lousy luck with those birds from hatching to now. They just aren't healthy. The worst part is I was dumb enough to pay the money to give the breeder a second try. So I wasted about a $100 on this breeder. Live and learn.
I virtually didn't have much in the way of leftovers. My oldest son and his wife took gobs so there wasn't enough turkey left for another meal. I have dressing, pecan pie, and a couple other things left.
My brined turkey turned out really well. Very moist. I'll bet it would have been even better if I'd had a few more hours to soak it. I guess that will be a new tradition for cooking turkey.
My Dad joined us and seemed to really eat well. I was very happy about that.
I still have dishes to get washed even though it seems I washed dishes for 2 days straight. But I plan to try to relax some today and enjoy the peace and quiet. I am thankful for family but today I am more thankful for an empty house!

It sounds like your day ended up going very well. I'm especially glad your dad could be part of it.

I have finally got my internet back and was 200 posts behind so I hope there wasnt anything of importance I have missed if so PLEASE someone clue me in lol.
I lost both my turkey hens on the 20th. We went out to find that the turkeys were out of their pen, and the boys were the only ones around. We searched and called and found nothing. I started seeing little piles of feathers here and there but thought nothing of it. The neighbor acrossed the creek came by asking if I was missing any turkey, I am the only person around this immediate area with turkey. I felt relieved at first and she said " well something dropped a headless white and black turkey in my drive" I sank. My dd and I were the only ones home and that was her turkey. Everyone in the family picked out and indiviualy cares for their turkey and they all are like dogs, they will follow the kids to the bus stop and when they come home they wait at the top of the drive for them. It destroyed my daughter, she decided to go to pick Storm up from the neighbors house though, she said " I have to go get my turkey" I started balling, she is so strong and brave and didnt shed a tear, just helped. When we got home I noticed a pile of black feathers and followed it to the edge of the woods iin the other neighbors yard were I found my ds's black spanish hen laying headless. I called and told him, he is 14 and he said " mom I wish you were here cause I hurt" That killed me. These birds were special and it hurts. We burried them and start looking for signs of what it was. I decided to sit up and wait for the thing and found it is a opossum. It is HUGE, it is eating well. I know it comes up and cleans up around were my feeder sits in the daytime and anywhere else that I put scratch out. I didnt think it could run off with a turkey. The hens were found about 7 acres or more apart. I am horrified.. I need tips on detering them, does anyone have any ideas?

Storm, RIP


Spirit, RIP

That's so sad. Both turkey hens. The kids handled it well, it seems. I would have completely lost it after what your son said.

I had the in-law Thanksgiving yesterday and everyone loved DH's smoked turkey. I felt a little bad for my MIL (who usually does the turkey) because several people went on and on about it, and one of my nephews said several times it was the best turkey he's ever had and it wasn't dried out "like usual." She took it well and just said that's why she's given up on doing the turkey. I spent today getting ready for my Thanksgiving, which is tomorrow. We're eating at 3. My family doesn't like to make two meals out of it like my in-laws do (and I'm glad they don't) so we like to eat in the early afternoon, take a break and then hit dessert. My pumpkin pie is 10 minutes overbaked because I was waiting outside the vet's office for my niece to get off work (I'd gotten a last minute call asking if I would pick her up). The coffee toffee pecan pie didn't turn out good as usual either. The instant espresso didn't mix in right and some clumps of it floated to the top and burned. I hope I got it all out of my system and things will work better tomorrow!

 

[mommahen10]

I didn't feel like I cooked as well as usual this year either. The turkey was more moist than in the past, I think because I didn't over cook it. I think with the other things I just didn't quite have everything I needed and I was trying to make do. The broccoli dip didn't look pretty, I skimped on the cheese. The stuffing wasn't quite as good, I skimped on the sausage. The pumpkin pie didn't look as pretty, but I used the huge pumpkins that were donated from the pumpkin patch, shhh, don't tell anyone. It tasted fine though. I must have forgotten something in the pecan pie, it wasn't as sweet. I forgot my homemade butter in the fridge for some reason. My ds messed up the meringue and I only had 1 doz store bought eggs to work with and they kept accidentally getting put in other things and then we just had a few left and he mixed it wrong so we didn't have meringue on the lemon and coconut cream pies. We ran out of Cool Whip way too fast, and I was just too busy to make whipped cream. Regardless, no one complained so I guess it was fine. There are always mishaps I suppose, but when you want it to be perfect it's disappointing. Cherwill, I bet that really hurt your mil's feelings, that's sad.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

My kids did take it well considering.. Now they are helping to rid us of the threat and deter any other issues.
Thought I would share, I am getting eggs rolling in, my girls are super productive. I have a whole range of colors of eggs. My welsummer laid her first today. I have another super dark brown egg that I thought was her first but I saw her lay this one , now the search is on as to who laid this other dark brown egg.

the speckled one is the one she laid today it is beautiful and the one in the lower left is the mystery egg. then my EE's blue green eggs and regular brown from my new hampshire and the white one in the right corner is my phoenix.

 

[chicken danz]

Checoukan, that's exciting that you want to help get the Cream Legbars recognized here as a breed. I have them, but probably won't get involved that much with them because I have other breeding projects going on here too. I really don't want to take on another one right now.

Danz, I was looking at my Swedish Flower Hens yesterday & it looks like I have some more roosters than I thought I did. I may have a couple of crested ones too besides the non-crested. I really didn't want to keep crested roos so I'll probably try to sell those. I have one non-crested rooster that will be my main one for breeding, he's just turning out gorgeous! I'm going to keep one as a backup just in case, you never know. So anyway, I don't have as many hens as I thought I did, I think I at least have one crested & two non-crested out there, so I still have enough to start out with for breeding. I hope my DH gets busy working on that breeder coop now & gets it done. I really need to move some birds, but I can't until he gets that done.

The olansk are similar other than being tiny but they are even prettier. I sure hope I hatch some more cause I love those little guys.

I'm getting a new Salmon Faverolle roo before long & a pair of wheaten Amerauacanas from Josie, so those will replace what I lost awhile back so I'll be back on track for my breeding stock for next year. I can't wait to get them all separated into their own pens.

I sold my Salmon rooster and now only have the new one. He isn't in with the girls yet. I should really start putting him in with them at night so he stays with them. I have no idea when I will ever get my houses and pens done. It seems I don't have time to do anything any more.
I went last night to Walmart for the 8:00 sale, it was nuts in there, but I did get some nice things for the girls for Christmas so I got some of that shopping done. We're doing some other shopping online, so it won't be that much more we have to do other than when my son makes up his mind about the shoes he wants. We did bring some things back from Hawaii for Christmas gifts too, so we're not in bad shape for Christmas shopping. I'm one of those people who likes to do shopping early & have it over with, not a last minute shopper except for maybe stocking stuff.

Sounds like you had a full day too Trish. I think the laundry math is greater than the chicken math. Wish it were the other way around. I'm on the laundry hard today too, it seems I got behind with all of the HOOPLAH.

Speaking of predators, in the new coop my dh has been working on. There is a few inches of space where the wall and roof meet. I thought it was kinda good for ventilation. Are there predators that could get through up high? It's not even a straight open space, the roof overhangs lower than the wall itself but I can stick my hand through if I reach from the bottom up and over so it's a angled little area. It would probably be easier to do something about that now before they move in.

Normally you would cap that area with a fascia board and some eves. I a couple of our coops we just cut short sections of board to fill that in. Using it as a vent is a good idea though. I would certainly cover it with hardware cloth or something though.
Quote:

No luck last night. I am not giving up though.
You have nothing to worry about with the roosters or with the turkey. They will not hurt you. The reason your dh was attacked as a child is because he was chasing them. They will only take so much until they will finally let you know they are thru being teased. With your kids just crowing at them you have no worries. A crow is not only for dominance but also for a "hey I am over here".


With the turkey issue,,, the turkey shelter was not finished so the door was a heavy piece or a deck bottom propped up by a 2x4 and the bottom part was pushed open that morning. That is how whatever it was got my girls. That sounded raccoon to me too. I dont think an owl could push it open. There were tufts of feathers scattered about here and there in all kinds of places. There were some of the hens feathers off near the one found by the woods too. I know the opossum is the one coming up and cleaning up spilt feed and any scratch not recovered by the chickens, but you all are right I did not see him take my hens so I can not say. But thinking on it I dont think the opossum could have opened that pen either. Just weird how far apart they were and the fact that feathers were found by her that belonged to the white one found in the neighbors driveway. She said she thought it was coons because she has been fighting coons off for years and they come up on her back deck all the time. At the neighbors house when I pulled up it looked like it had just snowed, Storms feathers were everywhere, from the street all the way back to her garage door was an explosion of feathers.It looked like it just mysteriously came from the road and beat her all the heck all the way to the garage door which is about 5 feet from her back deck. I still dont get it. I am thinking raccoon now. But how far apart they were found and the evidence with Storm, do you think there may have been multiple predators happening here? I still dont like the opossum that close to my coop even if he hasnt done anything. All the other birds have sound buildings that they are always shut up in everynight and I have moved my turkeys back to the main coop until I finish the turkey pen.

I am thinking a coon probably opened the door and then the turkeys got out. They might have drug one of them off and she fought as long as she could. Or an owl might have grabbed one of them. I think you are probably dealing with more than one predator.

I didn't feel like I cooked as well as usual this year either. The turkey was more moist than in the past, I think because I didn't over cook it. I think with the other things I just didn't quite have everything I needed and I was trying to make do. The broccoli dip didn't look pretty, I skimped on the cheese. The stuffing wasn't quite as good, I skimped on the sausage. The pumpkin pie didn't look as pretty, but I used the huge pumpkins that were donated from the pumpkin patch, shhh, don't tell anyone. It tasted fine though. I must have forgotten something in the pecan pie, it wasn't as sweet. I forgot my homemade butter in the fridge for some reason. My ds messed up the meringue and I only had 1 doz store bought eggs to work with and they kept accidentally getting put in other things and then we just had a few left and he mixed it wrong so we didn't have meringue on the lemon and coconut cream pies. We ran out of Cool Whip way too fast, and I was just too busy to make whipped cream. Regardless, no one complained so I guess it was fine. There are always mishaps I suppose, but when you want it to be perfect it's disappointing. Cherwill, I bet that really hurt your mil's feelings, that's sad.

Most of my holidays go that way. For some reason every thing turned out well this year other than I made a mistake of using a package of gravy mix that came with the frozen turkey. Never again. It was awful. Gravy is so easy to make I should have never even considered using that. I used duck eggs for my baking this year and they were wonderful. The pecan pie was to die for.

My kids did take it well considering.. Now they are helping to rid us of the threat and deter any other issues.
Thought I would share, I am getting eggs rolling in, my girls are super productive. I have a whole range of colors of eggs. My welsummer laid her first today. I have another super dark brown egg that I thought was her first but I saw her lay this one , now the search is on as to who laid this other dark brown egg.

the speckled one is the one she laid today it is beautiful and the one in the lower left is the mystery egg. then my EE's blue green eggs and regular brown from my new hampshire and the white one in the right corner is my phoenix.

Very nice batch of eggs.
My hens are laying well again so I am back in the egg business so to speak.
I made the mistake of letting my red stars out of the coop they were moved to a week or so ago yesterday thinking they had been there long enough they would go back. So I was out in the cold and the dark with a flashlight and a net last night trying to gather them up and get them put back where they belong. I had taken down the pen where they used to sleep so they were out wandering around in the dark. I still had two missing when I got done and I haven't seen them this morning yet. I feel so dumb. I did manage to catch 4 more hens that have been sleeping in the barn though. I've got a couple more and a rooster to catch yet then I think I'll have all the rogue birds gathered up. The others were roosting up really high and I wasn't really wanting to try climbing a latter in the dark.
I've been sitting here for a couple hours again looking at all the special buys. If I can't order it on line I don't intend to buy it. I just can't handle getting out in the crowds.

 

[JosieChick]

Danz, sounds like you had a nice Thanksgiving. We don't have all that much food left over either. My dd and her dh filled some to-go plates, I'd really wanted them to take all they could eat because they're both going to school and she's working 2 jobs. I know they need it. I also told my other dd's fiance to take a to-go plate. We have enough for a couple of days still on what's cooked and then I'll be cooking again. I'm going to take today to get some things on eBay and tomorrow we are going to my parents' house.
In Maine my Nana used to cook an extra bird so she could send leftovers with all of us! The last few years the in laws pack it all up in the fridge and I mope all the way home because there are no leftovers for us...SO this year I just asked if we could have leftovers. I told my MIL the stuffing was fabulous and if she wanted to send some home with us we would love it and she packed up half the kitchen which made my hungry, piggy prego belly happy!

Thanks for clarifying BOSS Josie, I would never have guessed that. It's the most exciting thing ever when baby starts moving. Now you'll start to notice patterns when baby moves, mine usually got busy after eating or as soon as I laid down at night.

Maidenwolf, I can't tell you how sad I am about your losses. Your kids are awesome, I'm so sorry they are having to deal with this too. I hope you got him last night.

I heard that the weather is supposed to get cold again, I'm asking for the supplies for the watering system for Christmas. I should be able to do the ordering in a week so we will have to wait for a good break in the weather to put everything together. I sure hope it works. Prince Toby (lavender orp roo) doesn't realize he's about to inherit his kingdom. His coop is so close to being done I'm really anxious. My dh took a shed on the property that wasn't being used, he divided it so we can still put a calf on the other side but his side has paneling over the all of the walls except for the south wall, that's just where we ran out. Next the nesting boxes will be put up, we bought some on craigslist a while back. Then a roost and we still haven't decided on what to use for the door but we will take a door off of an inside room of the barn for now. The fence posts are already done and some of the fencing is up. He spent some time with his girls again but when I see them in the corner outside I take them out. I don't think he will do that once they're in their coop, and there will be enough room for them to find another corner to go to if he's feeling bossy. He's so pretty, and he comes to see me when I go check on him. I can't wait to give him his big coop.
Hahaha, lucky Toby! His brothers are going to freezer camp tomorrow. I would def put up hardware cloth over the open area at the top of your coop. I have my coops like that for ventilation but it is all covered with hardware cloth to keep climbing predators out.

The turkeys are doing great, they do some serious displaying when I come out. I can't imagine them hurting anyone ever. My mil was adamant not to turn my back on them because "you never know what they'll do". The kids were in the layer coop and crowing to Daniel the big black roo and he crows back and we've played like this forever, we've had him for a few years now, she gave me a lecture I tell you. She said that it is challenging him and it'll make him aggressive. He has never behaved aggressively to anyone ever. Come to find out, she was thinking about when my dh was little and she said that he was always crowing at them and chasing them and one day the roo attacked him. It just seems different to me, our kids just stand there and crow and wait for him to crow back, it just seems like they are playing. Should I be worried?

My youngest chicks will be a week tomorrow. The one that had the hardest time and we kept him/her separate from the others for a little bit is so darned precious! I moved them outside earlier than usual because I needed to because of Thanksgiving. Well, everytime I go out there the others run away to get away from us and this little chick just walks right up to me, every single time. It's just fearless and so sweet. It's way tinier than the others too. Last night I had to carry it around with me for a while and I brought it back into the house until we were done playing. I look at it and I think don't get attached because it's so tiny and will probably get hurt at some point, but geez, how do I not? I think this one needs a name.

Maidenewolf that really sounds more like an owl or maybe a raccoon than a possum. A possum will kill a bird and eat it's insides in place. A coon or an owl will both dehead a bird and carry it off. An as heavy as a turkey is it would have to be powerful.
Very sad. Many of us hope to be raising turkeys next spring so maybe someone will have some for you.
Josie that is so exciting. I love that initial flutter babies do....which turns into a downright hard kick when they grow more....especially when they are doing trampoline jumps on your bladder!!!

Oh, I am sure I will enjoy it for now. We were laughing about it yesterday because it is so tiny now but I can't even imagine what it will feel like when we are getting close to delivery!!
I realized yesterday I have to start thinking about Christmas gifts. I am not at all in the state of mind to buy gifts. Too bad my family isn't chicken people...it would be easy for me then.
So far today I've done nothing ...I haven't even gotten dressed. It feels good to relax. I know that I've got to get out and get to work but I honestly could use a vacation from chicken chores.

Has one lone silky chick hatch two days ago, they were from shipped eggs. Really hada rough ride. 4 the air cells were displaced, and two developed, but one died at lock down, and one hatched, so at least I did not get skunked. Stink pot is really raising a ruckus in there right now. Guess I better go get a ceramic chicken and put in the box with it!! Oh lone silkies are the worst, they scream bloody murder!

Oh, I remember those first faint flutters of the baby moving!! Oh, My sure brought back some memories. There is nothing like it, when you finally realize you have a living being inside of you!! Such special times, Cherish them all!!!!! I will! It is very exciting. It is funny now that I have felt it I feel it a lot more!

Quiet chillyout, and I think I may go hunting. Ivy and I older sister and our dad have been here with me, they left to go over to Ivy's. Dad wants to see her house. He is 85, and it really takes a lot out of him to travel anymore. I don't think he will ever be down here again. He has not seen Ivy in a couple of years, I imagine this trip will be the last time they ever see each other. Ivy has always had some hard feelings towards mom and dad, and she just stays away from them, well, now from dad.
Everyone have a great weekend, Just think CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!!! I am so excited, I love CHRISTMAS!!

Well it is sure chilly again today. Have to get the horse tank hooked up today with its heater. It is the last of the heated water stuff to do so that makes me feel better. We have a bunch of boys to butcher tomorrow. Hoping its going to be warmer like the weather man says so we don't have frozen fingers from dipping birds.
We got a lot done yesterday. I am still tired from all our travels. We bought a new washer and dryer at Nebraska furniture mart and fought the crowds in the afternoon. We also started our registry at Babys r'us which took a lot longer than I thought it would! And we still aren't done yet. I am so glad we bought big stuff used because it is sooooo expensive!!!
Everyone have a good day!