do turkeys put themselves away?

[rowena]

Thinking about getting a couple of turkeys. I would like them to free range and lock up the run at night. I do this for my chickens but they "put themselves away at night" & so so I'm wondering if turkeys are similar. Thanks,
Rowena

 

[Arielle]

My turkeys require rounding up and putting away. THey get used to the behavior and become cooperative. THey prefer to roost high-- somewhere off the ground. a rail fence to tops of coops. My largest birds at 11 months, just lay on the ground. IMO the lighter the bird the higher they roost.

I've read of other people that have birds that put themselves away . . . . . mine do not. However,, most of the chickens put themselves away, others have abandoned the coop for other roosts up high outside.

THis is what happens here, other people may have a different experience. I don't have a lot of predators compared to other locations.

 

[rowena]

Thank you Arielle

 

[Arielle]

Sorry I forgot , if the wound is pusy you do need to warm water soak the area, and remove the dead skin and scab blocking the area from a good cleaning. ALL pus needs to be removed. then scrub with a betadine scrub and rinse with clean water.( Or soap and water if that is all you have.) Pat dry with clean towel, and put on bacitracin. THis is how I treat abcesses, as I learned working for a vet. If you should ever have a deep abcess, flush with 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and clean water to get oxygen into the areas deepest and flush out the abcess. THen it can heal better.

Abcess. THe body's super effort to send cleaner upper white blood cells to take care of dead cells and bacteria. Too much accumulates in one location and the body cannot clear the abcess. IT needs a little help sometimes.

Good luck.

 

[Celie]

Thinking about getting a couple of turkeys. I would like them to free range and lock up the run at night. I do this for my chickens but they "put themselves away at night" & so so I'm wondering if turkeys are similar. Thanks,
Rowena

Mine do, along with the chickens, ducks and geese. They are creatures of habit, so put them where you want them while young and they will continue to roost there as they grow. I also feed them there, so they know that after foraging, where home is. I often have to put poults away for a few days, that huddle right outside the barn door. Yes, the lighter the bird the higher they want to roost and the Alphas will also roost the highest they can get to.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Mine put themselves away at night, but their deffinition of "away" differs from mine and we have an almost nightly argument about it. I've been letting my 4 turkeys out of their 6' high enclosure for the past few weeks for a few hours a day, although often one or more of them have taken to hopping the fence on their own before this. During the late afternoon when it is time to put them back in their enclosure, they are always near by and go back in happily for a handfull of scratch or another treat.

My 30(ish) foot by 10(ish) foot enclosure has an opening in the back of my garage/outbuilding that leads to an additional sheltered enclosure of about 6'X7'

Around dusk I always find 2 or more settling down to roost on top of the fence on the outside and have to shoo them down and herd them into the inside enclosure to close the door. Then they insisted on roosting on top of the fence inside rather than the roost I've provided for them. I tried extending the fencing another 3 feet up using plastic netting, but they've figured out that if they fly up there, the weight of their bodies push the netting out and they can spend the night up there anyway. In one place they've so stretched the netting that they sometimes hop from the fence onto this high utility shelf that is outside the enclosure and spend the night there. They've even decided the rafters look like a safer place to spend the night. It's kind of frustrating because in the morning they are wandering around trying to figure out how to get back in where the food and water are, but I guess turkey logic has different rules.

 

[frank53061]

My BR Turkeys vary from time to time and I don't know why but the norm is all the Toms will roost on a 4 ft roost out side the coop and half my Hens will put them selves up on the coop were as the other half of Hens roost on top of the coop 8 feet high.
I have to pick each Tom off the 4 ft roost and walk them over to the door way 4ft high and they walk right in its like they have to be tucked in for the night.
The other half of the Hens I have 5 ft stick that in the past I would have to tap them on there butts to get them off the coop and catch each one to put up.
Now I just tap the side of the coop with the stick and they fly down to the ground and walk up the ramp to the coop

there like kids in a way some have to tucked inn and some have to be told to go to bed

 

[chicken pickin]

If my turkeys are in there run for the day they will put them selves up in the coop by themselves at night time, took a bit of training but they know the drill. However if they spend they day free ranging they do not go back to the coop at night instead they pick a spot they like and I have to find them and corral them back to the coop (I hardly let them free range close to bed time so they never learned the routine for that).

 

[hdmax]

Thinking about getting a couple of turkeys. I would like them to free range and lock up the run at night. I do this for my chickens but they "put themselves away at night" & so so I'm wondering if turkeys are similar. Thanks,
Rowena

Many people will tell you that turkeys are a very dumb bird, while others will disagree. I have 19 10 week old heritage turkeys, (First time ever having turkeys!) mine can't find the open gate when they are standing in it! They free range and never wander too far, but when the night falls, they panic and go back and fourth looking at the chickens inside the pen, as if wondering how they got in there.

I don't know if mine are inbred, or if all turkeys are this dumb! (I think it may be the long neck, the brain tells the feet what to do, but it takes so long for that information to get received, the feet needs different information.)