Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat - Part 2 : Chicken Boogaloo.

[bobbi-j]

When I was a child a farm across the street raised turkeys which they keep in the barn as chicks and juveniles because they said they unlike chickens, geese and ducks would die in the rain. So if it isn't true as an old wife's tale has been around for a looooong time.

I raised Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys for a few years. They were 100% free range after they outgrew the brooder. Never lost one to rain. (Surprisingly enough, no predators, either)

 

[sarcasm]

I get the "turkeys are so stupid they look up and drown in the rain" comment from a LOT of people who should probably know better. Turkey eyes are on the sides of their heads, so they turn their heads sideways to look up - there's no real way for rain to fall in their beaks from looking up. As annoying as it is to either smile and nod or have to explain it again, at least it has some partial basis in reality. Turkey poults are highly susceptible to chills, so if they do manage to stand around in a cool/cold rain before they're fully feathered instead of just fluffy, they can die pretty easily. Adult turkeys aren't usually bothered by rain and cold, so it stands to reason that more than one or two poults have met their fate this way.

 

[LadyVictorian]

I think that is what happened to our two turkeys. They didn't have all their feathers in yet but they free ranged with the bantam chickens and refused to come in during the rain because there was still scraps outside they wanted to eat. The chickens all went in and the two turkeys ended up getting really sick and passing on a few days latter.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'm ashamed to admit I used to believe the turkey rain thing.... I think I remember reading once though that some forefather, i forget which one, maybe Ben Franklin?, wanted the turkey to be the national bird but got denied brcause they were too stupid so the bald eagle was chosen. Now I forget if one of the forefathers said the part about how they'll look up at the rain and drown or if this website just listed it as a fact, like did you know type fact... i think one of them said it and that's why it got denied as the national bird but then again, that could be something people made up afterwards. Either way, that is where that comes from and why so many believe it. Including myself for a while....

But if you really think about it, if that were actually true then wild turkeys would be an endangered species.... LOL

 

[CLSranch]

I know a guy who raises turkeys and a few wild hang out and lay next to his pens. Also a few crosses with the wild. But thinking of the post from sarcasm that they are susceptible to chills he said that he lost a large percentage if he didn't use antibiotics which he didn't like to use. His buyers wanted that ALL natural. I agree that I want alive. Antibiotics or not.

 

[LadyVictorian]

I have found wild turkey's are actually very smart. It sounds stupid but we have roving gangs of young wild toms who go through farms and ransack feed rooms. Seriously, it's a problem where I live. XD They are like little gangs of younger toms who come onto farms and open the metal trashcans and eat the food out of it. My friend found five had somehow managed to get a plastic feed bin of dog food knocked over and they were comping it down. Then again it's not uncommon for them to do suicide flies in front of cars either. I myself hit what might have been a hen but she took off after she hit the side of my car so I don't know for sure. It was much smaller than a tom though.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I get the "turkeys are so stupid they look up and drown in the rain" comment from a LOT of people who should probably know better.  Turkey eyes are on the sides of their heads, so they turn their heads sideways to look up  - there's no real way for rain to fall in their beaks from looking up.  As annoying as it is to either smile and nod or have to explain it again, at least it has some partial basis in reality.  Turkey poults are highly susceptible to chills, so if they do manage to stand around in a cool/cold rain before they're fully feathered instead of just fluffy, they can die pretty easily.  Adult turkeys aren't usually bothered by rain and cold, so it stands to reason that more than one or two poults have met their fate this way.

It's counterintuitive that a turkey would/could die from drowning by looking up, IMO, but I heard the same drivel from my BIL, who lives in the city and is (willfully) clueless about the realities of raising poultry....but perfectly willing to perpetuate those kinds of myths.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I have found wild turkey's are actually very smart. It sounds stupid but we have roving gangs of young wild toms who go through farms and ransack feed rooms. Seriously, it's a problem where I live. XD They are like little gangs of younger toms who come onto farms and open the metal trashcans and eat the food out of it. My friend found five had somehow managed to get a plastic feed bin of dog food knocked over and they were comping it down. Then again it's not uncommon for them to do suicide flies in front of cars either. I myself hit what might have been a hen but she took off after she hit the side of my car so I don't know for sure. It was much smaller than a tom though. 

Oh yeah, sorry, I wasn't myself saying they were too stupid but rather that was the reason given for not choosing them. I have no doubts they are very smart. Although I had no idea they were quite that smart!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I know a guy who raises turkeys and a few wild hang out and lay next to his pens. Also a few crosses with the wild. But thinking of the post from sarcasm that they are susceptible to chills he said that he lost a large percentage if he didn't use antibiotics which he didn't like to use. His buyers wanted that ALL natural. I agree that I want alive. Antibiotics or not.

We've had huge flocks of turkeys come visit several times and some of them like to hang out next to my chickens

 

[SunHwaKwon]

     When I was a child a farm across the street raised turkeys which they keep in the barn as chicks and juveniles because they said they unlike chickens, geese and ducks would die in the rain.  So if it isn't true as an old wife's tale has been around for a looooong time.

I think that has more to do with poults being considered more sensitive to temps and dampness. After all, if turkeys can't live through rain, why aren't wild turkeys extinct by now? I see huge flocks of them in the fields surrounding my house during rainfall and they are just fine, as are my domestic turkeys that see no reason to take shelter during rain or snow.

There are a lot of silly old wives tales that have been around for a long time, and they will hang around as long as people keep repeating them.