Got a beautiful Bronze boy for my girls..... but..........

[crj]

I picked up a beautiful young boy for my girls yesterday. I think he will be a year come spring and probably a couple months older then the hens. He is very sweet and in a separate pen till he gets use to living here. Surprisingly the hens are not interested in him. I think the hens think they are chickens. Honestly, a good looking boy and they find they like the chickens more. Go figure.

My hens free range. They do not like to go inside. I'm wondering if I should make a coop or some kind of shelter for them. The tom likes shelter because that's what he had but not the girls. I know they like to roost up high but where do hens like laying eggs? Mine haven't started laying yet. I would love to build a nice coop for them with nest boxes but not sure if they would be interested in it. What are your thoughts? I will try and get a picture of him later today.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I'm still too new to answer all of this, but you will find ALL of the answers by reading back posts on here.

 

[KOTurkeyRanch]

Hens lay where they are comfortable. Mine laid in the attick of the barn so i had to close it off because the eggs could fall, or the newly hatched poults would. Let the turkeys run together and they should warm up to each other but it could take some fights. It also might prevent breeding for alittle while. Last year when i get my hen she stopped laying when she came to my barn for about a month.

 

[Frosty]

No worries that the hens aren't laying yet, it's a good idea to keep new arrivals quarantined for a while anyhow.

My hens seemed to prefer to find a spot out in the weeds to nest, but that can be bad if you have predators. A hen on a nest is a sitting duck if a raccoon or something finds them... I had a BB hen attacked by a raccoon and she later died from her injuries so if they do decide to nest in the weeds you can always put an enclosure over them while they are sitting. Just make sure to provide feed and water while they are in there. I had a hen refuse to leave her nest at all until hatch so I put a food and water dish where she could reach it without getting up.

 

[crj]

Thanks Frosty and KOTurkeyRanch. I did put the girls in with the tom today. He just seemed so stresssed out being alone in the pen. He kept running into the fence with his chest I thought he would hurt himself. It took a little while for him to notice the girls but they seem to be getting a long ok. At least he is a little more calm. I'm afraid to let him out of the pen since he is not familiar with anything here yet. I did notice he is afraid of the dogs. Hopefully he will get use to them. I know I should have kept him a lone because of health reasons but I just couldn't watch him stress so bad. He is a very sweet boy.

I'm thinking of something interesting for their shelter. It's not workable yet I still have to keep thinking about the idea until something clicks. I'm getting close though........ lol.

 

[poultry7]

I am going to raise a few turkeys this spring.

Do they have to live in a seperate pen far away from my chickens? Could you please tell me any info you think would be helpful to me?

 

[crj]

poultry7, this is my first try at turkeys. I got the girls about a month ago and I just got the boy the other day. I would say they are getting close to a year old. Probably in a few months. You know, when all the chicks are for sale everywhere........ lol.

I let my girls free range and they don't like to be cooped up. They rooster on top of one of the chicken pens. Not sure about the boy just yet. He's knew to everything and also afraid of everything. Poor guy. Before I got him he was attacked by a fox so he is terribly frightened of the dogs. The only thing the fox got was a few tail feathers. Wouldn't even notice unless he showed himself..... lol. You can see there are 2 missing on the far side. He does seem to like going in a coop so we will see. Good luck. I really like my turkeys. They are Bronze.

 

[HoglundH]

We are picking up a Bronze Male about a year old, to keep our Naragansett girl (same age) company. Hopefully they get along. The female seems awfully lonely and just runs up and down the fence. The only one who keeps her company is our drake who does his raspy quack at her.

Thanks,
Harold