- Thread starter
- #11
Andersonflora
Chirping
Thanks for noticing! I’ve just spent hours, admittedly entire days panicking about animal welfare, literally going down research rabbit holes where either nothing or everything is wrong but there’s few people willing to give advice or risk exposure because of some perceived liabilities in trying to help. Like the other day when this turkey’s head blew up and it was struggling all I wanted to do was go online and get a straight answer to fix it right, and I derived from research was gut wrenching fear from vague explanations and insinuations from more seasoned handlers that human oversights are the real problem (sometimes true but even newbies do their due diligence before taking on new interests like raising livestock and it’s not fun or inspiring to be spoken to like you’re ignorant when you’re actually trying). You put so much of yourself into taking care of these creatures. When things go wrong we both take it really hard. I’m sure having human children is going to be wayyyy worse! But hey at least we care enough to put our fears and ego aside to get help. Not having ten people tell us something specific was terribly wrong helped us stay calm and get some sleep the other night. It made a huge difference. It’s why we’re here on BYC and want to remain part of the community.
3.5months without issue is great! Usually taking care of them properly results in happy healthy birds but if you’re anywhere like we are out in the country where it’s wild all round, nothing stays predictable day to day.
I will say other than being completely unable to figure out the gender of my first two hens until I posted on here to get answers, I have not had any issues with my turkeys. I am only being overly cautious because we brought home these 5 babies who seemed a bit sick so we started medicating all of them to prevent any problems. Those 5 haven’t been sick since, it’s just been a hell of a time trying to make sure all 11 of these delicate babies survived and thrived. And they are!
Do you have chickens? We have quite a few now. I got some beautiful lavender orphington chicks from tractor supply a few months ago and they totally contaminated my young chick flock with something bacterial because the tiniest members of the flock’s digestive problems cleared right up within a week of treatment. I learned too late that these hatcheries do batch tests to show they pass and are loosely regulated so the fact that we managed to go almost a year without issues is something we’re proud of. Even though that one and only issue was caught quickly and has since been remedied, the fallout has been too real and we’ve had to spend a ton all around obsessively having to restore utmost bio sanitation. It’s also been the primary cause for concern more recently having built out the turkey corral on an area where chickens have been period. A friendly but all too necessary reminder that breeding stock and hatchery of origin matters. Local and in-person is better because you can do your homework and see what’s going on yourself.
I write a lot with the understanding from spending time on BYC and beyond that we aren’t special and there are many people going through similar experiences who just need some guidance, some reassurance that when you take the time to learn from experts and real people alike, also from your own mistakes or misconceptions and do the work to keep your flocks in harmony, that odds are things you can control will work out in your favor.
. My animals are like my kids. I spend no expenses on keeping them happy and healthy. For me raising kids is alot more stressful then animals. I have two boys. All grown up. Now let me tell you being on edge all the time. Takes alot more blood sweat and tears to keep them happy and healthy 
. Being talk to like your ignorant is a common thing here on BYC. Not everyone is like this but some fill there is only one way to raise your flock and if it's not by the book I mean by there book it's wrong but I have learned from research and more research and the out come of the health and happiness of my flock that everything doesn't have to be done one way. That anyone that has had success in raising turkeys or any type of livestock has the right to post their own experience and triumphs. Without the fear of being told your wrong or you need to do more research before you say somthing but that's not the case. So many people stay in the dark corners and just read and never comment because of this sad fact.
