Homing turkeys

[monarc23]

Quote:
good for you...but you were trying to tell me that you dont get meat from any animal you want mounted which is not the case ask any trapper, hunter etc. You can skin your own birds even but it would deffinatly take skill. If I shot a bird and wanted it taxidermied I'd skin it, i've skinned small song birds in the past and did a taxidermy on them....I plan to do one of my quail eventaully (on an already deceased one--not one I kill just for it). Time and pacience and a steady hand

And still meat to eat. Taxidermy would be very wasteful if you couldnt eat the meat. To me taxidermy is just another way to use every part of the animal.

 

[CrowinKing]

I don't get mount crazy anyway I only have 4 things mounted!! And I don't have very good hand eye skills anyway probably why I miss more birds then I hit

!!!

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
You should have a large pen for him, as Sands said, not the dog crate. For one turkey, I'd make the pen about 5 x 10 feet minimum, and at least 4 feet high. I just came up with that size out of my head, it's still not ideal. I've seen people on here build much larger turkey pens at 10 x 20 feet x 7 feet high. (I'm assuming he's a heritage breed. If he's not a heritage turkey, then he won't need nearly as much roaming space, as they get fairly fat and lazy as adults.)

Keep him in that pen for 3 weeks, then let him out if you like. However, depending on where you live, heritage turkeys are known to roam very far distances and they can fly quite a distance too. You either have to clip their wing feathers every month to keep them in a FENCED area, or have a large enough acreage to let them roam as they like.

Also, they are group-oriented and your turkey might be lonely without a pal.
Hope this helps.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
lol

My moms the mount crazy one we just live with her ha ha! My buck is actually going to be my first personal "trophy" to be put up on the wall all the others are my brothers bucks, and trophies my mom bought from other hunters

whole black bear, fox, a really pretty duck that im not sure what species, we had a grizzly head mount but it was used in a movie and one of the workers stole it....my mom got a huge settlement out of it LMAO well no one was sued so i guess you can't call it a settlement or can you?, and a really ugly yardsale buck....my buck will be replacing him.....im on pins and needles waiting for him back from the taxidermist...next month he'll have been there a yearrrrr! LOL! I hate waiting

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
You should have a large pen for him, as Sands said, not the dog crate. For one turkey, I'd make the pen about 5 x 10 feet minimum, and at least 4 feet high. I just came up with that size out of my head, it's still not ideal. I've seen people on here build much larger turkey pens at 10 x 20 feet x 7 feet high. (I'm assuming he's a heritage breed. If he's not a heritage turkey, then he won't need nearly as much roaming space, as they get fairly fat and lazy as adults.)

Keep him in that pen for 3 weeks, then let him out if you like. However, depending on where you live, heritage turkeys are known to roam very far distances and they can fly quite a distance too. You either have to clip their wing feathers every month to keep them in a FENCED area, or have a large enough acreage to let them roam as they like.

Also, they are group-oriented and your turkey might be lonely without a pal.
Hope this helps.

i couldnt agree more good info chickenannie!

 

[CrowinKing]

Quote:
lol

My moms the mount crazy one we just live with her ha ha! My buck is actually going to be my first personal "trophy" to be put up on the wall all the others are my brothers bucks, and trophies my mom bought from other hunters

whole black bear, fox, a really pretty duck that im not sure what species, we had a grizzly head mount but it was used in a movie and one of the workers stole it....my mom got a huge settlement out of it LMAO well no one was sued so i guess you can't call it a settlement or can you?, and a really ugly yardsale buck....my buck will be replacing him.....im on pins and needles waiting for him back from the taxidermist...next month he'll have been there a yearrrrr! LOL! I hate waiting

Tell me about it I had to wait a yr for the first wood duck I ever shot it was brutal! I hope she got a pile of money for the bear head!!!

 

[pdpatch]

Quote:
The problem you will have with a single male turkey that is free ranged is he is sooner or later going to go find some lady friends. No mater how long you keep him penned up before you release him.

He may decide to return to you with several lady turkeys or he may not.

Another problem is that in many States it is illegal to release a domesticated turkey into the wild. Or to capture a wild turkey and Domesticate them with out a proper permit. So you have to be carefull to keep them around.

I would guess that the best way would be to house them with a flyway for 2 to 3 weeks. The slowly let them out a couple of hours a day to get them use to there new home.

In our case there is no way we could completely free range turkeys since we now have a small flock of Wild Turkeys near by. That our Jake has tried to go meet.

Tom

 

[kinnip]

He's in the guinea house now. He's still in the crate (let me emphasize that this is a huge wire crate I use for goats) until tomorrow, so the guineas can get used to him. The guinea house is pretty big with lots of roosting room. Until I can find him a lady friend his friend will have to be guineas. This is pretty much the same situation he just came from, except his former owners were having a disagreement over whether to shoot him or not. I hated to see such a tame animal ending up stuffed (in both ways).
This has really turned into a bit of a train wreck. Thanks for the info. I think I'll keep him in the guinea house until he seems settled. I don't think I'll last more than a week. How does one go about clipping wings and is it at all dangerous to the animal? He was free ranging his last home, which wasn't his first home, and didn't escape. I'm hoping I have a shot at keeping him here without any modifications to his body. There really aren't any other turkeys in this area. It's quite suburban and he has 6-7 acres of untouched woods he can explore.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
clipping wings is simple

Esp on a big bird like a turkey....


hold him still, take a wing, clipp off the primary feathers like you would cut hair...ofcourse avoid clipping his actual wing muscle which is easy to avoid just feel for it

Heres a diagram i found (from none other than BYC): https://www.backyardchickens.com/graphics/wingclipping.gif

they will stay that way until he molts then new fligth feathers will grow back in and he'll need clipped again...however the clipping reccomendations were if you were going to keep him in a fence (so he cant fly out) if you free range him I dont see a point, and having flight feathers would probably be good too keep then so he can try to fly away from danger IF he's not a large meat turkey (if he is he probably wont even be able to get a few inches off the ground anyhow).

 

[BeakSanctuary]

kinnip, couple of things just resonate so well with my weird sense of humor I have to congratulate you!

--This is pretty much the same situation he just came from, except his former owners were having a disagreement over whether to shoot him or not.

and

--I'm hoping I have a shot at keeping him here without any modifications to his body.

emphasis there on the word "shot", no pun intended.

I salute you for not wanting to do the body modifications, as well, as I'm hoping that never becomes necessary for mine. In my very small experience, they aren't just dying to run away as much as one might conclude, fully realizing I "haven't seen nothing yet" of the broad spectrum of experience and I know that. Good luck with your guy. Least there's no argument in favor of a swift and untimely death for him now that he's yours.