Illinois...

[Molpet]

Hope everyone had a great July 4th.
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Macy got a ponytail & pedicure with red & blue painted nails. LOL

Our usual celebrations fizzzled from the heat. Instead of the parade & fireworks we just went to visit my dad. Nice but in a different way.

macy needs that ponytail

 

[Molpet]

Wow! Never had a mean hen like that. Mine mostly grumble at me & only halfheartedly peck when I'm really messing with their eggs - like candling by the 8th or 9th egg. I guess you'll need thick work gloves if you want to candle that nest!

My current turkeys are 2 weeks now:
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@chickendreams24 Do you have any recent pics of your turkeys? Do you think its a pair?

Most of mine are like yours. I had one other one that pecked hard, but not like this one.. no way am I thinking about candling I did get brave and put 2 eggs on the edge of the nest, just incase she was just sitting on golf balls. She took them later. At least they were not there or on the floor LOL

We had storms all afternoon so I wasn't out with the birds as much...
I went out between storms and about 6:30 pm one of the june 3rd poults was missing. Couldn't hear it calling and didn't find it anywhere in the yard. walked the fence, looked at the fence. until the lighting forced me inside.. it didn't show up this morning either. Not sure what happened, weather wasn't to the hawks liking, amd they do find inventive was to commit suicide...The one that had been sick for weeks , same hatch, was dead this morning. So I lost 2 from this hatch

Went out at 8 ish and it was raining and dark from the storms so the bird had gone to roost early.. locked up 3 of the coops and the last coop should have had 2 chickens and five 8wk poults.. NO POULTS.. sure enough they were in the rain sitting on the fence between pens. I got 3 in and 2 ran off in the pen. Came back with a flashlight and couldn't find a white one and couldn't catch the brown one.Lighting hit the high power lines next to my property so I figured they were on their own...At dawn the brown one was at the door to a different coopand the white one showed up about 6 am
so I am glad I hatched so many. I have lost 2 to illness and 1 is a mystery. 15 left and I probably will lose a few more... Have to expect losses when they aren't confined.

 

[Faraday40]

@Molpet Those poor babies must had had a very bad night! I guess the storm & fireworks may have actually saved them by scaring much of the predators away.

I 'm learning some of the differences of poults vs chicks. Chicks are content to stay close & follow their mama. The poults get separated easily. They sometimes try to snuggle with another group of chicks & the strange mama hen pecks them away. Poor helpless poults just wander around crying out - rather than try to find their own mama. It's like they're calling out "Eat Me! Here I am!" to all the hawks & other predators in the area. They only have to walk to the tractor & back to the coop each day. I don't understand why it's so hard and it's not like we have acreage. They'll probably get to free range with the mama in a couple weeks (once they're too big to fit through the fence). I'm afraid they'll go next door & not find their way back through the fence. Most of our chicks slip in & out through the fence line & sleep within all the plants there. It's great for hiding, but I'm not convinced the turkeys could figure it out. Best for mine to stay within the safety of a tractor.

 

[Molpet]

@Molpet Those poor babies must had had a very bad night! I guess the storm & fireworks may have actually saved them by scaring much of the predators away.

I 'm learning some of the differences of poults vs chicks. Chicks are content to stay close & follow their mama. The poults get separated easily. They sometimes try to snuggle with another group of chicks & the strange mama hen pecks them away. Poor helpless poults just wander around crying out - rather than try to find their own mama. It's like they're calling out "Eat Me! Here I am!" to all the hawks & other predators in the area. They only have to walk to the tractor & back to the coop each day. I don't understand why it's so hard and it's not like we have acreage. They'll probably get to free range with the mama in a couple weeks (once they're too big to fit through the fence). I'm afraid they'll go next door & not find their way back through the fence. Most of our chicks slip in & out through the fence line & sleep within all the plants there. It's great for hiding, but I'm not convinced the turkeys could figure it out. Best for mine to stay within the safety of a tractor.

yes I think you are right about the predators.

The poults do not stay w/turkey hen any better.. they keep zipping through the dividing fence into the other pen and do not come when she calls.. she keeps pacing the fence trying to get through the holes. I go around and run them back and repeat, repeat.... turkey hen and a chicken broody w/1 chick got into it.. I scooped the day old up, I swore the turkey stepped on it, but it seems fine, deep bedding may have helped.. so Mama turkey and 4 poults are locked up in an improvised 8x10 area with shade cloth over it,
The poults peep to each other all the time, constant contact. One can walk around the shed and 50' away and the others can still hear it. Or they can all be 5 ft apart and still peep to each other...17 was getting annoying!

 

[Molpet]

oh turkeys of any age will run up and down a fence between posts trying to get back in.... while the gate is open 10 ft away.. that they came through.. they did that for about a week before they figured it out... meanwhile 'dinner' knew what a gate was even when it was closed and he only was carried through it once.. but he seen me go through it alot

 

[Molpet]

well got an alert that storm was coming to I ran out and a poult, from the same hatch as the missing one, was on the wrong side of the electric fence... I turned off the fence and caught him.. I wonder if thats what happened to the missing poult? The fence was on and on the inside is netting so they can't touch the fence.. but if it got shocked it may have run off and gotten lost..
storms started again.

 

[Faraday40]

storms started again.

We also got hit with that storm! So intense!!!!

I figured they'd all be OK in the tractors, so I left the yard "as is". Only one of the 3 was fine.
* Jewel's flip top, metal roof blew open. That meant no rain protection b/c the rest of the roof is wire mesh. Jewel covered her 3 poults & 2 chicks. Babies were nice & dry. I can't say the same for poor Jewel. Such a good mama. She could have flown out to get to cover for herself, but she stayed in that downpour to keep her babies dry.
* Trouble & her chicks were in an infant play yard with a fiberglass roof. It's normally the most rain resistant because the roof is solid & covers the entire area. The whole thing blew over. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it upside-down. Trouble & her 2 chicks ran to the big coop, so they're just fine.
* DD's useless bantams were in a tractor with a roof that's 1/2 wire mesh & 1/2 fiberglass. They were just fine.

 

[Molpet]

We also got hit with that storm! So intense!!!!

I figured they'd all be OK in the tractors, so I left the yard "as is". Only one of the 3 was fine.
* Jewel's flip top, metal roof blew open. That meant no rain protection b/c the rest of the roof is wire mesh. Jewel covered her 3 poults & 2 chicks. Babies were nice & dry. I can't say the same for poor Jewel. Such a good mama. She could have flown out to get to cover for herself, but she stayed in that downpour to keep her babies dry.
* Trouble & her chicks were in an infant play yard with a fiberglass roof. It's normally the most rain resistant because the roof is solid & covers the entire area. The whole thing blew over. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it upside-down. Trouble & her 2 chicks ran to the big coop, so they're just fine.
* DD's useless bantams were in a tractor with a roof that's 1/2 wire mesh & 1/2 fiberglass. They were just fine.

poor Jewel, such a good moma

yeah it depends on which way the wind blows.. things that have been fine for years all of a sudden get blown apart.. and when reassemble fine for years again

 

[Faraday40]

@Molpet:
I feared we had our 1st turkey loss tonight, but thankfully we found the poult. Mama + 2 chicks + 1 poult made it to their usual nest box. One poult was one box over sleeping my my eldery hen, Precious. However we didn't see or "hear" the 3rd turkey. We searched the tractor, yard, doghouse, bushes, garden, -even the garage! The kids were busy crawling through all the run areas & finally heard a faint turkey cry. The poor bird got itself stuck inside the feeder. I have no idea how it got itself through a 90' PVC elbow & into the feeder. The feeder was pretty close to empty, so I guess it just slipped through the bottom space. It's fine & back with mama hen.

It's the same feeder as here (made from a recycled kitty litter bucket).

 

[Molpet]

@Molpet:
I feared we had our 1st turkey loss tonight, but thankfully we found the poult. Mama + 2 chicks + 1 poult made it to their usual nest box. One poult was one box over sleeping my my eldery hen, Precious. However we didn't see or "hear" the 3rd turkey. We searched the tractor, yard, doghouse, bushes, garden, -even the garage! The kids were busy crawling through all the run areas & finally heard a faint turkey cry. The poor bird got itself stuck inside the feeder. I have no idea how it got itself through a 90' PVC elbow & into the feeder. The feeder was pretty close to empty, so I guess it just slipped through the bottom space. It's fine & back with mama hen.

It's the same feeder as here (made from a recycled kitty litter bucket).
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Glad you found it...
They sure find inventive ways to to get into trouble... I worry I will find my missing one hanging by a foot or wing somewhere