Just processed out at 67lbs

[flocksalot]

Quote:
Broad Breasted White from McMurray Hatchery. This years birds were all just hugh and leggy. We had one that was so tall he was head and shoulders above the rest. He also ate more than the other 24 all together.

We called him Tall Tommy and he had some weird anomalies when processed. He had a hernia that burst and I processed him out at 43 lbs, but had he survived he would have been hugh. Much bigger than Mr Blue. I would bet money that he could have dressed out at around 75lbs. I was told once that the largest BBW was somewheres around there. Too bad he had the hernia. I really like the BBW as they are so sweet and clean up so nicely. I plan to cross the girls (now) with a Burbon Red. From what I remember they will still have white pin feathers and will forage just as well. They should be pretty too. Course first I have to find me a well handled and raised tom. Not always easy to do. The animals on our farm are continuously handled and are pretty calm about it. Even my sons 146 chickens that run all over they place.

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
He's been told and told again today. He had been leaving the dog at his brothers, but apparently something happened there, so this morning he brought the dog. Probably figured I wouldn't even notice as I usually don't go up to the house. Well I go near it, but rarely to the front and would probably not if it hadn't been so muddy from all the rain last night. I drove the 4 wheeler around the front to take the tractor path around the garden and then drove up my asparagus patch to the duck/goose house. So when I saw the dog I stopped and went in. I told him in no uncertain terms that he had better not have the dog in my house. He said he wouldn't and that he had to go get the dog as his landlord called because the dog was barking non stop. I just restated not in my house and dont bring him back tomorrow. Later when my husband and I were working in the horse yard. The horses got all excited and were staring toward the house. We saw the drywall guy out with his dog then. My stupid horses really want a dog. They love them. Bunch of weirdos. Anyway I left to go get my son and the fruit. It's about two minutes to my sons school and took us maybe 15 minutes total. When I got back he was just putting his dog away.

I'll tell ya all our other contractors were extremely careful around our flocks. They knew which side the bread was buttered on. I would cook them lunch everyday and we were always bsing around, but they knew the chickens are my sons pets and saw him all summer riding bike, swinging, or even swimming with them. They were exceedingly careful around his chickens. The turkeys they were just in awe of. They loved watching them follow me out into the horse pasture to get the horses and bring them back up for the night. They couldn't believe how they would come to their names and how they would go in at night when I told them too. Truth be told the turkeys were in the house on several occasions before and after the basement was put in. So around my babies they were very cautious. The only people we've had a problem with are guys looking for work. My husband is generaling our house himself and has did some of the work, so we always have guys coming offering to put in bids. But if they fly in like mainiacs and ignore ME they aren't gonna get the time of day. One guy was so mad he drove up onto our mound system. Needless to say he now has a record that screams don't hire me I'm a moron.

Sharon, I guess I think everyone that brings their animals over to someone elses house without permission is nuts. That includes my MIL. I once asked her if she would like me to bring all my birds to her house. She was horrified that I would even suggest it. Go figure at least I asked for permission.

 

[welasharon]

He has to be. I love my animals but I am not about to take them to someone else's place. My mind boggles at the thought that he would bring the dog even after being told not to. What else will ignore you saying? I'm too old to put up with ding dongs....and I do think that guy is ding dong-y! LOL Good luck!
sharon

 

[Oregon Blues]

Now that the dog has killed one of your birds, he will work his way through your flock and kill them all.

If the contractor has a pickup maybe he could keep the dog in a crate in the back of the truck if he doesn't have any place to leave the dog.

But if he ignores your wishes about the dog, fire him before you lose all your poultry. There are tons of people out of work. Plenty of dry wallers would like to have that job. I'd let him know that the turkey his dog killed was worth $130 and I expected him to pay for it.

 

[DB_Tex]

Are we not in a recession??? Does this guy not value having the job? My husband has a full time sales gig and does networking and home theater hookups for a little side money and I can tell you, that little bit makes a huge difference and when we are in someone elses house we bend over backwards to be good guests!
I'm willing to bet there is someone out there (probably on craigslist with good references) that will treat your property according to your simple demands. The lack of professionalism is stunning to me. I would have sacked him the second time he tried to sneak the dog past me. I bet he already knows about the turkey and is hoping it will just pass without your notice.

Any chance of hiring some nice Amish kids to finish the house? They've got a reputation of doing a good job efficiently, cheaply and honestly.

 

[La Mike]

Sorry to here of your loss I would make him pay for it though. And all contractors arent like that I promise. I am a contractor and would never endanger anyone or their critters

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

You are a much nicer person than me.


I would tell him ONCE that the dog was not to be on my property or it will be shot. Not even in his truck, if his truck was parked on my property.



I would check daily. And if I saw the dog.......................


I would no longer need to check daily.

 

[rancher hicks]

If it was the dry wall guy and your 100% sure then I would let him know and expect him to pay for the bird. As a breeder not a dinner entree. I would imagine you know whether you can find another dry wall guy by now and if not then have a look. If he doesn't quit and you can find another AND your 100% sure then fire him. After all it's your nickel. He's your employee is he not!

I hate when contractors think they are "self employed" they are NOT. They have a different Employer for each job they take on. I have no problem letting friends and family know and see a lousy job. Besides taking a dog to a job site is a liability and his insurance company, if he has one, may not know he's doing this.

MAKE SURE THEY ARE INSURED. If he falls or gets hurt it's your butt that will be in a sling. Know the law. You may be liable if his dog bites someone, even if he is insured.


I wish you well and a new turkey for Christmas,

Rancher

 

[flocksalot]

Well my husband got my messages, and stopped at the farm to check out the bite marks on the carcase. He was livid. He didn't wake me up last night, but did get up when my alarm went off this morning. You could tell he had much to say, but had to bite his tounge until our son was at school. When I got back from dropping our son at school he was telling someone on the phone how this dog mauled one of HIS turkeys.

Everyone knows he hates my poultry passion. But all said and done he also knows how much I put into and love my birds. So we discussed it and then went out to the farm. Drywall guy was already working and guess what he had his dog there again.

What the heck! Well I took care of the chickens, horses, ducks, and geese while my husband and drywall guy argued. He claims his dog would never do something like that. My husband gets really ticked when someone lies to him. So he took him out side to show him the dogs tracks that were over by the turkey fence. It's only a 2 foot fence and has three open gates. I don't really use it for containment it's more to keep the geese away from the turkeys. They are really jealous of them. I think the guy had tried to cover up all the tracks, but missed some as he was really angry then and said that why didn't the tracks go back to his car then? Bla bla bla. Those were the only track we found and I doubt the dog had wings. Eventually he agreed to pay for the turkey, which I didn't want. Really I just want acknowledgement, an apology and not to have his dog on my property. Plus I want my doggone drywall done.

My husband and I went to check on the turkeys and found that Big Boy also has two puncture wounds on each side of his head. I didn't see it last night as it was getting late and I was trying to hurry and get Mr. Blue taken care of. I'm also having a problem with my eyes lately. Big Boy is OK, but he is my very favorite and I think I would have killed the dog with my bare hands if he had died. As it was with the dog back we opted to keep the turkeys in the greenhouse for the day. It's not like they don't have plenty of room in there, but they do like to spend time out and about and love to come running when they see us.

At 1pm my husband and I went to lunch and I think the drywall guy took his dog elsewhere as when we drove past he was gone, but he returned later. I was busy so I didn't see if the dog was there or not. My husband didn't want me going up to confront him as he's overprotective and overreactive. He sat in the shed this morning cleaning his pistols. Idiot. My husband is now saying he just wants him done, so if he quits fine. Drywall guy was supposed to lay the tile in the bath after he paints, but now my husband thinks he would rather not have him around. And it's not like my husband can't do the tile himself since it's only the bathroom.

Non of our other contractors have ever did anything like this. Most of them were so very cautious around our animals. Especially with my sons chickens and all of them know my turkeys are my babies. I about peed my pants laughing at the backhoe guy when he was digging the driveway. Here he is trying very gently to get the chickens out of the freshly turned soil, so he didn't bury one when he dumped more. He would pick each one up and carry her a ways away, and behind his back ten more would show up. They know my son is very attached to his chickens and they also know that those chickens are just not afraid of anything. Here the little feather brains thought he was digging them an all you can eat buffet. So La Mike I know there are some wonderful and careful contractors out there and for the most part we have been lucky enough to have found some. I guess our luck finally wore out and we got a wrinkle to deal with.

My husband did tell drywall guy in no uncertain terms that he could not bring the dog before he hired him. He claimed he had always brought his dog to every job sight. Irregardless he was told NO DOG, so when he brought the dog again today and then denied that his dog was even over near the turkeys my husband got ticked. He told him just to finish the drywall and if he brought the dog tomorrow he was done. So Rancher Hicks my husband can find someone else to do the work. My husband is 100% sure that his dog hurt the turkeys and since he's the one paying the bills hiring and now possibly firing he won't put up with anything. My husband also checks for insurance, but here's the thing our farm is on a us hwy which has plenty of traffic. If the dog had run out into the road and caused an accident we would be held partially liable as we allowed the dog to be on our property and out of control. Same as if one of my turkeys wandered out into the road and damaged someones vehicle, and at 67lbs dressed he would have been around 88lbs live weight. He would have left one heck of a dent. Believe me he was heavy. I couldn't lift him off the ground and my husband who works out all the time even said he was heavy.

Horse Feather NV sadly I live in Wisconsin where it's illegal to shot someones dog, cat, or probably gerbil. I'm from Minnesota originally where if someones animal is on your property you do have the right to dispose of them. I would have no problems with it, but I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn standing right there with my husband 44. My husband would do it, but then he would probably go to jail. I really don't want that. The only animals that have tresspassed onto our property are wild and although my husband really wants to shot a coyote we have never seen one on our property during the day as it's wide open. At night we trap them and then dispose of them by using them for bait. We have no real close neighbors and non of them have any dogs, so the only dog around was drywall guys.

Dusky Beauty weve learnt not to hire or make purchases of really important things off of CL. We've been burned before. As for the Amish I don't know if they could finish the drywall or not. One of our neighbors had some Amish build his home and he is terribly upset with how things turned out. Guess they didn't do things they way he had requested and did some shoddy work. My husband is very specific and extremely exacting on how he want things done. He could find anyone to do the metal roof the way is should be done, so he ended up doing it himself. Eveyone wanted to use screws instead of bending some overlapping seam. It took him quit awhile, but the roof is beautiful. And the best part is the warranty is still intake because he installed it per their specification. When the manufacturer came to inspect they were very pleased. No contractor would do it that way. They all want to do it as cheaply as they can.

Oregon Blues I don't think they dog was trying to eat the turkeys. Probably more like playing, but I won't give him a chance to decide whether he likes the taste or not. I don't want him anywhere near my birds. Some of the chickens wander up the hill to the gardens, over to the house or out to the horse pastures I don't want one of them getting nabbed either. I guess if the guy really thought about it realistically he would see we have 146 chickens, 4 geese, 6 duck, and now 4 turkeys. He has one dog. What is easier to contain. I can tell you it's not the birds.

Lastly I grew up with dogs, so I know how gentle a dog can be. I also know that a dog can harm another animal just playing. When I was a small child we had a dog (a hugh dog) that loved to throw things up into the air and catch them with his teeth. One day while he was playing with a stick when our neighbors cat ran out in front of him. He grabbed the cat, tossed her, and she came sceaming down. He caught her and she screamed, scratched him, and tore off out of there. She died a couple of weeks later from absessed wounds. Our neighbor was really mad, but had to admit if the cat hadn't have been in out yard our dog would never have grabbed her. I loved that dog and the dogs we had after. I just don't want one. Nope I want turkeys. Lots and lots of baby turkeys.

With all the hassle of dealing with the drywall guy I forgot to have my husband take a picture of Mr. Blue. Tomorrow we have Dr appointments and are going xmas shopping, so I need to put a note on coffee pot to remember the video camera.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
The laws must have changed sadly. I spent a chunk of my youth growing up in Rhinelander, and at that time it was legal to shoot someone's dog who was on your property and a threat to your animals. I know the same law is on the books in most states - the protection of livestock.

for you. Turkeys have such wonderful personalities. I know if something happened to my Tykie Turkey, I would be very upset.