"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[PrimroseMom1]

I hope one of y'all could answer this question for me. My turkeys are outgrowing their pen, and I would like to move them into a pen on the ground. The pen currently houses a pair of bantams, but I would take them out. I know the turkeys have weak immune systems, so I was thinking maybe if I covered the dirt floor in several inches of pea gravel they would be okay? I get my gravel from a local store and it is bagged. Does anyone know if my turkeys could still get sick on it, or if it would protect them?

I use a lot of gravel in my chicken yard. I have a lot of clay and when it would rain I would slip and slide everywhere. Also, when it rains it washes the poo below the rocks and generally my yard is not so bad and doesn't smell as much as before the gravel. I still add gravel from time to time. It's not solid gravel, but enough to keep things much better. The chickens can DEFINATELY dig holes through the gravel so I smooth it out with the back side of a metal take from time to time. Do turkies kick and dig like chickens? Pea gravel and River rock work. No sharp edges to cut their feet. It takes fewer bags of River rock than pea gravel. I have hauled probably a 100 or more bags from Lowes.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Here are before and afters of my poor Amercaunas. I know it was happening in the chicken yard, maybe the coop too. Tonight I have the Blacks in one coop, the Amercaunas in another and Prim in the converted dog kennel. She's fine there, lots of ventilation and she spent a lot of her life sleeping in there. One egg today!!!!!
This is my blue before.

This is her tonight. Some of her tail feathers were broken, too but I didn't see any broken skin or blood. The Blacks have always been bullies.

Here is my white before.

This is her today. She also did not have injuries or blood.

Since I know it is happening in the yard, is there anything I can do? That may be why Prim looks so bad with broken feathers.

 

[forgetful]

I'm not sure what my soil is here, but I live about 50 yards from a bayou, so I'm on low ground. We get very sticky, gloopy mud that we call Black Jack mud. I've used pea gravel in my other pens, especially with ducks, and it works marvelously. The chickens can pick through it and use the smaller bits as grit, and if it stays dry enough for a week or so I can hose off the gravel to clean it. I love it for ducks because they can dabble in their water and it drains through. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't contain anything to harm my turkeys. I left the pen bare exactly for when the turkeys are big enough to move and I could decide how to clean it.

I don't know if they scratch or not, since this is my first time raising them. What I would really love is to get a big dump truck full of gravel dumped by my pens. I could shovel it into all of them and not have to worry about mud for a long time. It would probably cost less than paying for all the individual bags I buy.

 

[forgetful]

For feather plucking, maybe try a Bit if you know the culprit?

http://cutlersupply.com/zen_new51/i...Path=4&zenid=4ff2bde31078fcfd0882c112e163a677

They can eat and drink fine, just not pinch skin or pluck feathers.

 

[LindaB220]

Most recommend keeping rooster to hen ratio @ 1:20 or 1:25 plus a spare on the side, a hen stays fertile several days ( 7 to 10 ) after being fertilized so a young rooster can cover up to or more than 50 hens, falling off with aging, personally, any # of hens less than 10, only have 1 rooster available to hens with the extra in another pen, rare breeds are more important to have a standby in another pen

Sorry, not for a breeding pen. I think that's just for open breeding. A lot of people say only 10 to 1 but I think, like you, they can handle more.

 

[LindaB220]

I'm not sure what my soil is here, but I live about 50 yards from a bayou, so I'm on low ground. We get very sticky, gloopy mud that we call Black Jack mud. I've used pea gravel in my other pens, especially with ducks, and it works marvelously. The chickens can pick through it and use the smaller bits as grit, and if it stays dry enough for a week or so I can hose off the gravel to clean it. I love it for ducks because they can dabble in their water and it drains through. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't contain anything to harm my turkeys. I left the pen bare exactly for when the turkeys are big enough to move and I could decide how to clean it.

I don't know if they scratch or not, since this is my first time raising them. What I would really love is to get a big dump truck full of gravel dumped by my pens. I could shovel it into all of them and not have to worry about mud for a long time. It would probably cost less than paying for all the individual bags I buy.

That's probably your best bet. I hate buying little bags of anything. Soil, sand, pea gravel. (Home Depot)

 

[LemonMeringue]

Here are before and afters of my poor Amercaunas. I know it was happening in the chicken yard, maybe the coop too. Tonight I have the Blacks in one coop, the Amercaunas in another and Prim in the converted dog kennel. She's fine there, lots of ventilation and she spent a lot of her life sleeping in there. One egg today!!!!!
This is my blue before.


This is her tonight. Some of her tail feathers were broken, too but I didn't see any broken skin or blood. The Blacks have always been bullies.


Here is my white before.


This is her today. She also did not have injuries or blood.


Since I know it is happening in the yard, is there anything I can do? That may be why Prim looks so bad with broken feathers.

I would make chicken stew out of the culprits! (I need that halo and horns smiley here

) But forgetful's idea may be more to your liking. I have seen those bits advertised before and they look like thy would work.

 

[Angelicisi]

Extra scrambled eggs. A meat source for a week or so? (i use kale for this too if avoiding/lacking good meat source -leftover BBQ and such lol). [ quote name="PrimroseMom1" url="/t/160883/louisiana-la-yers-peeps/35550_50#post_13688529"]Here are before and afters of my poor Amercaunas. I know it was happening in the chicken yard, maybe the coop too. Tonight I have the Blacks in one coop, the Amercaunas in another and Prim in the converted dog kennel. She's fine there, lots of ventilation and she spent a lot of her life sleeping in there. One egg today!!!!!
This is my blue before.

This is her tonight. Some of her tail feathers were broken, too but I didn't see any broken skin or blood. The Blacks have always been bullies.

Here is my white before.

This is her today. She also did not have injuries or blood.

Since I know it is happening in the yard, is there anything I can do? That may be why Prim looks so bad with broken feathers.[/quote]

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Extra scrambled eggs. A meat source for a week or so? (i use kale for this too if avoiding/lacking good meat source -leftover BBQ and such lol). [ quote name="PrimroseMom1" url="/t/160883/louisiana-la-yers-peeps/35550_50#post_13688529"]Here are before and afters of my poor Amercaunas. I know it was happening in the chicken yard, maybe the coop too. Tonight I have the Blacks in one coop, the Amercaunas in another and Prim in the converted dog kennel. She's fine there, lots of ventilation and she spent a lot of her life sleeping in there. One egg today!!!!!
This is my blue before.

This is her tonight. Some of her tail feathers were broken, too but I didn't see any broken skin or blood. The Blacks have always been bullies.

Here is my white before.

This is her today. She also did not have injuries or blood.

Since I know it is happening in the yard, is there anything I can do? That may be why Prim looks so bad with broken feathers.

[/quote]

Thanks. I did some reading on it and definately says it can be a protein issue. When I observed it it was so weird bec Lizzy was just standing there and one of the Black hens (not sure which one bec I can't tell from that angle) was what appeared to be EATING the feathers. I'm relieved there wasn't any wounds or fear. That could explain Prim, too bec her feathers were broken off without any injury. Dang! Just when you stabilize the chicken yard something else comes up. I am willing to get the bit (thanks for that cite Forgetful) but will try to load them with protein first. One suggestion was to buy feed with higher protein. I give them layer feed now and a cup of scratch. I think I'll toss them less scratch and bump up the protein. I don't think I over treat them, maybe one or two bananas for 5 chickens or some spinach or some grapes. I may need you to help me put the bit on if I have to go with that. Man!!!!!

 

[Ron Skekel]

Thanks. I did some reading on it and definately says it can be a protein issue. When I observed it it was so weird bec Lizzy was just standing there and one of the Black hens (not sure which one bec I can't tell from that angle) was what appeared to be EATING the feathers. I'm relieved there wasn't any wounds or fear. That could explain Prim, too bec her feathers were broken off without any injury. Dang! Just when you stabilize the chicken yard something else comes up. I am willing to get the bit (thanks for that cite Forgetful) but will try to load them with protein first. One suggestion was to buy feed with higher protein. I give them layer feed now and a cup of scratch. I think I'll toss them less scratch and bump up the protein. I don't think I over treat them, maybe one or two bananas for 5 chickens or some spinach or some grapes. I may need you to help me put the bit on if I have to go with that. Man!!!!![/quote]
Buy some meal worms from ms magoo.