I got a hen turkey at farmer's market this morning. She is a young bronze.
The seller said she is a year old, but she seems quite small. Actually both hens he had looked small. She is barely half the size of my 2 year old blue sleight hen. To me. she looks only a few months old, I am not sure if she even looks 6 months old.
I am very concerned about her losing feathers a lot. The box I brought her home in (3 ft. long, 2 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet tall) was covered with feathers about an inch deep. She was in the box about 10 minutes, no more than 15 minutes. Later this evening, I picked her up to put her into the housing she and my current hen will live in, feathers fell out in huge bunches. I am surprised she even has any feathers left - that is how many I have been seeing falling out.
When she walks around, no feathers are left on the ground or such. She even flew up onto the fence and no feathers fell out.
Is she going through a molt? Our weather has been crazy here, temperature wise, and all animals are going through strange stuff. I have seen a few extra feathers from my chickens, ducks, etc. Not as major as I am seeing with this new turkey.
I know she is very very stressed, as is the 2 yr old african grey goose I came home with, the roo japanese white with black tail bantam, the grey japanese bantam hen, the two white with grey stripes japanese bantam hens. (all the bantam are young ones, not a year old)
The seller said she is a year old, but she seems quite small. Actually both hens he had looked small. She is barely half the size of my 2 year old blue sleight hen. To me. she looks only a few months old, I am not sure if she even looks 6 months old.
I am very concerned about her losing feathers a lot. The box I brought her home in (3 ft. long, 2 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet tall) was covered with feathers about an inch deep. She was in the box about 10 minutes, no more than 15 minutes. Later this evening, I picked her up to put her into the housing she and my current hen will live in, feathers fell out in huge bunches. I am surprised she even has any feathers left - that is how many I have been seeing falling out.
When she walks around, no feathers are left on the ground or such. She even flew up onto the fence and no feathers fell out.
Is she going through a molt? Our weather has been crazy here, temperature wise, and all animals are going through strange stuff. I have seen a few extra feathers from my chickens, ducks, etc. Not as major as I am seeing with this new turkey.
I know she is very very stressed, as is the 2 yr old african grey goose I came home with, the roo japanese white with black tail bantam, the grey japanese bantam hen, the two white with grey stripes japanese bantam hens. (all the bantam are young ones, not a year old)
