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This comes at a perfect time. I've been wondering what to do about my free range turkeys during the winter months. I was thinking I might need to start locking them up during the cold nights, which would mean either building a new structure or modifying an old one. Are you saying your turkeys are outside all year? How do they fare during the winter months?
I don't worry much about predators any more, either, because of my dog. I would say "dogs", but the Pyrs are so young they aren't much good for anything.
The turkeys I used to have would roost on the top bar of the chain link fence and a neighbor stopped one day and told me to break them of that habit, or their feet would freeze to the metal when it got really cold. That never happened, because they cover their feet with their bodies when roosting and the warmth from their body kept their feet from freezing to the metal.
Right now, most are roosting on the top of the flight pen, which is pvc pipe covered with chicken wire. They put their feet on top of the pvc pipe, where the top is strongest and essentially have air flow all around themselves.
I have only had one bird freeze and that was a peacock that I tried to remove from the top bar of the chain link fence in a sleet storm. He flew to the top of a tree, which was fine, but when he decided to relocate to a smaller tree, the branch broke with his weight and the ice and his leg got tangled in the branches and he was essentially upside down in an ice storm and froze.
This comes at a perfect time. I've been wondering what to do about my free range turkeys during the winter months. I was thinking I might need to start locking them up during the cold nights, which would mean either building a new structure or modifying an old one. Are you saying your turkeys are outside all year? How do they fare during the winter months?
I don't worry much about predators any more, either, because of my dog. I would say "dogs", but the Pyrs are so young they aren't much good for anything.
The turkeys I used to have would roost on the top bar of the chain link fence and a neighbor stopped one day and told me to break them of that habit, or their feet would freeze to the metal when it got really cold. That never happened, because they cover their feet with their bodies when roosting and the warmth from their body kept their feet from freezing to the metal.
Right now, most are roosting on the top of the flight pen, which is pvc pipe covered with chicken wire. They put their feet on top of the pvc pipe, where the top is strongest and essentially have air flow all around themselves.
I have only had one bird freeze and that was a peacock that I tried to remove from the top bar of the chain link fence in a sleet storm. He flew to the top of a tree, which was fine, but when he decided to relocate to a smaller tree, the branch broke with his weight and the ice and his leg got tangled in the branches and he was essentially upside down in an ice storm and froze.
