What is culling?? Thanks for ur reply I hate to give up on them. I've gotten very attached but will not get more when they're gone. I can't walk by the turkey pen without the male flying up against the fence trying to get at me. I'm really not looking forward to going in his pen when I have to fill his food container up. I use to go into his pen and do some pooper scooping to cut down on the smell but can't chance it anymore I guess time will tell. Thanks for ur comments st least I know there's nothing I did wrong
Culling generally does mean killing, in the context it's most often used, but technically it just means separating and can mean rehoming, caging separately, etc. When I say culling I most often mean killing but you can interpret it any way that suits you best really, given your individual situation.
As for the smell, you can try lime, works for me, but that's in conjunction with the deep litter composting method, where the focus is on establishing healthy soil profiles which naturally controls pathogenic or harmful populations of microbes, microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, etc. When I say 'lime' I mean calcium carbonate, not any of those caustic types that will also harm the bird. The sort I refer to is the same sort that's safe to add to their feed and is labeled as such. Just sprinkle some on the poop, knocks smell out really well, for a short time, but long term control is dependent on healthy soil. If the levels of feces are overloading the bacteria etc in the soil that are responsible for digesting it and turning it into healthy soil, there will always be a stink, you need to improve the soil to control that. Which takes some months, possibly even years depending on what's been done to the soil. Can even be nigh-impossible when the soil's been abused certain ways, or if you're trying to work on concrete.
If you can't control and heal the sick soil (the stench is a sure symptom of unhealthy soil) it will eventually (probably sooner rather than later) impact on his health, quite possibly fatally. Turkeys are very sensitive when it comes to damp and unhealthy soil. And with his behavior, at this rate you're looking at risking your safety to tend to him. Really can't recommend that. They can do a shocking amount of damage in very short order.
Ohhhhhh. Thanks for explaining. No can't say that's an option. If he keeps pulling all his feathers out he'll be a turkey pop this winter. Last winter we got down to -18 so with no feathers will make it pretty tough.
He's pulling out his own feathers? Is he actively feather-picking, or just rubbing them off against the mesh by brushing along it as he walks?
Best wishes.
