Should I worry? Turkeys gone with wild ones...

[firedove]

Struttn, we are in the process of building the pen. It should be done this weekend. In the meantime I will be giving Bruiser leash time every day so he can explore the farm. The turkey was not a planned purchase. I had also hoped to just house him in the chicken coop for the time being but I let the chickens out every day to free range, and by all accounts I can't let him free range just yet. I understand where you are coming from and I certainly don't intend to keep Bruiser in the crate for any longer than he has to be. I hadn't realized what a challenge it would be to bring a turkey home. Call it irresponsible if you want, I can see that side. He was at the chicken swap, he was absolutely beautiful, and I decided to take him home. My friends encouraged me to take him but no one thought to caution me about the long period that they have to be locked up, or the fact that I will need hens to go with him. I just wanted him to free range with my chickens to control predators. To note, I do have one friend who has just one tom which free ranges with her chickens. She has no other turkeys and wild turkeys come through all the time. He is bonded to the chicken flock and just stays with them. That is what I would ideally like for Bruiser. He will be sharing the big pen with the chickens and I'm hoping he and they will get used to each other.

 

[firedove]

BTW Spook, any sightings of the wayward turkeys? If I do end up with some hens and they start laying, eventually, you can have some of their hatching eggs

 

[spook]

Thank you so much firedove! That is very kind of you.
I hope Monday I will be shipped a dozen White Midget Turkey eggs.
Was disappointed that they didn't get sent on this past Monday!
But it works out in the end. I have a chicks hatching on the 10th.

One thing about turkeys as when they get mad at a chicken, they will follow it down to the point where I watched my Turkey hen hunt my little bantam rooster down. Grabbed him and used him like an old lady washing her clothes on the rocks.
Who knows! But good luck.

 

[LoveMyBirds]

Quote:
LOL.. nothing to fess up to anybody, especially the law...

I have that problem as well.. but I saw my birds go after some wild ones and then I hit the door and ran them back to their ranging area.. This has happened twice now.. 1/4 to 1/2 mile is kinda rough on an old person...

Get 2 long light sticks or somethng where you can herd them easy.

Just another little funny I saw the first part of March this year. I had 2 wild geese in my yard (they were here last year also) and seem to be pretty people friendly since I can walk pretty close without them flying off..

Anyway I let my ducks, Chickens and turkeys out to free range for the day, and my BR gobbler headed straight to the geese.. Just when he was getting near them they flew down to the pond..

 

[firedove]

I hope you have more luck with your little midgets than you did with the Narries. Hopefully with a decent sized flock they will be less likely to wander.

Now I'm thinking about getting myself some hens to go with Bruiser, and I would really like to, but now I'm concerned more about the possibility of them wandering as a flock over to our neighbor's house and causing trouble, than wandering off with other turkeys. I want to put some fencing up behind our rock wall to encourage the chickens and turkeys to wander across our yard instead of over the rock wall onto our neighbor's property. I'd rather not clip their wings so they can evade predators if they need to, but at the same time, I don't want them taking to wandering over every property around us!

My chickens are happy with just sticking to within 100 feet of the coop in three directions, they hardly ever wander the fourth direction which would be over the rock wall.

I suppose I will clip the turkeys if I have to to contain them but I really hope they would just be happy with our big 1 acre yard and our acre and a half of woods. I realize that turkeys are just different than chickens in their idea of ranging though.

 

[spook]

We put up 3' high gray plastic fencing, it looks a lot like hardware cloth, using those 4' metal steaks that you lift the fence over a "hook" up the sides. Well, anyways, you cannot see it unless your really looking for it- Hence the reason DH put orange string around the top of ours.
I believe, do not 'know', but our girls enjoy just having the area that is available and offer no escapes. The funny thing is, if they're outside the fence, then they advertise it.

Oh, BTW, we don't connect the fence to the ground, basically it keeps the honest chickens in, and the honest fox out.

I do agree that having a couple other "girl friends" around, I did not fully understand that turkeys should be in trio's.
Who'da thunk it.
So, learning from my errors, I hope that these posts helped you, if it has, then that is one of the other reasons I placed the subject.

I feel bad that the woman that sold them to me may feel bad, I certainly hope not, it was something that I should have made myself understand.
Have a great day!

 

[firedove]

Don't beat yourself up! Things happen and animals can be unpredictable. Like I said, I've got a friend with a lone tom who just hangs with his chicken flock even when the wilds are around often. You had the misfortune that yours didn't stay. I don't think you can ever guarantee, short of a totally enclosed pen, that you won't have a bird just decide that your home is not for them.

Funny enough, the past couple of times I have had trouble convincing Bruiser to come out of his crate. It has become home to him, even though it is small. I'm looking forward to finishing the pen tomorrow so he has more space, but I wonder if he will feel uncomfortable in it for the first couple of days. I will probably leave the crate in the pen for awhile in case he wants to hang out in it. He always seems quite nervous on his walks even with the chickens around. He was, after all, scared of them the first few times he encountered them. He is a sweet boy but definitely needs to bond with a flock, whether it be the chickens or some girls of his own. He will be eventually sharing the pen with the chickens, so that should help him to get used to them. I'd like him to share their coop too, it has some nice sturdy roosts in it and plenty of room for him and the chickens. If I get the girls I will have to think about making something else for the turkeys but for now, the communal pen should be good. I'll put a big plastic dog house that we have in the pen as well in case Bruiser wants to stay outside in the pen and not join the chickens in the coop at first.

ETA: I was thinking of getting the garden fencing that has smaller holes at the bottom and gets larger towards the top and just nailing it tree to tree back there behind the rock wall. It's not too expensive and sturdier than the plastic fence. If I have to make a large pen for the turkeys to range in I will go with plastic fencing though, maybe the bright orange stuff so it's readily visible. I already have a big area surrounded by fence posts (currently strung with electric rope) that we put up for the horse who is now in the process of being sold (hopefully sooner rather than later!), so we can attach the plastic fence around there and give that pasture area to the turkeys if need be.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
I agree we need to put a stop to people letting turkey FREE range where there are wild turkey, been many years getting the wild flocks back here in Ohio. DONT WANT TO HURT THE GENE POOL.

Yes most state have laws to keep this from happen. So why do so many still let their free range.
If need find these and shoot them and have for dinner,before they breed with the wild ones.

 

[seedcorn]

I wish this could be posted forever at the top. This is exactly why certain animals have to be restricted to people that have the ability to control them.

While this is innocent enough, what if this would have been some animal that would then take the domain from a native?

 

[spook]

You know what, go hijack another topic. I don't care about what the stress is that you are concerning with. You did not ask what the rest of my proposal is for these birds that are out free.
I have told the neighborhood to shoot on site, period.
Also, because they are domestic, the had no ability to fend for themselves and due to the time line, it was not wild turkey breeding season AND because none of us in this block have seen them, the Coydogs have rich in this area.
We highly doubt they are alive let alone causing you much need worry.
We here in Maine I guess we are innocently Stupid and less then capable to owning any such birds.

EXCUSE ME!

This was not for me to be flamed over, but I needed turkey people to support me in my ignorance.