The Old Folks Home

[GardenerGal]

Arielle, that sounds like an AMAZING wedding! Low key and charming. The Cape during off season is heaven! No tourists, miles of deserted beaches, gorgeous seascapes you never get tired of watching. The carriage ride to the chapel was a lovely touch too.
My fiance is from Japan and is back there taking care of his mother (she has dementia, unfortunately), and I am taking care of my elderly parents here, so our wedding is on hold for a while. It will probably be in Japan in a little mountain pagoda. In my imagination there is a waterfall, bamboo growing lushly, and a little Japanese monk or priest in a long robe serving as "Justice of the Peace" as it might be hard to find an old-time American preacher man in rural Japan.

Off topic: did you sell all of your Bourbon Red poults and 3 jakes? I used to have a BR tom and loved him to pieces. Sweet temperament and beautiful. Lost him to bumblefoot when he was 5, and still miss him.

 

[Arielle]

I love the sound of your upcoming wedding!! Have patience, you will have a wonderful wedding.

I have several poults as I am still hatching. ANd the Three Muskateers! I sold the Fourth Muskateer as a pet. THe woman emailed me to say a few days later he had escaped and was herded for hours by the police in their cruisers thru town!!!

The 3 boys free range and usually follow me up to the garden or watch while we are building coops. Generally quiet and underfoot! I really like the breed. I have an order in at Porters, will see how these other breeds compare. Haven't told DH yet about the newest turkeys. What is it Gibbs on NCIS says?, " Better to ask forgivness . . . " I sold a surprising number of poults this spring/summer. I highly recommend them, I feel my children are safe around them.

 

[Wisher1000]

GG-Funny you should mention bumblefoot in turkeys. I went to a farm yesterday to pick up two peafowl eggs (put them under a broody this morning) and her tom had large swellings on the middle pad of both feet. I asked about it and she said it happens sometimes (she didn't seem concerned at all) but he is too mean to try to doctor on. On que, he tried to flog her and it terrified her. She said he does that everytime she comes out to the coop and run. Now, I've only had poults, never a grown tom, but is that common? I thought they were generally docile and even downright friendly. I don't want won't have a 30 pound bully in my yard - I'd have him on my table.

Arielle-what do you know about hatching peafowl? Are they hard to incubate? I did some fast research and it said it was best to start them under a broody. I can move them in to the bator anytime as it is empty but if the hen will hatch them okay it would be easier to leave them (except that she has been sitting since mid June as it is!)
Do you call the 3 Musketeers by their given names, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis? I assume D'Artagnon was the one that the cops were chasing......

 

[Arielle]

I have heard such thing too. Not that every tom will do it, but something to be aware of. My boys have never flogged me--NEVER. THere dad is as sweet as pie too.

When my grain is delivered, the driver is always a little annoyed at the extra company while unloaded the bags. After a few deliveries I realized he didn't just dis like them but was a bit defensive. I reassured him that these boys would never flog him, drum on his feet or pull on pant legs, oh yes!! He confided that he had grown up around turkeys and they flogged him.

My kids are precious to me. THeir safety comes first. This bid is too large for a child to fend off, so I was very cautious at first. THe 3 muskateers meet and greet many visitors and I've never had a problem. I don't know if not having any females to defend makes a diference; but Thomas Edison, the dad, is never a problem when I go into his pen and pick up eggs or check on a hen.

I can't say every BR line is like this; I can only speak to mine; I have heard other people say how nice they are, too.

PS I would never leave a small child unsupervised around any animal.

 

[dsqard]

Wisher, I don't know if it is the breed, but my BR tom is very well behaved too. He has never made an agressive move towards me or anyone who comes on the property. I don't know if it is because he has been the only male allowed to mature or what. The two black spanish I have (I call them the blues brothers, for some reason they just remind me of them) are maturing fast but won't make it to breeding age.

So far they are behaved but I only need one tom so I am keeping the one that I know is a good boy.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My speckled sussex rooster is a jerkwad, his brother was, too. His brother had to leave the real chicken coop and go to jail in with the roosters for eating very early in life because he couldn't get rid of his desire for underage girls. I won't tolerate that. This one acted okay and then all of a sudden one day just started attacking humans. You have to watch your back (and your feet and legs!) when you're in the chicken run because you never know when he's going to go after you. He's done it a few times and did it once with the BF. Once I also had them out free ranging and apparently the neighbor walked over (without calling first) and the rooster attacked her, too. I don't feel so bad about that one, it's like karma. Call first = how many times do I have to tell you that?

Not sure what I want to do about him, yet. I'm worried that it's genetics because they were both jerks, but I want to breed SS. I guess we could butcher him and I could order some more SS eggs (I *could* persevere through that tragedy) instead of hatching my own, so maybe we'll go that route. I don't want to reward a jerk and let him continue on living, but I was hoping he'd get the hint once I kicked his butt a few times. He doesn't do it all the time but I'd say once a week now makes a move towards me. Yeah, I think he'll be simmering in a crock pot soon. Maybe I'll go the whole winter without a rooster. My neighbors would be pleased.

D - That black rumpless little thing just turned into a rooster! He had an ever so slight pink comb the last few weeks, but I've had worse in girls that ended up being girls. I had been questioning his girlhood, but was pretty much ready to call it until I noticed pointy saddle feathers on him yesterday and was quite frankly shocked.

 

[dsqard]

SCG, see you have your answer on what rooster to keep!

If he is all black and really looks like an Ameraucana, he is probably pure. I have black hens and a black roo out there. He would make babies that would carry the blue egg gene. I don't know if behavior is hereditary but I would hesitate in using a roo to breed that likes to attack. BTW, I have found that a riding crop works real well with the aggressive ones. Randy, my brahma roo, has learned to respect it and me to an extent. I never hit him with it, just tapped him lightly to make him move away and would "drive" him with it to reinforce who is "boss roo" around here. He got the message and I no longer have to carry it with me. You can usually pick them up at a feed store if they carry horse tack as well as feed.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

The riding crop sounds like a decent idea. He's afraid of me - but only when I'm looking at him. Anyone ever play a Mario game - one with the ghosts? He reminds me of those things. They're fine and calm when you're looking at them, but as soon as you turn your back they sneak up and try to kill you. I usually end up just kicking him away, but by that point he's attached himself to my foot or ankle and it's less of a punt and more of a shaking action to get him off.

 

[dsqard]

SCG I have found that Randy gets much more aggressive if I actually hit him with something. The second time he went at me I had a bucket lid in my hand and I wacked him in the head with it (I am not proud of this, I was shocked and it was what I had in my hand at the time). This only seemed to make things worse. The riding crop lets you keep a distance which seems to keep things calmer and the fact that you can just tap them to let them know to "move along now" seems to also keep the situation from escalating. I sure do miss Mr. Cogburn, he was such a good roo.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

SCG I have found that Randy gets much more aggressive if I actually hit him with something. The second time he went at me I had a bucket lid in my hand and I wacked him in the head with it (I am not proud of this, I was shocked and it was what I had in my hand at the time). This only seemed to make things worse. The riding crop lets you keep a distance which seems to keep things calmer and the fact that you can just tap them to let them know to "move along now" seems to also keep the situation from escalating. I sure do miss Mr. Cogburn, he was such a good roo.

Yeah I regret eating The Witch King of Angmar... such a good little boy. But of course turkens just don't sell that well. I kept the girls and get an occasional naked neck that hatches, which is a much better volume to sell than an entire litter of little Gomez's - as cute as I think they are, most people just don't agree.