Thought I'd post about the air bubble under timmy's wing..

[lizzard14]

I took Timmy to the vet, he drained the bubble, it was just air. After he let the air out you could see the skin moving in and out as he was breathing. Vet seems to think he may have a hole in his little lung. He seems fine. Doc said if it comes back not to worry about it, that he could probably function okay with it. Well, it was back the next day. ;-( He also told me to cut Timmy's food back some and get him some excercise since he was laying down alot. Said his joints were probably hurting him. So I cut his food back and started getting him and Mrs. Gobbles out of their pen and walking them around and guess what? He is actually getting around a whole lot better. He is actually jumping up on his roost at night. He was just bedding down on a pile of hay at night and I'd go out there every night before bedtime and put him up on his roost so if a fox or something got in the pen he wouldn't get eaten. Timmy and Mrs. Gobbles will be 13 weeks old Friday. I took him the vet about 2-3 weeks ago. The vet found his little beard. lol... I had to show my hubby when he got home. So now we know for sure we have a male and female. The only thing is, I think they are BB bronze ( if that is what kind atwoods carries) and i've read they can't mate. Does anyone know if that is true?
Oh, and one treat I found that they LOVE on hot days, they absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE crushed ice. It was like 106-110 a couple days, and one of those days I let them out to help me in my garden, I had finished drinking a glass of ice water and set my glass down and Mrs. Gobbles decided to help herself. They were chirping and making all kinds of yummy noises. It was soooo funny. So the next day I went up to the store from the house and got some of that soft, shaved ice and let them have some for a treat. I mean they went nuts for that stuff.

 

[Dogfish]

BBB's are great birds if you pay attention to them. Mine were VERY friendly.

Met me at my car door every day when I got home. Sadly, even though I reduced their feed intake, they continued to grow rapidly. It is how they are bred. Leg issue became apparent and in 5 months Tom went from a day old to well over 40lbs. We processed them both for Thanksgiving because that is what they were raised for. I had tears in my eyes when I toasted them at dinner. 36lbs in the oven.

Don't mean to be a downer, but most likely your birds will live a short life. If you prolong their lives, they will have leg issues, most likely. You may get lucky and have your hen mate with another turkey, but you are correct, all broad breasted birds are artificially inseminated. They will most likely not be able to mate naturally.

(I qualify my statements because someone may say their's do, but it isn't a common thing.)

Enjoy them while you have them.

 

[MysticPoultry101]

I have this problem with my month old Turk named Monsoon(Or Monny) And He/she Is standing perfect. jumping around, Running, and playing with her turk pal, Tsunami.