Turkenstein25's Turkey Talk for 2015

[chickadoodles]

My hen is hatching out her second clutch of eggs. These were in the refrigerator for 2 months, so I was not very hopeful that they would actually hatch out. But right on schedule, we already have one out and dried and more hatching. These eggs have survived being refrigerated, rained on, etc. Survivors for sure.

Congrats that is great! Pretty poults.

 

[cppeace]

they certainly were very determined to hatch. Beautiful poults

 

[Finnie]

My husband is not an animal person. Everything to do with my animals is pretty much left entirely to me, since they are my hobby. He does, however, think the turkeys are pretty interesting. I think it's because they are so, well, weird. They are so intense in their curiosity about watching us through the windows. They know whenever anybody walks through the rooms in the back of the house. They will turn their head from across the yard and then come running. (If they are even that far away.)

This morning he told me that it was already creepy enough that they spy on us through the windows, but what's even more creepy is that he walked into the bathroom, and Cranberry was looking down at him through the sky light! I guess they have discovered the roof.

Still, when he told me yesterday that he was going out to do a turkey project, I didn't believe him. He tried to get some of the kids to go out and help him, and I thought he was just calling whatever odd job he was going to do a turkey project to trick them into going with him. It didn't work, but my son-in-law always loves to do everything, so he helped.

So here is what they built yesterday. I couldn't believe, they really were doing a turkey project!



Those jumbo zip ties are nailed to the stump branch of the tree, and they made a notch in the end of the log to fit over the fence rail, and then nailed that in place.


Then they put some more log roosts in other places.



They generally sleep on top of that chain link fence at night, which can't be all that great for their feet. DH thought they would be more comfortable on the branch, but he didn't put it in their usual place, so I don't think they are going to use it. They did, of course, go on it while he was trying to attach it to the fence.

(They also made nuisances of themselves while he was trying to chop the wood with a hatchet. They are lucky to still have their beaks! Stupid turkeys.)

And then he put another branch on their saw horse, so they would be more comfortable there, too, instead of having to perch on the splintery 2x6:


The saw horses are a favorite roosting place of all the chickens and turkeys. Sometimes they nap there, but a lot of the time it's their front row seat for watching us through the window. I do think the branch is an improvement, since the old plank is rotting, plus it's narrow side up.

I think my husband secretly likes the turkeys, even though he sees all my other animals as just an annoyance. And I get a lot of flak for how many birds I own.

 

[feedman77]

Nice looking upgrades. The rest of your pen/yard looks great as well. Cudos to your Dh and Sil.

 

[chickadoodles]

Nice looking upgrades. The rest of your pen/yard looks great as well. Cudos to your Dh and Sil.

x2 looks great!

 

[Finnie]

Thanks!

 

[teria]

So our big project for our two adorable Bourbon Red poults is to construct a turkey coop out of our little tykes playhouse.

They love that house, and from the dimensions I have calculated it is 10.45 square feet of space so enough for the two of them to roost in comfortably. It is solid, and they really like hopping in and out of the windows, standing on the window sills and peering out, and we put a temporary roost that just sits resting on two opposing window sills that they just love sitting on for naps. So, I am pretty confident they will transition to living in it fairly easily. It's already home for the majority of the daytime hours.

They are about 8 weeks old, more or less, and spend their nights in the big brooder box in the garage. During the day they free range with our chickens, and consider themselves part of our younger flock of hens. Still, they seem to recognize that they are not chickens, just oddball cousins or something. They are growing so fast and soon it will be too cramped in the brooder box, plus, the nights are so warm that it's perfect timing to get them sleeping outside but I need to make the playhouse secure and safe first.

My plan is to surround the grow out pen that the playhouse sits in with 6 foot hardware cloth fencing. Then, I will take a pallet and make a floor for them. I'll put old cabinet doors on the front and back windows, so they can be opened for fresh air. I think putting a tarp over the whole thing, one that is big enough to keep the rain off, will be easy and not put too much weight on the roof. The tarp will be folded so it only covers the roof itself during the day, and just drop the sides at night. I will be staking the front and back of the tarp in such a way to allow air circulation and flow. Then just two 4x6 roosts mounted inside and we're done. I might consider mounting a hook from the ceiling to hang their feeder off the floor, but, will just put a cinder block inside to put their waterer on so that it is raised up and stays somewhat cleaner.

They spend the lion's share of their day wandering our back yard, which has a 6 foot cedar fence all around it, so, I don't really plan to change that part of their routine. Just want a place to secure them when we are gone say for vacation etc, hence the tall grow out pen around the playhouse. The chickens already have a coop and run that is secure, but, it just isn't big enough to add two large and growing turkeys.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

My husband is not an animal person. Everything to do with my animals is pretty much left entirely to me, since they are my hobby. He does, however, think the turkeys are pretty interesting. I think it's because they are so, well, weird. They are so intense in their curiosity about watching us through the windows. They know whenever anybody walks through the rooms in the back of the house. They will turn their head from across the yard and then come running. (If they are even that far away.)

This morning he told me that it was already creepy enough that they spy on us through the windows, but what's even more creepy is that he walked into the bathroom, and Cranberry was looking down at him through the sky light! I guess they have discovered the roof.

Still, when he told me yesterday that he was going out to do a turkey project, I didn't believe him. He tried to get some of the kids to go out and help him, and I thought he was just calling whatever odd job he was going to do a turkey project to trick them into going with him. It didn't work, but my son-in-law always loves to do everything, so he helped.

So here is what they built yesterday. I couldn't believe, they really were doing a turkey project!



Those jumbo zip ties are nailed to the stump branch of the tree, and they made a notch in the end of the log to fit over the fence rail, and then nailed that in place.


Then they put some more log roosts in other places.



They generally sleep on top of that chain link fence at night, which can't be all that great for their feet. DH thought they would be more comfortable on the branch, but he didn't put it in their usual place, so I don't think they are going to use it. They did, of course, go on it while he was trying to attach it to the fence.

(They also made nuisances of themselves while he was trying to chop the wood with a hatchet. They are lucky to still have their beaks! Stupid turkeys.)

And then he put another branch on their saw horse, so they would be more comfortable there, too, instead of having to perch on the splintery 2x6:


The saw horses are a favorite roosting place of all the chickens and turkeys. Sometimes they nap there, but a lot of the time it's their front row seat for watching us through the window. I do think the branch is an improvement, since the old plank is rotting, plus it's narrow side up.

I think my husband secretly likes the turkeys, even though he sees all my other animals as just an annoyance. And I get a lot of flak for how many birds I own.

Looks great!

 

[Finnie]

Thanks!

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Thanks!