Turkenstein25's Turkey Talk for 2015

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Turkeys don't CROW and only the males "gobble". Hens talk a bit and coo and trill...but nothing near as loud as the noises out of our chicken coops/runs.

In my experience they all gobble. They respond to every loud noise with a gobble and will also gobble when they are out free ranging and I call them.

 

[chknoodles]

These were two Rio girls we hatched last year. I think it's those big trusting eyes that hook us first, and then they are so willing to be cuddled...then later, they run like Forest Gump and want to inspect everything - when we had these two growing out inside, I would have to remove them from the dishwasher door cause they'd jump up to look inside (like we really keep scratch in the dishwasher! LOL)

 

[chknoodles]

In my experience they all gobble. They respond to every loud noise with a gobble and will also gobble when they are out free ranging and I call them.

Trust me on this...only males gobble. Our boys will gobble in unison when we whistle. Love when customers come with their kids and we tell them to whistle at the turkeys!!

 

[Regin]

My two Red Bourbon Gobblers follow me around outside. All I need to do is speak to them, and they gobble.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Hi, I have been reading this thread ever since Sunday when I read that having a turkey can keep hawks away from your chickens. (Sad story behind that.)

I had to do a lot of reading up about turkeys, because I wasn't sure if their pros would outweigh their cons. I didn't plan to own such a large bird. It will probably mean not keeping as many chickens as I had hoped for.

I've only read up to page 15 so far, but as of Wednesday, I am now a turkey Mama, so I wanted to jump in and say "Hi!" And post photos of my little cuties. They are Narragansetts, and today is their three week birthday. After reading so many reports that it's hard to get newly hatched poults to eat, I was really thankful that mine are well past that stage. But that didn't stop me from worrying when I didn't see them eat the first day...

Here they are:














My daughter's college roommate said I should name them Stuffing and Gravy. That's cute, but neither one of them looks like a "Gravy". (They both kind of look like bits of stuffing, though, don't they?) I think I might change it to Cranberry and Stuffing instead. (Cranberry is the taller one, and no, food names does not mean they are intended to be dinner!

) Their job is to be LGTs.

I am already amazed at how much more human-oriented they are than chicken chicks I have raised. Really, even more so than parakeet babies that I hand feed. The credit must be due to the man and his family who have been loving on them since they hatched.

I've been enjoying this thread and look forward to pages 16 and up!

They are adorable!!

 

[Finnie]

Thank you.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Trust me on this...only males gobble. Our boys will gobble in unison when we whistle. Love when customers come with their kids and we tell them to whistle at the turkeys!!

Hmmm, you may be right...but I can testify 100% that hens will sometimes strut. I've photos of the whole bunch puffed up and strutting when I know that I had both hens and toms. Can't be as positive about the gobbling, so I'll take your word...until this summer anyway when my new batch are hitting gobbling age.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Thank you.

No problem!!

 

[chknoodles]

Hummingbird Hollow...you are absolutely right...girl turkeys can strut and do a little shake to try to look bigger and more intimidating to predators or other turkeys and some can change their head colors too and we've had/have girls that are bearded...but the girls can't drum or gobble and they have little snoods.

 

[AmericanMom]

3 weeks after the turkeys started laying and I set my third batch of eggs yesterday, first two batches (total of 14 eggs) are all doing great! every egg that I have candled has been fertile, removed a total of 4 due to blood rings but so happy with the outcome! First batch goes into lock down on the 10th.