Turkey Talk for 2014

[Nickeyo]

It sounds heavenly. As far as I know there's no significant difference in the breeds other than color, if they're bred to the standard. I believe the heritage Bronze is about 2-3 pounds heavier than the Bourbon Reds at full maturity, so that may slow down a large male, but the superior camouflage of the Bronze (in most environments) might be more beneficial.

You might have a few losses around the stream if there are enough trees for a predator to hide in, but overall it sounds like turkey paradise. If you had a livestock protection dog that wouldn't hurt the turkeys but would chase off the foxes and badgers, then you potentially could prevent all losses.

thankyou very much. I dont have a dog but my neighboring farmer is a field away and he has a couple of fox hounds that are use to chickens and turkeys as he breeds wyandottes and has a bronze tom and a lavander hen that he has bred from, although they dont free range. as for the stream there are lots of trees side by side but only one row either side but the banks are steep and even in dry weather you slip down, there is a part with a concrete ramp going down for cattle though. do turkeys get on with horses. my horse has a bad history with birds as he got attacked by my ex bat hens but he seems to have got over it now but I dont want an amorous tom chasing him

 

[Momhunter]

Is there any non-broad breasted breed of turkey that is ready for processing for the holidays, Nov/Dec, when hatched in the spring of the same year???

 

[gevshiba]

Awesome! Thanks Yinepu, I will start investigating! Does anyone really worry about coyotes and turkeys? I know they can fly pretty well and roost in trees but I'm sure a coyote could sneak up on one if it tried really hard. Any horror stories I should know about?

I'm north of you in Tioga. I did lose a young turkey and 3 chickens to coyotes last summer. We are right on Ray Roberts, so surrounded by corp land. All the birds were taken during the afternoon.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Is there any non-broad breasted breed of turkey that is ready for processing for the holidays, Nov/Dec, when hatched in the spring of the same year???

Mine are easily big enough to process at 8 months old, so if you're in the South where the turkeys start laying earlier in the year, you could potentially have one hatched out by late March, and grown out to a good size in time for Thanksgiving.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
It would probably depend on the individual birds, but my toms tend to stay with their hens. The hens are more likely to wander out to investigate things. The toms do gobble quite a bit, which I find entertaining but some people, and I imagine some animals might also, find the gobbling intimidating. There's lots of u-tube videos labeled as turkeys attacking when all they're doing is walking or running up to someone and gobbling. I would think that a horse that was introduced to young poults and saw them daily wouldn't be as frightened as if there was suddenly a 30 pound gobbling tom in the pasture.

Someone else may have had different experiences, but I have not found my toms to be chasers. They strut and gobble and sometimes intentionally bump into me if I'm ignoring them, but more followers than chasers, and not at all aggressive. But again, if someone is scared of turkeys, whether a person or an animal, and the frantically gobbling tom is following them, it might be misinterpreted as chasing. The hens will run up to deer, but the toms aren't impressed and just watch the hens. It might be an issue if your horse is really easily spooked, but mine just aren't assertive birds. They just want to relax in their yard, explore the farm, and beg for attention

 

[Nickeyo]

thankyou again. He is a big baby, a small deer jumped into the field with him so he jumped the electric fence and started charging around the fenced of part LOL. as long as they dont chase and just gobble he should be fine.

 

[sonderah]

thankyou again. He is a big baby, a small deer jumped into the field with him so he jumped the electric fence and started charging around the fenced of part LOL. as long as they dont chase and just gobble he should be fine.

Omg! I just noticed ur avatar!! ADORABLE!!

 

[Nickeyo]

Omg! I just noticed ur avatar!! ADORABLE!!

Thankyou, his names phelix, hes a bantam gold phoenix. Getting in the xmas spirit

 

[AmericanMom]

Ok, just set 22 more Bourbon Reds in a second incubator... Hatch date is the 6th of May!!

First incubator.. Day 11
Set 17 Bourbon Reds. 11 Show excellent growth and veining, 5 show veining but not as well and 1 looks to have collapsed into a blood ring, didn't remove it, will check again on day 14
Goose eggs, set 6, one was removed last night, clear ...... the other five look good I think, Can see great veining and the embryo is dancing... 3 Chicken can see veining (they are on day 5)

 

[Arielle]

Quote: LOL-- I double dip too using my canner pot. I can barely carry it from stove to work area when full. Gets 1 turkey done or 3 chickens. then temp is too cool to be useful.

Quote: Totally for got about this-- buy it from a horse supply/tack shop ! PLEASE MONITOR IT WIL IN USE. A barn almost went up -- owner put it in a water bucket and forgot it so when I went to hay horses over in shedrow the flames were shooting up the pine boards of a stall. Yanked the cord, and turned onthe water hose . . . . terrifying. Water in bucket had evaporated, and bucket melted and on fire. THank GOd all the horses had been turned outearlier but this wat attached to a new indoor AND a 24 stall barn--- could have been a disaster.

THis model is better designed but please monitor these bucket heaters. Definitely a useful tool. Glad you mentioned it!!!

Quote: IMO this is always a good thinking point-- I use metal cooking pots myself as I am looking for more and more replacements for the plastic in my life. I've become very suspisious of plastics.
Try a cooking/ restaurant supply store.

My BBW hen was 30+ pounds live weight. She DID NOT fit in a 5 gal bucket for dunking & barely fit enough to carry her back outside without soaking the house on the way. A tom her age would have never fit at all.

lol-- my BBW went to the butcher!! Males came back at 35#-- DH bought new roasting pans for CHirstmas, and the legs still hang over!!

Barely fits in the oven.

My neighbor just showed me pictures of the wild tom in the run with my birds. Luckily, my tom wasn't hurt. He has a few head/snood injuries, but nothing serious and they may have been caused by a hen. One of them was schooling him on manners the other day. I guess turkey season starts soon. I'll look that up to be certain. My neighbor is already drooling. He's pretty assured of a turkey this year.

Here it is turkey breeding season so no hunting right now. THey need to raise up the younguns and then they will be free game in the fall. I often have the wild ones in my yard and they nest in my wood.

Got my very first turkey egg today!

Very eggciting!!

We lost our turkey hen today. Tom wanted to mate, she didn't, he didn't care, cornered her got her down and proceeded to try. He slipped and ripped her open but good as she still was trying to get away. Had them separated, he flew over the fence I'm guessing. And now that I'm thinking about it, he probably got on his roost and jumped over the fence.

We decided to cull her as her whole left side was open under her wing. It also looked like I missed a puncture from when he did this earlier in the week, as she had infection in the right wing/chest area. She also had some blood clotting internally, so we opted not to put her in the freezer. She was getting ready to lay, she had 6 large eggs all lined up ready to pop out and lots of little ones.

She weighed in at 36 lbs dead weight, with a decent amount of fatty tissue. I really didn't think she was that large. I'm guessing I did have BBB after all. Tom is huge and after this latest escapade, is now limping. He will be culled in the next couple of days. I'm scared to see how much he weighs.

If I ever get turkeys again, it will be from a breeder. No more hatchery. Tom was not a very nice bird. Hoping to have better luck with the "nasty" bred out of them.

Deb

I have never had a bad tom. BOught mine from Porters and a private breeder. I aasked about temperament before purchase because . . . I have kids.( Not" maaa" , but "Mom where's the kindle?")

Went down to feed the birds this evening and found this hanging out with our royal palms. I think it's a girl, but beyond that, I'm not sure what it is. She's quite tall and big bodied, stands above my other turkeys and geese. Looks very dark from the front, but has different colors in the tail. She looks way bigger and darker than the wild ones around here, for sure. Any guesses?

How lovely.

So, our turkey hatch has been a tragedy. I set 8 eggs, four hatched. Three have died, leaving us with one lonely turkey poult, Laredo. He seems to have imprinted on Brian, and will cry and cry and cry anytime Brian leaves the room. Since he can't take a baby turkey everywhere with him (Laredo still needs the heat lamp for a few more weeks), Brian's mad parenting skills kicked in and now Laredo will never be alone ...

Very clever!! NOw you need to hatch a few more to keep it company!!

My new additions, Gunner and Heidi

Beautiful!!!

Quote: I only use hydrometer as a guide too, the air cells are my real test. Trust Yinepu-- she is a hatching guru!!

To invest or not to invest...

The lady that sold me the 17 Bourbon red eggs just got ahold of me, she still hasn't sold her adult birds and has in the last 7 days collected 18 more eggs... I cannot put them in the incubator of course because its been running for 8 days now... Hubby told me if I wanted to just to go buy another incubator and sell the poults if they hatch...
Oh what to do....

Im getting the 18 eggs for 10 bucks...I can buy another Hova bator like I have without the turner or fan for 45.00.. If I get a good hatch (and that's an if) I can sell the poults for up to 10. each... Sounds great, but there are a lot of what if's there..

You can make one for far less but why can't you add to the one you already have???????? I do staggered hatches in one incubator right now. Add water,pull out hatchlings. Pull eggs, dump water, put eggs back in. Two is easier. Poults run about 10-15$ here. Sell 6 poults to pay for the machine.

Hi Turkey Folk...Please let me know if this question has been answered before...I'm located near Denton, TX and am thinking of doing Thanksgiving turkeys this year for the first time. I'm very interested in the heritage breeds available and wondered if anyone had thoughts about which breeds might do best during our very hot summers. Thanks

I'm a little behind-- it you find an answer?? I'm sure I will find out as I catch up.

Welcome.