Turkey Talk for 2014

[Turkeytruff]

Heritage turkeys live to free range. I have multiple fences, with the tallest being 8 feet, which they viewed as mere hurtles in their path. When they were babies it was cute, then it became annoying, then it became outright dangerous. They were walking down the street, playing on the neighbor's roofs, and luckily my neighbor saw them before they crossed a busy street about 1/4 mile from my farm on their way to a local lake. The last straw was when all 7 of them were outside of their one acre yard walking along one of my interior fences. Then for no reason at all, they suddenly took flight right towards the street, almost flying into the mail carrier's vehicle. At that point I decided that they were just trouble looking for a place to land and determined to find it, so I had to trim their wings for their own safety. I hated to do it, but I figured that they were less likely to be injured on my property without full flight than off my property with full flight. I only trimmed the hens wings, as the toms just want to stay with the girls. and the almost blind hen wasn't trimmed. But the four ringleaders were controlled, and life became much easier. They still have a large area to range over and explore, so they're quite happy

My birds are in 4 ft fencing & no clipped wings. Occasionally 1 will hop the fence & then immediately start pacing trying to get back in. I usually hear her calling & just go open the gate & she walke right back in. The tom has never hopped but each hen has at least once. Now if the gate gets left open it's a whole other story! If they all walk out together (chickens, turkeys & call ducks in same pen) then they stay together in a couple big groups & begin to wander the yard. The turkey hens give the same call as when the accidently hop out though, so I still get alerted pretty quick that I have escapees.

My 2 turkey's do the same. Hop up on a 5ft coop and over the fence. I laugh that they do it and then want back in.

I make em wait a little while to teach them a lesson, doesn't matter, they do it again. I let my ducks, chickens and turkey's all out at the same time when they free range. I let them out around 11am and put them to bed around 8pm. I have to wait till 11 so the chickens are mostly done laying their eggs or I can't find them later. lol

I am devastated that I didn't clip my turkey hen's wings. I have (had) 4 turkey hens - we live next to a vineyard with 3 terriers that are trained to hunt. We have an 8 foot fence and they got over it and couldn't get back months ago. We got them back and until last week it wasn't a problem - but this week Nora one of my blue slate hens decided to go over the fence again - and couldn't get back. My DH and I spent 5 hours trying to get her back and eventually gave up as she went to ground in a part of their forest. I called for her in the morning - no joy - had to go to work, came back and tried to find her. That evening the neighbour told me they nearly caught her but she escaped again. They lost her in their forest. An hour later their dogs suddenly smelled her or heard her and ripped her apart before they could do anything.
I have 3 other hens that are getting clipped tomorrow.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Just released my 4 poults into the big pen... I could have listened to their happy little puts all day.
They are happy birds today!

Nothing more joyous than young turkeys getting released to play!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Oh Turkeytruff, that's heartbreaking. I'm so sorry.

 

[Sueg4332]

I checked a egg in her nest it is fertile. She got off the nest yesterday afternoon she has 6 eggs I thought she only had 4.
Hope I have better luck with a mama turkey my chickens are stupid. Walked out to close pens late last night. The mama cochin bamtam had got on the wrong nest. 7 little babies chirping their heads off very cold one had already passed 6 very cold. Took them in the house set them in the incubator to warm them up. 3 made it but 3 passed.
chicks are calling all need to be fed. Over run with chicks
these are the babies I hatch so all still alive and out grow chicks

 

[desertmarcy]

I put my oldest turkeys outside in a big pen for the first time a few days ago. 3 of the oldest were 5-1/2 weeks old, the next group was 3-1/2 weeks old. Then I tried to add the youngest group, which were only 2-1/2 weeks old. The 2 older groups did fine, were walking around, exploring. The younger ones all just froze on the ground or piled in the corners. I knew this was not going to work, they were just too young. What a difference one week of age makes with these. I moved the 2-1/2 week olds into the garage temporary pen where they will stay for at least another week.

Then a friend drove up from a town 2-1/2 hours away, to pick up some chickens. He phoned another friend, who had been wanting some of my turkeys, but just couldn't find the time to drive up here but he would transport them for her. After some back and forth, what did I have, how much, etc., she said she would take all of them! So a quick PayPal transaction, boxed up the poults, and off went 35 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 week old poults, all except the ones I'm keeping for myself

She will resell most of them to all the other people down there who don't want to drive. What a relief to sell all the extras.

 

[Dr Mango]

I need help right away. I am a newbie to turkeys. I have done chicks before. I put my poults in with a similar age batch of chicks and everything was fine. Everybody is now about 4 weeks. I have had them on poultry feed. THey were active and doing well. Now they are all of a sudden (in the last three days) going spraddle legged and weak in the legs. I switched them to a higher protein (28%) turkey starter yesterday. I think this may be the problem. Any other ideas? They are Bourbon Reds.

 

[desertmarcy]

I need help right away. I am a newbie to turkeys. I have done chicks before. I put my poults in with a similar age batch of chicks and everything was fine. Everybody is now about 4 weeks. I have had them on poultry feed. THey were active and doing well. Now they are all of a sudden (in the last three days) going spraddle legged and weak in the legs. I switched them to a higher protein (28%) turkey starter yesterday. I think this may be the problem. Any other ideas? They are Bourbon Reds.

When you say "poultry feed", what was the protein %? Yes, they should have had the 28% right from the start, so it could be a deficiency in protein or some other nutrient. What kind of substrate do you have them on? Make sure it has enough traction, that they are not slipping.

 

[Dr Mango]

I had them on Pullet starter 16% protein. THey are on a deep bed of pine shavings. I have used this style of bedding for raising chicks without a problem. Will increasing the protein at this point reverse the spraddle legs. Do I need to bandage them like I would a chick? I am feeling really bad...

 

[desertmarcy]

Ugh, 16%. Yes that is undoubtedly the problem, way too low, I think that is too low for chicks, too. You will read recommendations for starting turkeys on no less than 24% protein. I start my chicks on 22% and they stay on it for months. Turkeys start on 28% and I keep them on that for 2-3 months, then gradually reduce to the 22% chick starter, they stay on that until 6 months, butcher time; after that, they go to a 17% pellet ration and stay on that. I also supplement my poults' feed with diced hard boiled eggs which gives them the animal protein that my mill does not use (all vegetarian), they get that every morning for as long as I have extra eggs and that also makes them tamer since they LOVE the eggs and look forward to me giving it to them; I touch them and pet them while they are eating and hand feed them bites

I do not know if this can be corrected by giving the proper feed at a month old, but it is certainly worth a try. Sorry, I just don't know if manually correcting the straddle is necessary or would work at this age. How many do you have? Maybe try it on a couple and see if they can stand and walk or if they just keep falling over.

 

[Dr Mango]

I had some bags of pullet grower sitting there and someone used that instead of the chick starter which has 22% protein. I know 22% is a low amount for poults but they were doing fine. I am trying to rescue them. Some seem to be getting around better after a little over 24 hours on the high protein feed. I did give them hard boiled eggs and will watch and see what happens. Thanks for helping. I had 19 poults and lost one today. I moved some of the weaker ones into their own brooder and I am trying to rescue them. Time will tell. I am so bummed!