Turkey Talk for 2014

[LovedMyAlydar]

Awww, that is not a problem. You just sounded so down on yourself and was glad to cheer you up. These guys can break your heart sometimes. Glad you are doing better.

 

[CherMoz]

You are VERY welcome! Enjoy the Beltsvilles.

 

[WeatheredWings]

Loving the coloring on our jake! Do you think he should be Nascar's mascot?

 

[TattooedMama]

You will like the Red Slates. My tom is beautiful. I thought I had a hen

but turns out she is the Blue Red Bronze instead. So that's how I ended up with another one. If I'd had more experience with the Red Slates and Lilacs, I probably would have figured out sooner that she didn't fit either one, but I just thought it was normal color variation

I was a little miffed at first that he sent me the wrong one in the batch, said his uncle was helping him and he didn't catch the error...but I'm okay with it now: she is just the prettiest thing. She may darken up a little when she gets older, she is only 4 months old. Her mother looks much redder, more like the photo on his website. I also was hoping to add another Lilac hen to my group, so that isn't going to work now. I could keep the two Blue Red Bronze in with the Lilacs, but I'm not confident I'll be able to tell all the colors apart when they hatch as that cross will produce 4 different genotypes. I may have to anyway, if I can't figure out where and how to build new pens for next year. I kept back a spare Lilac and a spare Red Slate tom so if I can get another pen going, I could put my spare Lilac tom over the Blue Red Bronze and they would not be interbred. Of course, cutting back on the birds I currently have to free up a pen is out of the question

You are better than me!! I bring them home before I have anywhere to put them

We have brooders and I'll tell my honey we have a few weeks before they go outside, that's plenty of time to build a pen!! Week after week building goes unfinished lol. We had finally finished a pen for our Narragansetts when they needed to be culled. I put in an order from Porters for 17 poults and we just put in an order to Holderread's for 30 ducklings so I'm in trouble if we don't get those pens done before May/June timeframe. We should have ducklings coming in April and poults in May. Right now we are having recordbreaking heat in Southern California (111 yesterdayat my house!!) so no one is building anything for a good while!

 

[desertmarcy]

You are better than me!! I bring them home before I have anywhere to put them

We have brooders and I'll tell my honey we have a few weeks before they go outside, that's plenty of time to build a pen!! Week after week building goes unfinished lol. We had finally finished a pen for our Narragansetts when they needed to be culled. I put in an order from Porters for 17 poults and we just put in an order to Holderread's for 30 ducklings so I'm in trouble if we don't get those pens done before May/June timeframe. We should have ducklings coming in April and poults in May. Right now we are having recordbreaking heat in Southern California (111 yesterdayat my house!!) so no one is building anything for a good while!

Ugh, 111 degrees, that's chicken killing temperature! I'm like you, I can't get anything done when it is hot. I bought rolls of wire months ago and it is just sitting. Cooler temperatures just don't last long enough where I am. If we didn't have such a healthy population of bobcats around here, my pen building would be a lot easier and cheaper but with bobcats, all wire has to be heavy duty welded wire and all tops need heavy wire or solid roofs. Not to mention the ever present termites which will eat anything made out of plain old pine 2x4s or 2x6s. It is a hostile environment.

 

[TattooedMama]

Ugh, 111 degrees, that's chicken killing temperature! I'm like you, I can't get anything done when it is hot. I bought rolls of wire months ago and it is just sitting. Cooler temperatures just don't last long enough where I am. If we didn't have such a healthy population of bobcats around here, my pen building would be a lot easier and cheaper but with bobcats, all wire has to be heavy duty welded wire and all tops need heavy wire or solid roofs. Not to mention the ever present termites which will eat anything made out of plain old pine 2x4s or 2x6s. It is a hostile environment.

What a nightmare!! I have seen a dead raccoon or two in the roads and even once we had a possum on our fence (with my German Shepherd patiently waiting for it to come down LOL). I got away with having my chickens in a lazy half@ssed PVC enclosure with PVC netting all summer long. It was here when I moved in so I used it for a "temporary" solution when the chicks were moved out of the house until we built their permanent home. My turkeys never stayed in their pen; flew right up and over and made their way to the house. OOPS. Learned my lesson between the poults and the Nigerian Dwarf goats to put them where the will be permanently from the start, even for small periods to get them used to being outside. The goats always come running to the house where all my plants are I DON'T want them to eat. The Turkeys did the same thing. Wasn't ever much I could do about it. Only predator I ever worried about was my own dogs-who took out a handful of chickens. I would be screwed if I lived somewhere with bobcats!!

 

[chickadoodles]

Loving the coloring on our jake! Do you think he should be Nascar's mascot?

Very handsome he could be their mascot.

 

[3b blu]

I am also wondering now if u have a red slate? I have a blue slate hen and what I thought was a burbon red but he also had some of the blue color to him? But my question mainly is when would the tom start to display? I'm pretty sure tom and hen due to big snood differences... And facial and also my tom has shown some aggression through the fence to my roosters... They are around 4 months old now...

 

[3b blu]

 

[CherMoz]

Very pretty!