Turkey Talk for 2014

[Ardizzone7]

I have a question for you turkey experts on behavior. I am very new to turkeys so I am still trying to figure them out. I got 3 girls initially and the smallest one has always been bossy. I then got a tom for them that was slightly younger. He is starting to get his big boy pants and I seen him displaying for the first time this morning. The little girl seen this and ran to him and started whooping on him. He is backing down from her at this point. He is probably around 6 to 7 months old and the girls are about 8 to 9 months old. Should I worry about her doing this to him or will he figure it out and let her know he is the boss soon? She bosses everyone around. It surprises me because she is the smallest out of the group.

I would let them go. She is just asserting her dominance over him. Once he gets bigger, he will probably dominate her. I wouldn't worry unless she injures him.

 

[Ardizzone7]

I have a blue self jenny that started seriously sitting on eggs yesterday. Yay! My question is she only has 3 eggs under her, will she lay a few more before she goes in to full brooding? She only got up once today and only for about 3 minutes. I know that for sure because she is nesting in a dog house I can see out side my sliding glass door. I would like her to hatch more than potentially 3 poults. FYI they will be Valentine poults :-D.


Also if I put chicken eggs under her should I wait a week to account for the different incubation times?

 

[Momhunter]

Am I assuming correctly that if my RP hen is letting the toms breed her that she is laying eggs somewhere?? They were hatched in May last year. They have been free range since last fall, and I can't find any nest. I have woods right behind my house, they have run of 85 acres. So I guess I have to hurry up and split my flight pen in two. Going to enlarge and split it in half, one side for the turkey and the other for peafowl.

 

[newturkeygirl]

It's some of her feathers yet. She is a sweety pie! They were very friendly......all of them. they were young. I called the Game commission becuase I didn't know if they were wild, but they ran out of the woods, acrossed a field, crossed the road, and came to my house because we were on the porch. The first night they roosted on my roof. the second night they perched right on my front porch railing, and tried to come inside through the bay window. They would even climb right in our laps. The game commission officer said they were not wild. He drove back to the road on the other side of the woods and stopped at a house, and the guy told him he hand raised them, but set them loose and didn't want them anymore. The officer told him I would care for them, and he said I could have them. Poor things. So, we put them in the coop inside the barn- the size of a decent stall (my chickens all have nice coops on wheels with runs now, so it wasn't in use), and we built an outdoor run to it so they could go out and enjoy if they like. Here's the night they showed up:

Wow! That's so great you kept them and are caring for them. They are beautiful

 

[newturkeygirl]

Seriously, you were relaxing on your front porch one evening and a dozen beautiful young turkeys walked up and joined you!?!  What a great day.

Don't worry about admitting how you talk to your turkeys.  I have a feeling lots of people on this site do the same thing.  They get into your heart pretty easily. 

Uh yes, I talked to my Fiona everyday and I loved the sounds she made. She made the cutest sound when her chicken friend would get close to her. Almost like she was excited to see her friend.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I love the simple design, but do you ever have raccoons climb up to the aviary netting and chew through it? I can't use anything that can be chewed by climbing predators.

 

[chickadoodles]

I love the simple design, but do you ever have raccoons climb up to the aviary netting and chew through it? I can't use anything that can be chewed by climbing predators.

I was wondering the same thing. It is a nice looking pen. But we have lots of critters in our area.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

JJ talks to the birds more than I do. I catch him baby talking "his" call duck hen all the time. I sweet talk the toms & JJ gets jealous & wants to know why I don't talk to him that way. I tell him "Cuz they listen & you don't." Lol

I talk to my eggs in the incubator too. As soon as I hear peeps i want them to know my voice.

I took a short video of Turkish and Taffy this morning. It goes like this a lot, heh. She ignores him, he tries really hard to get her to notice him.
Anyway, you can see them with all the chickens, so it gives you an idea of the size of midget whites.
Oh and Turkish looks a little ragged, sorry. We're in the middle of an unexpected January thaw, so EVERYTHING is wet.

thanks for sharing this. really helps to judge their size!

Quote:

oh my, i hear that a lot!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Raccoon and fox are my biggest problem. I have electric fencing now and its stopped any issues.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
Twenty eight years ago I was lucky enough to take a graduate level class at UC Davis in poultry disease and necropsy interpretation. The professor was one of those people that had the perfect persona for teaching -- he made every subject relevant to real life, not just minutia we had to know for the tests. And he genuinely loved birds. When he spoke of them or to them or handled them, he had a respect and a gentleness that was impossible to fake. All the early lab sessions had the students looking at prepared slides, so it wasn't until mid-year that we worked with living birds. I'll never forget the first live-bird lab. There were 20 students, several teaching assistants, and this professor. He was carrying a leghorn pullet around the room. She had been quite flighty in her cage, but as soon as he pulled her out she relaxed. He carried her around the room, walking slowly between the lab benches as he talked, speaking in a quiet even cadence to relax the hen, stroking her back and wings with a practiced gentleness until she was no longer tense and began to rest calmly in his hand. He was talking about how sometimes farmers have numerous birds in the flock that are quite sick but none have died yet, and under those circumstances sometimes a bird will need to be sacrificed so that a necropsy can diagnose the illness and possibly save the rest of the flock. He was saying that a very important part of being a pathologist is being able to kill a bird humanely, without doing anything that could cover up or be mistaken for a medical issue. As he was talking he continued to pet the bird, and by this time she was chirping happily in his hand, allowing him to rub her neck and stroke her face without fussing. And as he was calmly talking right in front of my lab bench, he ever so gently stroked the bird's neck with his thumb at the base of her skull, two fingers under her throat, and with a practiced flick of his wrist broke her neck. She simply slumped in his hand, dead instantly, never showing any pain or distress of any kind. It is shockingly easy to break a bird's neck, if done right.


Contrast that to a horrifying video I saw last year. It was made by an humane society officer working undercover at a Butterball turkey grow out farm. It showed a few workers trying to herd some BBW birds from one side of the barn to another. The birds were huge, easily 25-30 lbs live weight or more, and couldn't walk very well. But being BBWs, they were still just youngsters at that size, and like most young turkeys were friendly and begged for attention. But the workers were rushed and insensitive, and moved the birds along as fast as possible, in any way they could. For the friendliest of birds, the ones that kept getting in the way by approaching the workers making baby bird sounds, that included grabbing them by the necks or wings, lifting their huge bodies off the ground as they screamed in pain, and flinging them toward the other side of the barn. Some of them never got up again.

I am not trying to accuse anyone on this site of being cruel, as I do not believe that was the intent. And I am certainly not saying that a person can't defend themselves against a large aggressive animal. But I have to admit that I was quite disturbed by this post -- both by the fact that a nervous novice was advised to grab a bird by the neck, lift it off the ground, shake it, and throw it down again, and by the fact that no one challenged that recommendation. I may be relatively new to this thread, but I've been reading it long enough to know that many people who post here would never endorse this type of "discipline." So why does no one speak out against it? I can't be the only one who disagrees.

Aunt Kat, please do not grab your tom by the neck, lift him off the ground, shake him, then throw him down if he is acting out. Yes, it will probably make him scared to challenge you. Doing just about anything to him that is that painful and frightening would also probably make him scared to challenge you. But that isn't your best option. If you can't redirect his aggression, you can usually win the battle without causing pain or risking injury. Every bird is different, so you have to figure out what works for each of your boys. One of my boys is very food oriented, so the moment he starts acting out I distract him with treats, and the moment passes. Another one would never fall for that, but he hates being restrained. When he get feisty, I throw a towel over him and hold him until he stops struggling, then if he's really bratty, I carry him around for 4-5 minutes before letting him loose. If he's been really bad he's carried around on his side, or rolled over on his back and held while his belly is rubbed (careful doing this with really big birds, as some won't be able to breath in this position). One bird I just have to hold his comb and gently pull it to dominate him, as that is one of the things rooster do when they fight (although not so gently). Start dominating them, gently but decisively, when they're as young as possible. You'll gain confidence in working with them, and they'll grow up understanding that you're the boss. That doesn't mean that they won't challenge you, but it won't be with the full throttle expectation of winning, so you'll be able to handle it easier. For the occasional bird that is just plain vicious, you're probably not going to resolve that, and the freezer is probably the best place for him.