Turkey Talk for 2014

[AmericanMom]

I love coming out the back door to stand on the landing and have birds come running towards me, 10o little eye balls all staring at me and watching my every action and listening to every word I say...Or waiting for me to through them a treat.

When I walk through the yard they follow my every step, I feel like a king or gang leader at the least!

Poo washes off..

I walk amongst my flock and feel so at peace.. To see them running from every direction is awesome... And yes, poo washes off but come summer when my Grandkids are out and about its better the flock is behind the gate and not in the back yard..

 

[AmericanMom]

My Pit Bull ripped open one of my Bourbon turkey pens and got one of my hens and killed it early this morning before we got up. I have been so upset all day! All my birds are so upset I can't believe this happened!

I'm so sorry!!! We had a dog a few years ago that at first was just an egg eater, then he decided those flighty loud creatures were fun to chase, graduated soon into killing them.. After the third one I was done. found him a good home with a young couple and no other animals.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Thanks but we cannot get rid of him we need him to keep the coyotes and other predators away from our livestock. I will have to get a roll of some kind of wire like hardware cloth to put it around the the pens. DH thinks she might have been poking her head thru the wire when biscuit got her. I am not sure but I need to make sure he can't do it again. I have been up half the night checking on him and the pens.

 

[duluthralphie]

I walk amongst my flock and feel so at peace.. To see them running from every direction is awesome... And yes, poo washes off but come summer when my Grandkids are out and about its better the flock is behind the gate and not in the back yard..

My grandson would eat the poop. ROFL.. He wants to eat anything.

My granddaughters like the chickens, I worry about the young toms around them. The young toms have no manners. I hope to have covered runs to keep them in this coming summer to keep everyone save when they are here. Right now I have to be with them every second incase the jakes forget their position in the pecking order.

I may have wash the yard down before they come. BTW I was joking about poo washes off.....Sorry if that did not come across.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks but we cannot get rid of him we need him to keep the coyotes and other predators away from our livestock. I will have to get a roll of some kind of wire like hardware cloth to put it around the the pens. DH thinks she might have been poking her head thru the wire when biscuit got her. I am not sure but I need to make sure he can't do it again. I have been up half the night checking on him and the pens.

Again I know I will sound harsh, but in my overly stated opinion a dog that kills a bird is no longer protection from predators but is a predator itself.

I love my dogs as I am sure you love yours. If my dog killed one bird, and I could not retrain it to leave them alone, I would be forced to get rid of it. I personally have little faith in retraining as to the dog killing is just fun play. I know several on here have done it, so here's to hoping you can too. Good luck.

My Dad filled a dead bird with cayenne pepper once when we were kids for a chicken eating dog. I think he did that on eggs too. I have heard of hooking an electric fencer to a dead bird and lying it on a rubber inner tube or tire.

I think I would use my electronic training collars if mine ever hurt a bird and just watch the dogs and when they got too close zap them.

Right now, thankfully it is not an issue.

The perfect bird dog, (on this day anyways)

 

[AmericanMom]

Thanks but we cannot get rid of him we need him to keep the coyotes and other predators away from our livestock. I will have to get a roll of some kind of wire like hardware cloth to put it around the the pens. DH thinks she might have been poking her head thru the wire when biscuit got her. I am not sure but I need to make sure he can't do it again. I have been up half the night checking on him and the pens.

I understand... Thankfully our dog was our only predator worry..

 

[AmericanMom]

My grandson would eat the poop. ROFL.. He wants to eat anything.

My granddaughters like the chickens, I worry about the young toms around them. The young toms have no manners. I hope to have covered runs to keep them in this coming summer to keep everyone save when they are here. Right now I have to be with them every second incase the jakes forget their position in the pecking order.

I may have wash the yard down before they come. BTW I was joking about poo washes off.....Sorry if that did not come across.

I'm teaching my GK to walk down the tom, the roosters know the boys and steer clear but the tom even intimidates our daughter so yah. Problem (or blessing) is they are only here once a week unless they come spend the night or something, the weather has been nasty enough that they haven't went out so every time they come its a worry because we have to relearn everything.. Until we can get the rest of the fence up I wont let the boys out without us.
and also.. lol, I am not easily offended, grossed out yah, offended no..

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Thank you for all of your suggestions. We have an electric fence around the pasture for the cows and I may look at running a wire around my pens.
If it were up to me I would have got rid of the dog two years ago but my DH is not going to let him go. The dog was his son's and he won't budge on it.
So other options are my only answer.



Thanks AmericanMom it is a tough one but the cows also need protection.

 

[duluthralphie]

I remember when I was around 5-6 years old I went from the house to the barn to be with my Dad milking the cows. We had an old vinegar barrels about halfway between the house and the barn which was used for scalding pigs. ( back then farm families never bought any meat and little food of any kind.)

My parents had a few turkeys, The tom came running at me, and to me looked like he wanted to attack. I remember running around the vinegar barrel with this Tom right behind me. I was so scared. I would go one way, stop and look at him and he came the other. I was crying and yelling for my Dad. Dad finally heard me in the barn and came to my rescue ( this was in fall/winter, as we had snow on the ground).

I Was so glad my Dad saved me. I can still remember it nearly 60 years later. Shortly afterwards the tom was gone. We ate him, I am sure.


Many years later , my Dad told me he had gotten that tom from a neighbor. The neighbor gave it to him because he said it was too ornery to have around his place and he had other toms. I guess some birds are just rotten. Even now I think about this event when my Jakes are acting stupid, which is most the time lately. Luckily my oldest Tom kind of watches out for me and keeps their silliness in the group.

I sure could use someone buying 3 jakes from me. They are heritage slate blues so they are not quite large enough to eat, but they could be if they attack a grandkid! I might be sending three of them to live in the Guinea fowl gulag soon. Then I would only have 2 to worry about. I might even put 4 in there and let my red slate breed all the hens for a while.

I hate to mess up my good slate blues with red though.

 

[chickadoodles]

I do understand the good bad behaviors in the birds I have had both and sent some to freezer camp also. I think you having so many young Jake's together may be causing them to act out in the pecking order. Maybe you could choose the best one and keep one for a back up and get the other one re-homed via either Craig's list or news paper or face book poultry pages for your area. Some turkey breeders have a bachelor pen and will make the bottom either solid or covered so they cannot see the hens to cause fights over. Then they only have disagreements occasionally.

I had a turkey hen that did not like me two years ago so I re-homed her and a couple others and now she loves her new home. This hen did take a flying leap at my face and luckily my Narragansett tom jumped up and bounced her off his chest to save me!

I have had to put some roosters in freezer camp for jumping on me but I would not tolerate it from a tom!