Turkeys are quite interesting

[crj]

I have a trio of bonze turkeys. A friend of mine gave me 10 guinea keets, 2 baby turkeys and I had a hen hatch out 6 chicks. They are all growing up together in the nursery. I've recently let them out to chase bugs since the keets have an unbelieveable amount of energy. I've found my turkey hen checking out all the babies and acting as if they were hers. She is trying to get the young birds to notice her. Very funny and very cute. Today I noticed my Tom standing guard over all the babies. I know, hard to believe but it's true. About 4 months ago he went after my 2 geese and he got scolded for it. He has acted like there father ever since. The geese actually think he's dad. Go figure. Now he doing well with all the babies. This isn't all day mind you. It's just part of the day when the older birds come near the nursery to see what's happening for the day. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. Anyone else have this happen?

 

[mochicken]

You should post some pics, we all love pics of bird farmin lol

 

[crj]

Quote:
Maybe I will try tomorrow. It's just been so darn hot. I am getting 2 geese tomorrow so you know I will be taking pictures..... lol. Hopefully I the turkeys will be around the babies.

 

[Frosty]

I bought a gosling this year, but when I put it in with ducklings that were a bit older they kept attacking it so I put it in with my poults. I lost one of my two older geese (both girls) and let the other goose run free. She was terribly upset because her buddy was gone... she was sitting on eggs when the other one died so I am not sure she even knew what happened. I offered her the gosling but she didn't know what to think of it so I put it back in with the poults. She started hanging around their pen so a week later I offered it to her again and this time she was thrilled. It took a little time but baby gosling started following her everywhere. When I turned the baby turkeys loose, the goose wanted them, too. We had a few days where the poults wandered off (once I found them about a quarter of a mile away and had to carry them home) but lately they haven't been wandering too far from the geese. The other night I went outside and found all of the youngsters sleeping in a pile:

With 'momma goose' watching over them:

The problem is that they are BBW turkeys and will only live until the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I'll probably have to lock the geese up somewhere so she doesn't come after us for hurting 'her babies'.

I know they don't look very white, we have been getting a lot of rain...

 

[cielo]

Frosty. That is an adorable photo with the birds all in a ring. Your story reminds me why I love birds so much. They are amazing. Have you kept the BBW before? I'm interested in raising turkeys next year. I'd like to raise some of the BBW and maybe some smaller whites like the Midgets.

 

[Frosty]

Quote:
I have been raising BBW (or sometimes BBB) every year for the past 17 years. Usually I raise 15 or so, this year I decided to do less and got a half dozen from the feedstore. We lost one but the other 5 are doing great. I get them in late May/early June and free range as much as possible. I like to keep growth as slow as possible so we don't end up with a mammoth turkey but they are old enough to develop wonderful flavor (this also avoids leg problems). Right now I feed them every few days so they remember that they live here, other than that they forage for themselves. My average dressed weight is around 15 pounds for the hens and 18 - 22 for the toms. I do check them now and then and make sure they feel like they are getting enough to eat. They do their part to keep the grasshopper population down, too... A few friends help do the deed and buy turkeys from me when we are done, and everybody tells me how good they are.