Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

2 funny things happened today... Delisha remember when I was asking about the incubating egg that was getting flat on both sides? Turns out the hen laid another flattish one again today. Detail orientated, I'm not apparently.

DH decided to clean off the screen porch. Inside the grand kids toy box was a humongous pile of eggs.

2 new babies overnight. My advice? Don't take eggs out of a semi broody hens nest. My Wrinkles is definitely a studly roo!
Over a 3 week period I've had 11 babies born. I read how careful you need to be, don't over handle, definitely don't open after lock down.. The last 3 were already pipped when I candled them and I didn't notice until after. I put them back in the incubator and by morning, a bouncing baby chick! Now, the 2 doz eggs I bought and were shipped are due to hatch starting this week end. I believe only 3 were viable out of the 1st doz and 6 out of the 2nd. My shipping luck is not good. Curious to see anyway.

Have any of you heard about some hatcheries unable to ship eggs or chicks to certain to zip codes? Mine is one of them and I spoke to my post office and they knew nothing about it. He said that someone usually will stay at the post office until 7pm to be sure that the chicks don't have to stay over night. I guess if I ever ordered chicks or eggs I'd have to call first.

I always call my PO first-- they are good and open very early in am, like 5am. I also can go to the regional sorting facility which is normally closed to the public, but DH said they were piled high with chick boxes.

Quote: Sounds good to me. Thanks!

All the info about air cells and things like that just confuse me. I have no idea what all of that means and not sure I ever will. If I can do the basics and get them to hatch, them I have won the lottery.

Eggs loose moisture, aircell gets bigger. If aircell gets bigger, moisture is leaving the egg. When air cell is the right size chickie hatches. Make sense now?

 

[r4eboxer]

Does anyone deal with colors and breeding. I've asked about the poults coming from my birds but I'm not sure if I got the correct answer. I was told my Royal Palm tom over my Bourbon Red Hen would throw, Red Slate Toms and Narragansett hens. Is that correct? in that case I will have sex linked poults, exciting to think about but not sure if the info I got was correct. I also have narragansett under blue slate toms, I was told I'd get 50 % Black and 50% slate Toms, he wasn't sure what the hens would look like.

The Tom as BBDD and BBdd and the hen has b+b+ng so if the BBDD is dominate would the hens be 50% black 50% blue and the toms be???

 

[RockerHen]

What is the Tom on the right? I have a Bronze/royal palm Tom and a royal palm hen. They are so funny to watch.. A few weeks back my neighbor called to say the male turkey was stomping on a white chicken and a car was stopping to take pictures. It was the 2 mating. And I live way out in the country. lol. Oh, the point being, the one on the right looks like mine.

Both toms are royal palm/bourbon red crosses.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I'll have to look for that movie Fresh-- I just love the sustainable vewpoint. I'm ready to throw in the towel on purchased feeds-- too expensive for feeding year round. I love your plans for a mobile tractor, great idea. I don't have a tractor and my land is rather rough so I'm still coming up with ideas for something light weight and mobile, THough Sugar Mtn says their birds roam some 750 feet from the housing area, maybe the domestic pigs provide a level of mental security so they roam far and wide.

I'm trying to come up with a working model for my farm . THat is were the turkeys come into it. Trying them to see where they fit into grazing/browsing. I do think chickens are more flexible than turkeys, anyone can pipe up here and offer their experience. I see the chickens as eaters of anything and everything, I see the turkeys at the feeders.

Honestly, I am putting the pigs as far away from the poultry and fowl as possible. If they are hungry they may not have an issue with eating a chicken or duck that wanders into their area.

Most of our chickens are in our main coop, which is attached to the goat housing and field on one side and the horse run-in on the other. The goats, if they can be kept out of the chickens feeders

are great for security. A silly raccoon thought it was tunneling into our chicken coop one night last year only to end up in the goat house: They woke us up with all the racket. We went out just in time to see the raccoon limping away with the goats looking very proud of themselves. They are by no means a guardian type animal. Ours just like to let everything know it is their pasture and area. The horse is the same way and doesn't allow so much as a squirrel into her area. Both seem to know the chickens belong over there and don't bother them unless they try to sneak a beak into the feeder at breakfast!

During the day, the chickens mostly stay within 150' of their coop, although they are allowed free access to about 4 acres. We do have a couple adventerous groups that go approximately 600' feet from the coop to the front fence line every day.

As for the turkeys, yes I do see them at the feeders more often than some of the other critters. However, they do also browse if they have the chance. If I let mine out, they wander the property more fully than any of the other critters. When they were young, I had to constantly keep their wings clipped or they would fly over the fences into the woods though so be prepared for that if you let them out. Now that they are older the hens don't fly nearly as well and the toms not much at all.

Folks like Salatin use rotational grazing. He has his livestock, both cows and pigs on pasture. Then 3 days after he moves them to another field, he rolls his mobile coop into the field so the chickens can break up the manure and feast. I have read that doing things like this breaks the internal parasite cycle for most of the species involved. I would think turkeys could be used in place of chickens: you would just have to herd them. Mine sometimes take two people to herd since they scatter, but I can get them from any point on the property into their pen in less than 5 minutes.

I am pretty sure Kuntrygirl lets her turkeys out to wander (I remember a story about them helping her catch run away guineas last year). Maybe she'll have some words of wisdom for us!

 

[Arielle]

Want to grow the flock. We had a few bad run-ins with multiple predators, leaving us with only 6 left: 3 Blue Slates, 2 Small Whites and a Black Spanish. We've decided we want to focus on teh Blue Slates as a heritage breed, and get some Bourbon Reds going. The other 3 are really just hang arounds.

I'm curious as to why you picked those two? I like the bourbons myself, and I'm rather liking my AUburns as well. Not decided on the others yet.

Quote: A very helpful devise!!! WHen the big storm hit in fall of 2011 we used the car for the incubator, unfortunately it does require the car to be run periodically. I wasn't sleeping in the car! So we made other arrangements. I'm still glad I have the plug in though== bought us time to decide what to do.

 

[Arielle]

I am getting 5 one year old Bronze tomorrow. One jake and four hens.

as I'm catching up, I'm hoping pictres will be posted.

 

[Coop Cleaner]

What are you using for your fodder set up? Ive been thinking about trying that.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Anyone to have their hens start laying? Any new eggs in the bator?

 

[Sally8]

Anyone to have their hens start laying? Any new eggs in the bator?

My hen started laying on Feb 14 and a week later she started setting on her eggs. Today I came home to find her off her nest and the eggs ice cold. She was off this morning but didn't think anything of it. I was told that if I took her eggs she would continue laying.

 

[chicken pickin]

No eggs for me yet. I have the one hen that squats constantly and has for about a month now and Ive seen her be mated. The other hen doesnt squat yet. I also noticed the squating hen is more red faced and the non squating hen is very pale in comparison. Do the hens get more red before laying like chickens do?