Turkeys For 2013

[Turkeytruff]

Hi it's been a while since I've been on this thread. I got 5 Blue Slate poults about a month ago from a breeder and of the 5, 1 is blind and 1 has what looks like a weird sort of hernia on its crop - It's not the crop, it's hanging extra low and is quite soft. The poult eats and is not suffering in any way, but I just wondered if:


1) anyone else has had blind blue slates hatched
2) had their turkey have this 'hernia'
here are some pictures:






the blind one does pretty well at following the others around and getting to the food but I feel so sorry for her/him at roosting time. Needless to say, these 2 will not be kept for breeding.

 

[Arielle]

As for extra toms-- I moved all the extra males to a separate pen well out of sight of the others and this generally keep the peace. Others are in breeding pens with reasonable ratios. THat seems to work well. 1:2 or 1:3

The blue slates are lovely.

WHen I took BBWs to processor, the birds stood in the back of my car; then pushed off onto the loading dock and led to a holding pen.

Perhaps have a dog crate at the processors, transport the turkeys and unload into a dog crate or other holding pen. Use a tarp for a top? I use a tarp as a door and they think it is solid.

Or make a frame, put on a solid bottom and old feed bags for sides and roof??

Bought canning jars at a good price at walmart. About $10 for a dozen reg mouth as they didn't have the wide mouths. Checked another store and their wide mouths were $2 each. Never bought canning jars one at a time, lol, guess they aren't expecting high volume customers.

Ordered canner, email says it is enroute!!

I wonder how many quart jars per bird? Figure I will find out soon eough!!

 

[chickadoodles]

As for extra toms-- I moved all the extra males to a separate pen well out of sight of the others and this generally keep the peace. Others are in breeding pens with reasonable ratios. THat seems to work well. 1:2 or 1:3

The blue slates are lovely.

WHen I took BBWs to processor, the birds stood in the back of my car; then pushed off onto the loading dock and led to a holding pen.

Perhaps have a dog crate at the processors, transport the turkeys and unload into a dog crate or other holding pen. Use a tarp for a top? I use a tarp as a door and they think it is solid.

Or make a frame, put on a solid bottom and old feed bags for sides and roof??

Bought canning jars at a good price at walmart. About $10 for a dozen reg mouth as they didn't have the wide mouths. Checked another store and their wide mouths were $2 each. Never bought canning jars one at a time, lol, guess they aren't expecting high volume customers.

Ordered canner, email says it is enroute!!

I wonder how many quart jars per bird? Figure I will find out soon eough!!

Arielle, When I buy the wide mouth jars at Walmart or Freds or someplace like they are the same price as the other jars. I buy mine by the case and have never paid 2.00 a jar anywhere. I did some canning but never meat. My brother bought me a pressure canner this year but I have not used it yet. You will have to clue me in on how to can turkey when you get it down.

 

[desertmarcy]

Hi it's been a while since I've been on this thread. I got 5 Blue Slate poults about a month ago from a breeder and of the 5, 1 is blind and 1 has what looks like a weird sort of hernia on its crop - It's not the crop, it's hanging extra low and is quite soft. The poult eats and is not suffering in any way, but I just wondered if:


1) anyone else has had blind blue slates hatched
2) had their turkey have this 'hernia'
here are some pictures:






the blind one does pretty well at following the others around and getting to the food but I feel so sorry for her/him at roosting time. Needless to say, these 2 will not be kept for breeding.

That looks like pendulous crop. If the crop never goes back to a normal position, my advice is cull the bird before it gets worse. It is a genetic disorder and the birds afflicted usually suffer a long decline and eventually die. The ligaments holding the crop in place are weak and the crop stretches down when the bird eats and drinks. The more it stretches, the worse it gets. Eventually the food cannot pass normally into the stomach and gizzard and sits in the crop and spoils. The bird can starve to death with a full crop. It is very sad.

 

[Lorilyn Farms]

I've seen the effects of the gang rape of a hen. Usually, it puts so much stress on the legs, my girls (that it happened too) never get better. It seems they, too, get traumatized. The poor hens that this happens to never get better. I put them in the recovery coop with babies, where they will live out their lives. It's usually the young ones this happens to.

I immediately culled five roosters....

 

[Sally8]

I've seen the effects of the gang rape of a hen. Usually, it puts so much stress on the legs, my girls (that it happened too) never get better. It seems they, too, get traumatized. The poor hens that this happens to never get better. I put them in the recovery coop with babies, where they will live out their lives. It's usually the young ones this happens to.

I immediately culled five roosters....

That's quite disturbing. I have 5 roosters, 1 older, in with all my flock. Maybe it's time to think about that. I'm sorry to hear that.

 

[Zootopia]

I was thinking of trying to build a couple of turkey transport cages. I have 6-7 turkeys that will probably be brought to the processor down the road from me for thanksgiving. I don't have cages and the processors wont have any available. They can not be in dog crates etc. They suggested to me to build a few crates to hold 2 turkeys each. I was just curious if any of you have built something for that purpose? If so Id love to see pics and hear a few details. I may start a thread in another section but cant decide which forum would be best, Turkey, Meat bird, Coop/run construction?

Why not dog craters? Thats how we have always transported our. Granted, we have several of the "700's" (giants), even the biggest toms fit in those.

 

[MumsyII]

I have five Blue Slate poults. None are blind and none have a distended crop like that.

 

[chicken pickin]

Why not dog craters? Thats how we have always transported our. Granted, we have several of the "700's" (giants), even the biggest toms fit in those.

They get tons of birds in everyday to process. So they look for cages that can be stackable so they can fit every cage in side by side and also stack them on top of each other. They take drop offs a day before process so they need everything to fit in their building overnight.

 

[Sally8]

I have 2 Blue Slate Poults and they seem fine other than she's a little nosy at times. Did you say they came from a breeder or a hatchery?