turkeys roost in trees

[poultryaspets]

I see many are locking there turkeys up at night and building roosts. Does anyone here just let them roost in trees. We built our 5000 sq foot enclosure around a big maple. The birds fly up at night and back down in morning all year round.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I see many are locking there turkeys up at night and building roosts. Does anyone here just let them roost in trees. We built our 5000 sq foot enclosure around a big maple. The birds fly up at night and back down in morning all year round.

Yes. I let mine roost in the trees as well. Some people can't because of different reasons like air predators.

 

[poultryaspets]

This winter it got down to 40 below 0. I was worried but they were fine.many of my chickens roost up there too!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Same here. Turkeys, guineas and chickens did better than I expected. Thought that I would have frozen nuggets but they survived.

 

[ivan3]

The Wild flocks, when they're hanging back in our woods, keep the dead branches on the trees in check. On the way to roost it's all yelps & swooshing sounds, then comes the inevitable snaps/cracks & thumps as the dead wood is weighted down, `pruned' and disposed of in the vines & leaf clutter below. Our neighbor has an enclosed run, with a huge Osage Orange tree in the middle that provides shade in the summer. However, lack of pruning allowed one raccoon to climb up and stalk the roosted turks, while the other raccoon waited outside of run, below. Great Horned Owls can be a threat (if native to area). Several years ago, a BYC'er from England wrote about having to use a ladder and a bucket of hot water to release turkeys roosted in a fir tree from ice, on the morning following a night of freezing rain (quite a story), would link, but it appears the the `old - EZ/YUKU BYC threads have gone away . Our hens still like to hang out on the roof, or chimney, in the afternoons, but always return to run & shed at sundown on their own (they can be trained if one starts early and is consistent).

 

[poultryaspets]

I wish we had trained them to go inside. They seem to do well in the trees. We had 1/2" of ice a few nights ago and they just shook it off! I do worry about predation. We had a fox take some poults when they were ground bound that's why we incorporated the tree.

 

[ivan3]

IIRC, the fellow in England explained that the turks were roosting low in fir and the branches above them, bending under the wt. of ice were incorporated into something of a fir/turkey sculpture. We planted about a quarter acre of cedars, too close together, a long time ago. After an ice storm a couple years ago, I was out checking the snares for foxes when it started warming up and observed a LOT of turkey tracks in the ground around and under the cedars - those had to be made before the ground froze. I'm guessing this was where they decided to hang out the evening/night of the storm (a very early Spring congregation I expect).

Foxes are a pain. We really can't allow any `ranging' without armed supervision, or tolerate any `unauthorized' nests. The jennies will occasionally fly over the 6 ft. fencing to try to find a nesting area to be eaten off of, but are moved, without fail, back to the shed for brooding. By the their second Spring they know the drill and don't bother.

 

[jc12551]

Mine go up in the trees and I have a 30 ft pole that I use to knock them down. Been doing this every night for three years. They still do it. We have owls, coyotes, and tree climbing gray foxes. Any hen that goes off to next is promptly eaten and any that roost in the trees are found headless in the morning. Therefore I lock mine up.

 

[popsicle]

I wish we had trained them to go inside. They seem to do well in the trees. We had 1/2" of ice a few nights ago and they just shook it off! I do worry about predation. We had a fox take some poults when they were ground bound that's why we incorporated the tree.

Beware--Grey Foxes can climb just fine. Once the foxes know where the birds are it's all she wrote. A good friend has several tree-roosting guineas to them.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I know if I had fox, coyote and other night predators, I would lock mine up too.