We will call her "Surprise"... if she lives!

[Birdgirl99]

never had turkeys but med large and etxra large parrots macaws cockatoos and i have 9 chickens

 

[debir1966]

My son said when he let the chickens out of the coop this morning, Surprise was flushing "her" face from blue to red... ugh... I really wanted "her" to be a "HER". When do heritage turkeys start growing their beards? Our BBW's had little beards by the time we processed them at 4 months.

 

[honda150]

From my experince with my first set of turkeys and my second batch with narrigansetts is the hens will go into a full strut just like the toms and they are 5 months this friday.In one set of your pics i can see a spur bump starting,and with gobbling you will know cuz mine gobble all the time now and their gobbles are getting deeper by the week.By looks your turkey looks like a hen.And my broad breasted hens would turn their faces color to but they wouldnt turn as bright as the toms.

 

[dhrace2000]

Just found this thread(beautiful and entertaining) tonight and found myself laughing and hoping everything turned out well as I read each page. Thanks for keeping it going!

 

[debir1966]

SURPRISE! - she is definitely a he LOL.









I guess this is what I get for naming him Surprise LOL.

 

[kitmarlowescot2]

Lol, well the name Surprise is genderless. So you can have a boy or girl named Surprsie. I am sure this has changed your plans for him. I hope you haven't ordered any hens or poults for him yet. Because you need to cancel that order for a Tom. Well, you already have CC if she is still alive, and if Surprise doens't get too big you can breed the two to see what you get. He was a very late bloomer, and hopefully he is still stand offish and won't ever attack anyone. Good luck with your breeding.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

LOL! How funny. I have enjoyed watching his journey- thanks for the "big finale" to the story!!!

 

[Celie]

My son said when he let the chickens out of the coop this morning, Surprise was flushing "her" face from blue to red... ugh... I really wanted "her" to be a "HER". When do heritage turkeys start growing their beards? Our BBW's had little beards by the time we processed them at 4 months.

If and when really depend on the individual, some hens do and some don't !

 

[debir1966]

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments on our story of Surprise I am happy that it provided some enjoyment, I know we sure have had fun along the way!

 

[Mitfordsmom]

Hello there - I was wondering if you could help me.

I rescued some chickens who were kept in a very small enclosure - one of the hens had been pulling the feathers out of the others so the owner got her fitted with a plastic beak ring. Well now these girls are free ranging with my girls and are very happy and well adjusted. The one with the ring seems really intelligent and I think she was probably bored in the small enclosure. There is no bullying now - just the odd peck but she is the one who gets pecked and I can't help feeling she's at a disadvantage. I contacted the vet who fitted it and she says it is just plastic and we could cut it out ourselves. I am worried about doing this in case any skin has healed around the ring - if we break the skin it could lead to infection. Did your bird get better when you removed the ring?
Does anyone else have experience of this?

All advice is greatly welcomed as always!